The biggest stories from Teesside
From the get-go it was clear that the Teesside leg of the PokerPlayer Tour was going to be a dramatic day all round. A two-hour delay at the start – due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’ – ratcheted up the pre-tournament tension to palpable levels. To rebalance the situation, the Gala cardroom generously donated back the players their £10 registration fees, boosting the already tasty prizepool by well over a grand.
Ready to rumble
Contrary to early predictions of a loose-aggressive local population, the 133-player field was careful and considered with a keen instinct to avoid the rail at all costs. By dinner, 114 players were still packed in the tight space and we looked dialled in for yet another late finish.
Then came the antes. With pre-flop pots now worth fighting for, the feeding frenzy began in earnest and multiple exits rippled across all the tables. Tour veterans like David Stannard (runner up in Leeds) and Peter Crawford (9th in Leeds) found themselves in familiar territory and by the 500/1,000 blind/A100 level, the field had been ripped in half.
Late night poker
As the clock struck midnight, just three tables remained and two chipleaders emerged on the same table. The flamboyant ‘Rocky’ Gupta was a raising machine and sponsored pro Mark English used his experience to control the pots.
After smashing Bretherton’s A-K with Aces, Gupta doubled his advantage but couldn’t stop other players getting almost as chipped up. When the final table finally formed at 2am, no one player started with a huge advantage, that is until Northumberland’s Jonathan Denton decided to run like god and hooovered up almost half the chips in play.
It seemed like the rest were playing for second place, but three-handed, Denton made a crucial error, loose-calling with K-10 against the wiley Alan Dean’ A-J and giving away over 160k in chips. It was the beginning of the end for Denton and he slid out leaving Dean against the chatty Michael Barker.
They think it’s all over
With the clock approaching 5am, the two marathon men struck an equitable deal to split the money and play for the trophy. In the final hand, both got it in light but Dean was able to take the coveted title with 7-8 versus Barker’s Q-6.
The Final Results
1. Alan Dean £3,680
2. Michael Barker £3,680
3. Jonathan Denton £1,900
4. ‘Rocky’ Gupta £1,260
5. David Giles £920
6. Jeff Spencer Griffiths £590
7. Mark English £470
8. Kyle Cunningham £380
9. Owen Fenwick £310
10. Vince Walker £250
Total Prizepool: £14,630
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