Yorky Pud

The eighth edition of the Grand Series of Poker (GSOP) came to a thrilling conclusion over the weekend with the both the GSOP and mini-GSOP Grand Slam events taking place and although we are disappointed such an amazing online festival has drawn to a close we are absolutely delighted to say Team Betfair players completely destroyed both events and won a combined $462,639.66 from the final two tournaments!

GSOP Grand Slam: $4,900+$100 $500,000 Guaranteed

Although I have been somewhat of a luckbox in during the GSOP I was unable to bag or blag myself a $5,000 GSOP Grand Slam seat, which is probably a good thing because I would probably have had some sort of seizure during it through stress!

In total 154 players ponied up the necessary $5,000 creating a monster prize pool of $754,600 in the process. Amongst the 154 runners were a total of 48 players, going some distance to show that Betfair Poker provides some of the best players on the Ongame Network.

One by one the big name players fell by the wayside including Mathew “get thereeee” Frankland (49th), Chris “NigDawG” Brammer (43rd) and our very own John”kunku wap” Tabatabai (30th). However disappointed they felt came nowhere near the disappointment endured by 666MManson, a Betfair Poker player who finished in 28th place when only 27 were paid. Ouch!

666MManson's demise meant everyone who still had chips to play with had locked up at least $7,319.46, and seven of the last 27 were from Betfair! Raidalot2 (26th), XvasikaX (24th), IAMCEOBITCH (22nd) and Hentschit_ (20th) all deserve mentions for making into the money place but there are four more players who not only cashed but made it all the way to the ten-handed final table.

Iklonkyou of Sweden was the first of our heroes to bust out, his eighth place finish netting them $23,715.06 and he was followed to the rail a couple of eliminations later by RaiseyDaisy01 of Germany whose fifth place was worth a massive $48,169.38! Another bust out later and the last three players, two of whom were from Betfair Poker, were battling it out for ridiculously large prizes. Mike “MikeMcDonal” McDonald, better known as Timex, was the third place finisher. The young Canadian now has an extra $84,539.79 in his Betfair Poker account but his huge score was blown out of the water by Danish pro Simon “123jalla” Ravnsbaek who defeated the online poker legend that is ch0ppy heads-up to get his hands on the $171,612.12 first place prize! That's correct, a Team Betfair player took down the GSOP Grand Slam! Ship it, etc and whatever the cool kids say nowadays!

Ravnsbaek is not just a fantastic online player but he is also a very talented live player indeed and one who has more than $600,000 in live tournament winnings. His two largest live scores came in 2011 when he came third in the WPT Vienna Main Event for €169,690 and he won the Danish Championships for the equivalent of $83,872. Then earlier this year he reached another WPT final table in the Venice Grand Prix for a €52,565 addition to his bankroll. This will not be the last time you hear the Dane's name that is for sure.

An absolutely phenomenal set of performances from Betfair Poker player who between the eight who cashed won $358,778.08! We've run out of superlatives so we'll move onto more demolition of tournaments in the Mini-GSOP Grand Slam!

Mini-GSOP Grand Slam: $500+$25 $100,000 Guaranteed

The Mini-GSOP Grand Slam commanded a $525 entry fee but for that $100,000 in prize money was guaranteed. But any fears of the guarantee not being met were soon dashed when 594 players bought in and created a prize pool of $297,000.

My fishy little self played in this tournament and without going through all of the hands played, because I was in for 10 hours, I made it all the way to 11th place, a finish that earned me my biggest win of my career at $3,566.76. Although I burst the final table bubble I was, and still am, delighted with how the tournament went and I simply cannot wait until the next GSOP.

Of the 594 players Betfair Poker players made up 121 of them, again showing Betfair is one of the most popular sites on the Ongame Network for high stakes online poker, probably due to the fact funds are 100% safe on here! From these 121 players we managed to get 21 into the cash though Chris “NigDawG” Brammer only just made it as he finished 79th with 82 paid!

