****Betfair London Live Main Event Blog thread****

I had to be quick but i captured Stuart Hulston before his 2nd hand exit...

Matthew and his blossoming black eye before his departure...

Kami Kodeniec who has also gone quite early!

Aage Stalheim gets crippled by James Rann when his A6 is turned over by A3 with a 3 on the turn.

Aage shoves his remnants the next hand but exits in 25th.

Michael Pedersen exits in 24th when his shove with 88 is called by Roger

Roger shows KK and Michael leaves us...

Darren moves on to about 65k

Roger must be over 200k now

Money couldn't buy the look on Dave's face when Dinos was seated right next to the 'media area' (also known as 'a table over by the window near the power point'). Looks like Dave has some colourful company for the next few hours. Oh, hang on, it's Dinos... Looks Dave has some colourful company for maybe the next level (MAYBE two if he folds a lot).

19 players now remain and we and the blinds are 2k/4k with a 500 running ante.

Alisdair goes out in 18th.

He was short from the start and shoved his 44 and Leigh Ralph call.

Leigh shows KK and the board helps no-one.

John Tabatabai Betfair's 2nd coolest poker ambassador arrives late just for a change...

John immediately cuddles up to Zdravko 'Mizzien' Duvnjak

What is Zdravko's stack?

And Kevin 'EVVO' Dean leaves...

He shoves with Q 10 and Thomas Merved calls with AQ...

The board brings all low cards and EVVO leaves in 18th just short of the money..

John doubles up Morten Groen in a 90k pot when Morten's 99 holds up against Johns AJ!

2 Hands later he doubles up Zdravko in a similar size pot but John's A7 is crushed by AA!

James Rann exits in 17th when his shove with 56 soooted is snapped off by Zdravko with TT who has a broadway straight by the turn.

We are now on the bubble as 16 remain and we are hand for hand!

Common Duvieeee

Sorry 14 paid and we have 15 left blinds are now 3k/6k and a running ante of 700.

Thomas who is easily our chip leader at the moment...

His only flaw is he doesn't build chip pyramids or things of that ilk!

Roger who is officially the only Gay left in the tourney and is probably just about 2nd right now.

Level 17 and blinds are now 4k/8k with an 800 running ante....

The bubble is still active and we are still hand for hand.

Yaroslav goes out on the bubble...

He shoves with A9 and Roger calls with 88..

The flop brings an Ace but also an 8..

The turn gives Jaroslav an up and down straight draw but he misses and leaves as the bubble.

Payouts are as follows

14-12 £925
11    £1075
10    £1075
9     £1325
8     £1875
7     £2400
6     £3075
5     £3850
4     £5050
3     £6525
2     £9600
1     £14648

David Guntveit goes out in 14th and gets £925.

His shove with 55 is called by Thomas with AA and a blank board sends David to the rail....

Mizzien goes in 13th after his 88 was brutally outdrawn by Q7 on the river by trip 7's

This left him with rubble and he went two hands later...

Zdravko got £925 which is the same as John Tabatabai got for 12th.

John gets it all in pre flop with K 10 and is snapped by 88..

The flop brings an 8 and despite the turn bringing a flush draw John leaves us.

Darren crippled when he shoves with J8 and Chris Kadri wakes up with aces and Darren is left with less than 1 big blind!

20 minute break with 11 left...

A couple of brutal beats firstly for Chris Kadri..



And then for Mizzien who also held 88...

POKER ROOMS EXPLAINED
Lesson #12 - Ropes

When the poker room manager ropes off an area it means: 'Please don't stand here. You are not welcome. We don't like you'.

It does NOT mean: 'Please hang around like a nasty smell, dressed like a hobo at a hoodie convention, making everything look like a soup kitchen'.

This was a public announcement brought to you by Vague Announcements.com: "Nearly informing you since 1989".

Thomas is fast becoming a big bully...

He is reraising a lot and stealing plenty of chips..

Currently massive chips leader.

Dr Darren Moore goes out 11th and wins £1075 he shoves UTG for 4.5k and is called by Chris kadri.

Chris shows AJ and Darren 75 sooooted...

The flop brings a 5 but a Jack on the river condemns Darren's fate..

His young lady will be glad to hear he is now on his way home and Shane o'Conner wins without even turning up as he has 10% of Darren!

matt captures me in full concentration mode and obviously looking damn handsome!

