English APAT

The Broadway Casino in Birmingham played host to the first live APAT event on September 23-24. Massively over-subscribed, the 120 seats were allocated by ballot and with the final few reserve spaces sorted on the day (UK law means that all players have to be in the venue for shuffle up and deal), the English Amateur Poker Championship kicked off with starting stacks of 10,000 chips and the promise of a £9,000 prize pool plus an $8,000 EPT package courtesy of tour sponsor PokerStars.com.

Blow-up

The 40-minute blind levels and deep stack format provided some thoughtful poker before some huge confrontations meant eliminations were inevitable. Jay Woods made the early running after hitting some monster hands. He busted Chris Hall’s Queens with J-6, and then after a flop of A♣-K♣-4♦ made the nut flush on the turn holding Q♣-3♣ to beat George Bedi’s lower flush with 9♣-6♣.

Woods’ next victim was Ben Turnstill, who pushed with Q-10 on a Q-10-8 board only to run into the nut straight. With over 60,000 chips at this point Woods was massive chip leader but amazingly busted out before the end of Day 1 when he called a huge all-in with Queen-high and ran into Aces.

PokerPlayer readers Christian Briggs and Rob Hewlitt both crashed out before the end of the first day – Hewlitt when his A-K didn’t improve, and Briggs when his A-10 ran into Q-Q and K-K on a board of A-10-Q-K-Q. Day 1 ended at 11pm with 33 players left. Overnight chip leader was Matthew Milne with over 100k chips, followed by Trevor Heath with 85,000.

Day 2

With ranking points going to the top 18 and money going to the final nine, there were two bubbles to be decided. The first proved that poker can be a cruel mistress. Matthew Milne raised under the gun, Nigel Johnson pushed all-in for around 80,000 chips and Milne made the call. Almost inevitably, Johnson showed K-K to Milne’s A-A, who survived an agonising board to scoop the pot and send a dejected Johnson to the rail. Milne was still chip leader with around 250,000 chips, approximately 20 percent of the chips in play.

Daniel Phillips was the next player to hit the jackpot when his 8-8 ran into Richard Latham’s J-J. Another Jack hit the flop, along with a Nine, and runner-runner Q-10 saw Phillips make an improbable straight, sending Latham to the rail in 12th. Then Phillips picked up a 60,000 pot when his A♦-7♦ hit trips on the river to knock out Aidan McGinley in 11th.

Final table

With nine places paying out, there was a cruel sting in the tail for one player on the bubble. Matthew Milne raised with Queens, only to be pushed all-in by Steve Parker with Aces. Milne made the call and Parker’s bullets held up until the river when Milne spiked a third Queen sending Parker out in disbelief. Another huge hand followed when Trevor Heath moved allin for 44,000 and Antony Wolsey called. Heath showed J-J, Wolsey A-Q and a board of A♥-Q♠– 10♥ gave Heath a glimmer of hope, but he missed his gutshot draw and finished the tournament in ninth just in the money.

The game tightened up before Alistair Fowler moved in from the short-stack with J♥-Q♥. Wolsey called with A♣-J♦ and another player fell. Andy Winkett dropped in seventh, followed by Jimmy Doran (10-10 against A-A) and Wolsey, when he lost two crucial hands in succession: A-10 vs A-Q and 2-2 vs K-Q.

Four-play

Scott Moore was next to fall when he moved all-in with K-10 only to run into A-J with neither hand improving. Matthew Milne took the bronze medal and was unlucky not to do better after losing a vital hand. With most of the chips in play on the table, Milne’s 10-10 lost to Phillips’ K-Q, leaving Phillips and Mark Donnelly heads-up for the title. Phillips was the huge chip leader but Donnelly doubled up on the first hand when all the chips went in with Phillips holding A-J and Donnelly 6-6.

It gave Donnelly a new lease of life, which was snuffed out the very next hand when he called the big blind pre-flop and Phillips checked with J♥-2♦. Phillips stayed composed as the flop came 8♥-2♣– 2♠, checking to the turn where, crucially, Donnelly paired his Six prompting an all-in push after Phillips bet 100,000. Phillips made the call to become English Amateur Poker Champion 2006.

The money:
1st: Daniel Phillips £4,500 plus $8,000 EPT package to Copenhagen
2nd: Mark Donnelly £1,800
3rd: Matthew Milne £900
4th: Scott Moore £300
5th: Antony Wolsey £300
6th: Jimmy Doran £300
7th: Andy Winkett £300
8th: Alistair Fowler £300
9th: Trevor Heath £300