Cigar71 was the first player to take home four figures, his 50th place finish worth $1,025.07 and this steadily increased until yours truly came 11th for $3,566.76. This set the 10-handed final table where we had four Team Betfair players! Unreal! RE_WIRED of the UK busted in ninth for $5,649.86 whilst captainmilo of Hungary was stacked to finish one place ahead in eighth for $7,253.40. Seventh, six, fifth and fourth places were decided before ZayaZaya of Russia was knocked out in third place for a cool $28,324.25. Great effort. We almost had double Grand Slam wins but GoLionsGoEh could not quite get the job done and finished a very commendable second for just shy of $40,000!

In total the 21 players who cashed in the Mini-GSOP Grand Slam managed to earn $103,861.58 another breathtaking set of results put up by our boys and girls, amazing.

These results mean that Team Betfair players won an unbelievable $1,185,000.83 during GSOP 8 in in the coming days we will have plenty of facts and figures including the country with the most cashes and most prize money. It may not be who you expect it to be!

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At the start of the year, although I had no concrete plans on how to achieve them, I set myself some poker related goals. My largest cash in an online poker tournament stood at $491 and change so naturally I wanted to try and win a $500+ prize and I managed to do that during the Grand Series of Poker when I finished 50/600 in Event #3, the $100+$8 No Limit Hold'em rebuys and was awarded $521.

Naturally, the next step was to go out and land myself a four-figure score and not only have I managed to do that but I wasn't a million miles for a $5,000 win! You see, on Sunday I finished 11/594 in the Mini-GSOP Grand Slam for a cool $3,566.76, easily my best result ever by a country miles! Bursting the bubble was heart-wrenching, as was the passing up of the $57k first place prize but once that feeling subsided I had a smile on my face that was so wide I got saliva on my earlobes, despite it being 0500 in the morning.

I was in the tournament for 10 hours so I am not going to bore you to death with all of the hands because I would be there forever and a day trying to write them all out because there were tons of  them. If you are interested then head over to the Betfair forum and have a look at some of them because I was attempting to live blog though the frequency of the posts dropped somewhat towards the end due to sheer exhaustion and the fact I was surrounded by players who were way, way above me in terms of skill. At one point I had p0cket00 in my small blind and Chris Brammer in my big blind!

Although this particular event was the first-ever tournament I have played where I actually felt completely out of my depth it was a superb learning process for me, as were all the other GSOP events, and I just know they will stand me in good stead for the future. I noticed a few leaks that I need to plug, picked up some very helpful tips from quality players and learned a lot about myself too. Even without the money I would have considered the GSOP a massive success so having this new bankroll is nothing short of amazing for me.

Whilst I have no plans or desires to be playing $525 buy-in tournaments in the near future I am going to be able to mix in some larger buy-in tournaments into the mix, such as $22 and $33 buy-in games, possible the odd $54 if I play some lower buy-ins too to lower my average buy-in; though $54's will be quite infrequent. I'll also be able to comfortably play in some of the smaller rebuy tournaments, tournaments I have avoided in the past because of my paltry bankroll, though again these will be played in lesser volume than freezeouts because that is the type of game I am more comfortable in playing in.

My poker plans for the next few weeks are to play more on Betfair Poker, as the vast majority of my bankroll is on here now, but not to go silly and start 10 tabling every tournament that pops up in the lobby because a decent win does not suddenly turn me into the next Phil Ivey but it has certainly filled me with confidence, which coupled with the fact I have not had a alcoholic drink since Feb.15 gives me a great chance to actually make some money from this ridiculous game we all love! How much time I will have to play over the next month is uncertain thanks to live reporting gigs but I'll fit some play in when I can that is for sure.

On Sunday I fly to Milan then head to Campione for EPT Campione (fancy that) which is right on the Swiss / Italian border so I am hoping online poker is allowed and works out there then when that has finished I am back home for 10 days before heading to Vienna for three days to help with The Big Game 48-hour cash game, back home for a day then fly to Berlin for a week for EPT Berlin. By the time those gigs are out of the way I will be having a well deserved rest I think! The Big Game is the one I am looking forward to the most because it is not live reporting as such but more colour pieces for PokerNews and the possibility to interview some of the players, though I am bricking it about that last point as I have very little experience in interviewing. All in all it's a very hectic month coming up but I'm on such a high with everything in life right now I couldn't care less, in fact the busier the better!