10 pliers left

Tony Fayad doubles up off Thomas..

88 v A3 and the river brings Tony quad 8's

Very nice...

Dr Darren smiling as always as he exits!!

We have a new chip leader in Leigh Ralph as he doubles up off Thomas..

The flop comes 9 10 J all hearts, Leigh bets, Thomas shoves and Leigh calls.

Leigh shows AA with the A of Hearts and Thomas shows QK clubs for the nut straight...

The river 4h breaks Thomas's heart and makes Leigh the massive chippy...

greedy this Leigh fella as he won a Prague package in the freeroll on Friday!

We are now on level 19 with blinds of 6k/12k with a 1500 running ante.

we are still hand for hand across two 5 handed tables!

The big Leigh v Thomas hand....

POKER ROOMS EXPLAINED
#7 - Waiters

Yes, waiters are there primarily (and some would argue 'only') to take your drinks/food orders, process those orders, and ultimately deliver your orders under the provision of standard rules of barter (generally cash-based). HOWEVER, in poker rooms DO NOT be surprised if the waiter responds to your order with a tut, a rolling of the eyes, and - in some cases - a 'huff'. You may also be privvy to a 'bad beat story' where upon the waiter (under his breath but still loud enough to be heard) lets you know the exact ratio of waiter to players (normally 1:220) and leaves you wondering exactly what kind of froth you're going to get on your latte when it arrives in 2 hours.

Goodbye.

Robin Fisher goes out in 10th for £1075

his Q3 looks strong on a QQ10 board but he is up against Simon Brooks's AQ and the turn and the river don't help..

It's all about the framing Dave, it's all about the framing...

If anyone has a wedding coming up and would like to capture a good third of a person in portrait, check with Davespartialphotography.co.uk for availability.

Dave's Partial Photography: when only mostly background will do.

We are having a small break and a chip count before the final table starts...

Matt is currently dreaming up new and inventive waus to criticise my work...

Bless him and his inferiority complex!

Final table chip counts in seat order...

Simon Brooks 413k

Marius Sorensen 179k

Edward Ross 280k

Tony Fayad 106k

Roger Johannesen 205k

Leigh Ralph 556k

Morten Groen 37k

Thomas Merved 295k

Chris Kadri 110k

Robin's exit hand...

Morten shoves his short stack in the 3rd hand of the final table...

Thomas calls and shows AA which rather outclasses Morten's 8Q..

The flop brings an Ace and Morten wins £1,325.

Morten captured just before his exit.

Our Final Table pose.....

Roger doubles up off Thomas in a 99 v AK sooooted pre flop confrontation..

Thomas gets an Ace on the turn and a King on the river but the 9 on the flop had already sealed his fate..

Chris Kadri exits in 8th position with £1,875 to console him.

Tony Fayad calls his shove and shows AQ, chris flips over J4...

An AA10 flop is dreadful for Chris and the Queen on the turn just rubs salt in the wounds...

The blinds are going up to 7.5k/15k with a 2k running ante..

7 players remain and it is now level 20.

Chris Kadri's exit hand...

Marius Sorensen goes in 7th when his shove with KQ is called by Thomas..

Thomas shows AK and a low board sends Marius home...

Marius gets £2,400 for his efforts..

Marius's exit hand...

We are now in the 40 minute dinner break and I am going to secure a massage to relieve the symptoms of being hunched over a laptop for three days!

pic.twitter.com/gOalZW2Q

Never have two people enjoyed each other's company so much...

"The look, of love, is in, your eyes..."

Dinos playing the side event shouts me over to photograph the massage girls at work....

Translation - Dave come and take a picture of me with the massage girls in the background!

And Dinos exits the side event when getting rivered by a guy who had called his turn shove with Ace Jack high and rivered a Jack to beat his pair of Sevens.

Our Gay Viking would just like to make it clear that for the evening Roger is hetrosexual and Proud!

2nd hand back from the dinner break and Tony Fayad exits in 6th..

he re-shoves on Edward ross's raise and is called by Edward's AJ...

Tony turns over 88 but and Ace on the flop ends his tournament...

Edward Ross leaves us in 5th with £3850 after he 4 bet shoves into Roger's 3 bet...

ed shows KK but Roger flicks over AA and with no King Roger makes the low straight on the river to send Ed to the rail...

Tony Fayad's exit hand...

Dave's dinner time treat! 

