Freeroll winner

Duncan Godfrey of Bradford West Yorkshire will be hoping to get Christmas out of the way and crack on in the new year as he’s off to Goa to play poker in March courtesy of Maharajah Club and PokerPlayer.

Godfrey, who plays online as ‘runadrum’ won the Maharajah Club PokerPlayer freeroll on 3 December.

The prize was a $7,500 package to the Asian Poker Classic (APC), which will be held at The Grand Resort in Goa, India from 1-4 March 2007.

The APC is the first major professional poker tournament to be held in India and will include players who have won prize packages via satellite tournaments held on the site.

Godfrey, like many people started playing about 3 years ago after watching Late Night Poker on TV, but he says it took me a while to understand that while any two cards are entitled to win it does not mean you should play them all!

He only plays No Limit Texas Hold’em and all his wins have all been online, playing live only six or seven times including the final of the Poker Player Grand Prix II.

The freeroll consisted of a field of 200 runners and Duncan’s main aim was to make the top ten places and the money and then worry about winning. He set out to play it tight, but his stack took some heavy dents early on.

He stuck at it though, and came through a tough final table, and he tells the story of an interesting hand to win the tourney:

“I held 5-8 offsuit, so not a classic, but flopped two pair and then made a full house on the turn. Luckily my opponent went all-in after the turn before I could and I can’t tell you what hand he held!”

“I was stunned to have actually won as heads-up had been nip and tuck and I thought I was booked for second at one point when I foolishly slow played AA and lost.”

His wife Helen also plays and so she has bagged the place as my Godfrey’s travelling companion.

We suspect that poker is not Duncan’s only gambling activity as he continued: “Our main holiday each year involves Newmarket horse sales in November so I am looking forward to spending some time with my wife in the sun for a change.” “It will be my first tournament of this magnitude so I hope to take in and enjoy the atmosphere, take a big name scalp or two and then worry about winning if I make the final day. If/when I go out I want it to be to a good hand."

“I am very much looking forward to it especially as I have only been abroad twice in the last ten years. I don’t know how much of the country we’ll get to see but I suspect it is a place you would need to visit more than once.”