Until next time, thanks for reading and the best of luck at the tables!

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A little under a week ago a total of 477 players started the Madrid Main Event of the European Poker Tour and they were all outlasted by one man, Denmark's Frederik Jensen, the newest EPT champion.

This is Jensen's first major title of his career and it finally kicks the proverbial monkey off his shoulder as until this tournament he had a number of near misses in major events. In 2010 he came second in the Aussie Millions Main Event, third in a €5,000 side event at the EPT Grand Final , sixth in the EPT Vilamoura Main Event and fifth in a €5,000 six max side event at EPT Barcelona. Now he has his first outright win and let's not forget about the €495,000 winner's prize.

The eight-handed final table lasted 11-hours, including breaks, and was the home of a number of talented poker players. It took almost two full 75-minute levels for the table to lose its first player, Jason Duval moving all in with 7h-7c and losing out to the Ah-Kd of Andrei Stoenescu when the latter flopped a pair of aces.

Next to go was EPT regular Nicolas Levi and his trademark Trilby hat. This was Frenchman Levi's third EPT fial table appearance but he is going to have to make a fourth if he wants an EPT title. He started as the short-stack and just could not dig his way out of that particular hole and his misery was ended when he shoved with KsQd bit could not pair either of his holecards to beat the pocket sevens of rapper Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes. Shortly afterwards Ilan Boujenah's hopes of taking the title back to Israel were ended when he committed his stack with As-Js on an Ac-Jd-10h-5d-5h board only to discover Lopes was sat there with Kh-Qh all the time for the nut straight.

In the EPT's eight long seasons there is yet to be a Spanish winner and that record will last until at least EPT Campione in a week's time because Ricardo Ibanez busted out in fifth place when he open-shoved from the small blind with ace-deuce but did not count on Stoenescu waking up in the big blind with a pair of ladies, which held, to send the last standing Spaniard to the rail much to the disappointment of the Spaniards in the crowd.

Cash-game specialist Stoenescu then found queens again to send Lopes home in fourth spot. Macintyre had opened the betting with a standard raise and Lopes three-bet all-in over the top with what turned out to be Ad-10d. Unfortunately for him Stoenescu found the queens again and reshoved over the top, forcing Macintyre to fold. The board ran out 7h-4d-2s-3d-6s and then there were just three players remaining.

The surviving trio then struck a deal that saw Macintyre lock up €290,000, Stoenescu €330,000 and Jensen €385,000 with the remainder of the prizepool going to whoever eventually won the title. That turned out not to be Stoenescu as his Kd-8h lost to Jensen's 7s-6s after the pair got it on on a 10d-8s-5s flop. The Ks turn gave the Romanian some hope but the Qc river was not what he needed and the tournament entered the heads-up phase.

Jensen entered the one-on-one battle with a 2:1 chip advantage and it only took 15-minutes for him to press this advantage home. Macintyre was all in with As-9d against the Ac-10h of Jensen and when the board ran out Js-8d-4d-Qh-Qs it was game over for the Scot and Jensen had won his first major title.

The EPT now heads to Campione on the Swiss / Italian border. I'll be there in a reporting capacity and I'm sure Jensen will be too. The last two EPT titles have been one by Danes, will Campione be the third on the spin? We will find out in a week or so's time.

EPT Madrid final table results

1st: Frederik Jensen - €495,000
2nd: Fraser Macintyre - €290,000
3rd: Andrei Stoenescu - €330,000
4th: Bruno Lopes - €140,000
5th: Ricardo Ibanez - €115,000
6th: Ilan Boujenah - €92,000
7th: Nicolas Levi - €69,450
8th: Jason Duval - €48,000

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For 16 of those starting 24 the dream ended abruptly within the seven hours of Day 4 but for the eight survivors there is a very realistic chance they will be walking away with €545,000 and the title of EPT Madird champion when the dust finally settles on final table day.