Simon Brooks wins a 400k pot from Thomas Merved when Thomas folds after Simon's shove on the turn on an AJ53 board..

Simon shows a set of 3's after Thomas folds.

Next hand we are down to 3 runners as Thomas shoves his last 170k in.

Simon Brooks calls and shows 10 10 and Thomas has K3 and no Kings sends Thomas home with £5,050

Edward's exit hand...

Monster pot for nearly 1.4 million chips...

Simon raises, roger shoves and Simon instacalls...

Simon shows AJ and Roger 10 2...

The flop helps no-one but a 2 on the turn and another 2 on the river makes Roger the massive chip leader...

This leaves Simon with around 300k

Very next hand Simon shoves and Roger calls..

Simon shows 9 10 and Roger KQ..

The flop is blank as is the turn and river so an unlucky Simon Brooks leaves in 3rd with £6,525

We are now HU between Roger and Leigh and the table is being set up for the grand finale...

chipcount?

Roger on around 1.9 million and Leigh on around 500k

Roger and Leigh square up for the final battle!

The brutal hand that destroyed Simon's hopes...

Very cagey between the two and lots of gentle banter.

As soon as I say that we have an all in pre flop confrontation

Leigh 8c 2c

Roger Qs 10s

Flop brings a Qc Jc 3d  Turn 8s  River 6c

Leigh gets a flush and doubles up to 1.5 million leaving Roger with around 700k.

Roger immediately regains his chips

They are both all in with Roger on 88 and Leigh 33

Flop Turn and river are blanks and Roger is now the 2 - 1 chip leader again.

3rd Place Finisher Simon Brooks Video

http://tinyit.cc/5010e

And it's all over as Leigh shoves on a 66 10 board..

Roger calls and crushes Leigh's AQ with his 86 leaving Ralph in 2nd with £9,600

Roger is the Main event winner and receives £14,648 for his exploits.

Our gallant runner up Leigh Ralph...

Roger in the moments following his epic victory...

Runner up Leigh Ralph with his loyal mate who had railed him for 2 days...

The final and deciding hand...

Runner-Up Leigh Ralph video
http://tinyit.cc/602bf

Winner Video with our favourite Viking

http://tinyit.cc/d232

Cheers for the updates HF, congrats Roger and a good weekend for you Lei

Cheers Ovalman, a few extra pictures to finish off the night!

Roger celebrates his win...



In a slightly calmer mood...

Me and Fran with Roger and the mandatory over sized cheque..

And now with the actual photo... DOH!

A big thanks to HF for his fantastic work at the event.

To watch a final video of the event please cut and paste the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTiQCnImFKo

I think everyone came away happy this weekend after a great tournament and freeroll and party.

Being the tall retarded donk I am I missed my train back to London this morning so I have had to pay all over again and am sat on the train now.

A great winner in my good friend Roger Johannessen and the best HU battle I have seen for entertainment purposes as the gentle banter between Leigh Ralph and Roger was great.

A big thankyou to all the Fox Poker club staff who were fantastic and did everything to make the betfair staff's life easier.

It was great for me to meet up with so many familiar faces and friends and hopefully I will see many of them again in Prague.

A final thankyou for all the people who have followed the thread, without you they wouldn't send me to these events and it is a job I really enjoy.  I just hope my enjoyment is passed onto to you.

Cheers

Dave.

Enjoyed looking at these pictures and laughing at (with?) all these punters. If this blog continues to keep up with its excellence, maybe more lazy bums like myself will just stay at home and read this instead of show up themselves at the events though. Keep up the good work, see you at an event soon!

cheers thrappers.
a great read now im home.

TOP BLOG DAVE! Best one so far me thinks!

Thanks gentlemen, always great to get positive feedback! 

Great read now back home and a really nice tourney that I'm obv glad I grabbed a lucky last minute seat to.
Glad that Big Happy Roger took it down, his banter made some horrid table position bearable. Was also impressed with David G, Tony (Duhamel lookalike) and Thomas.
Fine work from Dave as always, looking forward to Prague.

Hello,

That is great and i am glad that the roger took it down, and i am impressed with you enjoyment...
cheers and enjoy..

very nice album....

Hello,

Great work Helmuthian.....wonderful pics of your enjoyment.... i also enjoy watching this..

Hi all,


Just wanted to say thanks for a brilliant weekend...I am still paying for it now!


Until the next one...


Rich

Keep enjoying... Best wishes for you..