At the start of play all eyes were on the young Canadian Mike “Timex” McDonald and his quest to become the first player to win two EPT titles, something that has not happened in more than 80 Main Events so far. McDonald won his first title in 2008 when he won the EPT Dortmund Main Event and has since come very close to winning a second after finishing fifth at 2009 EPT Dortmund, 11th at 2009 EPT Barcelona,and third at the 2010 EPT Deauville. His quest would ultimately end in ninth place in this event. McDonald found himself all in with 10d-10c against the Ah-Kh of Andrei Stoenescu and when the board ran out a drama-filled Qc-10h-Jh-3h-4d McDonald busted out and the final table was set.

The final eight will be lead into battle by Ricardo Ibanez who will start the day with 3,216,000 chips. He is an unknown on the Hendon Mob database but he is guaranteed to have his first entry on there, at least €48,000, by the time this tournament comes to a conclusion. Second in chips is Fraser Macintyre on 2,473,00, the Scot looking to follow in fellow countryman David Vamplew's footsteps and bring an EPT trophy back to the Highlands.

The other players to make it to the finale include Frederik Jensen (2,144,000), the aforementioned Stoenescu (1,974,000) rapper, break dancer and graffiti artist Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes (1,452,000), Partouche Poker Tour Main Event final tablist Ilan Boujenah (1,382,000), Jason Duval (963,000) and Frenchman Nicolas Levi (709,000).

Play resumes at 12:00 Central European Time and will continue until the champion has been crowned. Any one of these eight men could walk away with the honours; who will it be? Check back in tomorrow to find out!

EPT Madrid Final Table Seat Draw

Seat 1: Ricardo Ibanez : 3,216,000
Seat 2: Frederik Jensen : 2,144,000
Seat 3: Fraser Macintyre: 2,473,000
Seat 4: Bruno Lopes: 1,452,000
Seat 5: Andrei Stoenescu: 1,974,000
Seat 6: Ilan Boujenah: 1,382,000
Seat 7: Jason Duval: 963,000
Seat 8: Nicolas Levi: 709,000

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The European Poker Tour Madrid Main Event has seen its 477 entrants whittled down to just 24 players and they will return to their seats inside the Gran Casino Madrid at 12:00 CET for the penultimate day's play. By the time the curtain comes down on another day of intense and high quality poker action only the eight-handed final table members will remain.

The man who is in pole position going into Day 4 is Brazilian pro Joao Paulo Simao who will start his day by unbagging then having to stack up 1,973,000 chips, 820,000 more than his nearest rival. Simao is not a regular on the EPT circuit but after this performance he may just be, especially as it seems Lady Luck has taken a shine to him. He was already in a relatively healthy position as Day 3 was drawing to a close but he won a gigantic pot right at the death that saw him climb to the top of the chip counts and left two shell shocked players heading for the rail.

The blinds were 6,000/12,000/1,000a and from the UTG+1 seat Andries Swart opened to 26,000. In the very next seat was Konstantinos Nanos and he looked down at 7c-7s and took several minutes before deciding his best move was to move all in for 270,000. The action then rather unsurprisingly folded around to Simao in the big blind and after discover he had been dealt As-Kh moved all in, covering both players. Amazingly Swart made the call for his tournament life and showed Qd-Qh! The dealer put out the 10d-9s-4c flop as a crowd gathered around the perimeter of the table. The audience swelled as the 2d landed on the turn and everyone was left open-mouthed as the Kc made an appearance on the river to bust out both Swart and Nanos and to boost Simao's stack close to 2,000,000 chips!

Simao's closest opponent, in terms of chips, is Ilan Boujenah. The Israeli has some impressive results to his name including a third place finish in the 2010 WPT Amneville Main Event and more recently a fourth place finish in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event, that last result netting him a career-best €300,000. Boujenah starts the day with 1,153,000 chips.

Also past the 1,000,000 barrier is Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes with a stack of 1,103,000. Lopes is better known in some circles as “Kool Shen” a French rapper with Portuguese origins who is also a break dancer and graffiti artist; we kid you not. When he's not busting some moves he is actually a talented poker player who has over $380,000 in live tournament winnings, helped in part by him winnings the €5,000 No Limit Hold'em Diamond Championships in January for €100,000.

Other notables still left in the field include Mike “Timex” McDonald with 883,000 chips, the young Canadian looking to become the first-ever double EPT champion having won EPT Dortmund back in 2007, the online tournament specialist Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur (734,000), Nicolas Levi (526,000) and two Brits in the shape of Fraser Macintyre (717,000) and Ben Spraggons (245,000).

Play resumes at 12:00 CET and will continue until the eight-handed final table has been reached. At present each player has locked up at least €13,000 for their efforts so far but by the time play comes to an end later today, or perhaps in the early hours of tomorrow, they will each be guaranteed €48,000 and be one step closer to the €545,000 first place prize.

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The last of the "normal" Grand Series of Poker (GSOP) events before the Grand Finals saw the focus switch back to rebuys, a $54 and $5.50 version of them. They both kicked off 90-minutes after Event #17 and I only managed to last a total of 60 hands between both events. I am so awesome!

GSOP Event #18: $50+$4 No Limit Hold'em Turbo w/Rebuys $75,000 Guaranteed

Sticking with my tried and tested plan of accumulate a big stack without the need to rebuy seemed to be going quite well because after the fifth hand I had three-times my starting stack! Three players folded and the fourth moved all in for 10, that's ten, chips. Next to act then made it 150 to play, to their left called, I called with pocket jacks on the button and the small blind called too! Family pot! The 4c-2c-3d flop was greeted with a 400 bet from the small blind, a raise all in for 1,300 from the intial raiser and a call from me. The SB also called so we had a three way all in where I was up against 77 and 99! I held though 60 chips went to the nano-stack who had actually flopped a set of deuces!

Due to the turbo blind structure it wasn't long before I was, just like a woman in labour, wanting to push. I decided that the best way to play AhQc with a 4,065 stack and blinds of 300/600/60a was to move all in UTG+1 but unfortunately for me the cutoff came along for the ride with 9h9c and the big blind held a dominating AcKs. The board ran out 10c-7d-6c-Kc-Qs and my one bullet shot of glory ended 373/684.

Meanwhile the 129 Betfair Poker players who started the tournament were gradually being whittled down to just a select few, 22 to be exact, who made it to the money places. Commiserations to PapAmericano who busted in 95th place with 90 spots paid, he has had an amazing series. But once again one man's disappointment paved the way for greater things for his fellow Betfair players because we had no fewer than seven players on th final two tables and two on the very last tabel of the tournament. HenrikX_ came sixth for $3,227.16 whilst his fellow Swede St3k4R3 came agonisingly close to wining before busting out in second spot for a cool $11,093.36.

Event #18 in numbers

Total entrants: 684
Total prize pool: $90,650
Total Team Betfair entrants: 129 (18.86% of field)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 22
Total Team Betfair prize money: $22,771.66

Mini-GSOP Event #18: $5+$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Turbo Rebuys $12,500 Guaranteed

I should have known that mini-Event #18 was going to be a short one after I had to rebuy after 10 hands. I managed to get my chip in with AsAc against both 8c8s and AsKh only for the board to run out 2d-5d-7s-8d-Jd. LOL! Donkaments. After reloading I last a further 13 hands before I moved all in with AhJh for just shy of 6BB and was called by AdJd, 9d9c and QcQd! Really! The board ran out 6d-6h-5d-3c-10c and I busted out in 725/839.

There was no point rebuying at that stage because doing so would have only given me 7.5BB and a double rebuy 15 so I'd rather keep the $10 in my pocket ta.

Thankfully some of the Team Betfair players sailed through into the money places, 17 of them in total and of those 17 three of them made it all the way to the final table. NestyaBalUA of the Ukraine came seventh. I - a88a - I from Latvia was sixth whilst PapAmericano of Poland was fifth. Super dooper pooper scooper!

Mini-event #18 in numbers

Total entrants: 839
Total prize pool: $12,870
Total Team Betfair entrants: 133 (15.85% of field)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 17
Total Team Betfair prize money: $1,956,43 (15.20% of prize pool)

So with just the Grand Final's to go Team Betfair players have cashed 382 times for prize money of $640,274.28 and the mini-GSOP players reached the money 469 times for total winnings of $54,501.54! Overall that adds up to $694,775.82 from 851 cashes, which is quite frankly amazing!

The Grand Finals are on Sunday night and once they are completed we will have some in-depth analysis of the series as a whole but you can see here it has been a resounding success!

Event #17 and mini-Event #17 of the Grand Series of Poker (GSOP) saw combined guaranteed prize pools of $600,000 making meaning there was a chance this could be Team Betfair's most profitable day. As it happened it did not pick up that particular title but Betfair players still picked up more than $90,000 for their efforts.

GSOP Event #17: $500+$25 No Limit Hold'em $500,000 Guaranteed

Event #17 was the biggest online tournament I have ever played in, in fact it was the largest tournament live or online that I had ever played in but instead of being nervous I was so looking forward to it. Maybe that would have been different had I bought myself in but hey, I was eager to get down to business and win some serious wonga!

From the first card being dealt you could tell this was a higher buy-in game as it played much tighter than others I had been part of and I was planning on using that to my advantage by trying to pick up some early chips but thanks to having ridiculously bad cards that plan was shelved after around 35 minutes. I did try to make a move during the 100/200 level when the hijack opened to 400, I three-bet to 900 with 8h7h but we both got out of the way when the big blind shoved for 6,345.

The next hand I played came in the next level and it ended like the one previously. I made it 625 to play with the blinds 125/250/25a with pocket sevens in middle position only to see the hijack shove for 3,278 and the big blind to re-shove for 12,451. Sevens no good then? Nope.I obviously folded and was shown TT and JJ. I then got back to folding until the 103rd and final hand of my tournament.

HhCMotU23 was UTG+1 and he min-raised to 600 two players folded and ReidHorkins made the call. I was next to act and I thought it would be a good spot to squeeze in but instead of shoving my 20bb into the middle I got it into my head that making a normalish raise would look far scarier so I made it 1,990 to play leaving 4,360 behind. The table folded back around to HhCMotU23 and he shoved for exactly 19,000 ReidHorkins folded and I called off my chips with pocket nines to find myself up against the ace-king of diamonds. The first card out was the As followed by 3h-2h-5c-Ks and I was eliminated 823/1,143. Oh well, maybe next year.

There were still over 150 of my fellow Betfairians in the field at the time of my bust out and of those 38 managed to make it through to the money places which started at 180th place and awarded $764.66; I'd have been delighted to have even got that far. By the time wigolio has finished in 100th spot everyone was taking home $1,108.27 for their efforts but they still had the chance of a huge prize. Iklonkyou of Sweden almost won a monster prize but busted out in 14th spot for $4,500.83 and this was outdone by KPCHUK of the Ukraine who fell in ninth place for $9,122.66. The best placed Betfair Poker player was Cigar71 of the UK who lost his stack to finish in eighth place for a cool $11,711.84 taking the toal won in that event to $68,209.40!

Event #17 in numbers

Total entrants: 1,143
Total prize pool: $571,500
Total Team Betfair entrants: 246 (21.52% of field)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 38
Total Team Betfair prize money: $68,209.40 (11.94% of prize pool)

Mini-GSOP Event #17: $50+$4 No Limit Hold'em $100,000 Guaranteed

The mini-Event #17 was one of the biggest fields of the series with 2,257 entrants in total, 373 of them coming from Betfair including little old me. Feeling more experienced than ever I was keen to get this tournament under way but it took me over an hour to play the first pot of note, up to that point I had simply treaded water and by the 125/250/25a level I had 9,913 chips of my starting 10,000. Yeah, that's how it was going.

That all changed though when bufik88 opened to 500 from UTG and I woke up with AcAs two seat to his left. I naturally three-bet to 1,375 and to my surprise ulM8gg_ moved all-in for 11,597 from the small blind! The original raiser folded but I was going nowhere and called to find a pair of kings staring back at me. The board ran out Qc-Qd-10s-Jd-2h and I had doubled to 20,576 and was now in good shape to say the least.

Thanks to a lack of playable cards and some mistimed steal attempts my stack had dwindled to 14,606 when this hand in the 300/600/60a level happened. Getalife45 opened to 1,200 under the gun and I failed to notice they only had 6,595 at the start of the hand so my three-bet to 3,450 a bit pointless I guess but I was still in early position so shoving didn't feel right but whatver. Anyway, Getalife45 then called leaving just 3,145 behind and he shoved. Almost without thinking I folded then kicked myself as I saw the stack sizes. FML!

I then got moved tables and the found jacks under the gun so moved all in with for 9,281 with blinds now 400/800/75a and winced when any2andy called on the button but my fears were put at ease when he showed pocket sevens and in the same suites as mine! The 4s-6s-Ac-5c-Qs board saw me double back to 20,112 then six hands later I opened from the hijack with KdQh and both blinds called. The flop came down Kh-Kc-Jd, both blinds checked, I lead for 3,910 into 5,550 only to see the SB fold but the BB check-raise to 8,000. Instead of playing it slow I went for the kill and shoved for my last 12,952 and he instantly mucked. Still, I was now up to 30,412. That was until any2andy from a few hands ago knocked me out.

The blinds had just gone up to 500/1,000/100a and I was playing just over 28,000 when I saw any2andy open to 2,000 in middle position. I was on the button with QcQd and I made it 5,675 to play. Both blinds folded but any2andy called and we shared a flop reading 6c-6h-7s. Villain checked to me and I moved all-in for 22,612 into the 13,850 pot hoping villain thought I had either missed the flop with AK / AQ type hands or I had something like 88 or 99.Villain did indeed call but not because of those reasons but because he was holding pocket aces! A 4h on the turn gave me a sweat for the split pot but it failed to arrive and I busted out 373/695 whilst any2andy, a fellow Betfair player, made it all the way to 209th for $103.48.

In total 79 Betfair players made it into the money places including Cigar71 who we mad eit to the final table of the Big Event #17, he busted in 19th place in the mini-event so a big shout out to them. Other huge shoutouts need to go to the next three players who made it all the way to the final table! Paisti00 (8th), UbeenBaxed (sixth) and gs12345678 (third) all fell just short of the massive $17,000 first place prize. A massive congrats to you all!

Mini-Event #17 in numbers

Total entrants: 2,257
Total prize pool: $112,850
Total Team Betfair entrants: 373 (16.53% of field)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 79
Total Team Betfair prize money: $22,771.66 (20.18% of prize pool)

More sterling performances from our Team Betfair players who now have winnings of $617,502.62 from 360 cashes and our mini players a total of $52,545.11 from 452 in the money finishes!

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Event #16 of the Grand Series of Poker (GSOP) went back to the favourite tournament type for the majority of players, a good old fashioned freezeout. The bigger event boasted a $162 buy-in and a $100,000 guarantee whilst it's mini equivalent was a $22 $15,000 guaranteed event. How did I and my fellow Team Betfair players get on? Pretty damned well actually.

Event #16: $150+$12 No Limit Hold'em $100,000 Guaranteed

Having not felt outclassed in any of the Hold'em tournaments at any stage and the fact that if it was not for a couple of errors on my part and not being able to get big hands to hold up I would have won quite a lot of money then it is safe to say I was in confident mood going into the 16th event.

If you have a flick through, virtually of course, the recaps of each event you will notice that in almost every single GSOP I have played I have not got off to a good start, but this one was an entirely different beast. Just four hands into proceedings I picked up pocket tens under the gun and raised to 90. To my direct left was larseda. and they called as did Solimto in the big blind. The three of us shared a flop reading Jd-10h-As and when Solimto checked to me I fired a continuation bet of 175 into the 285 pot and to my surprise both of my opponents made the call. The 2d on the turn was greeted by three checks (I know I should be betting here) and when the 5d peeled off on the river I bet 570 when it was checked to me and only Solimto called, but they mucked when I showed my set. Up to 6,100 early door, nice swan!

Not much happened until the 80/160 when I won two decent pots in three hands. The first saw me me pick up a 3,300 pot when I stole with QhJc and was called on the flop and turn by an open-ended straight draw (I paierd my queen on the turn) the I won a 7,720 pot with pocket tens against a pair of eights, the latter moving all in on a 4d-7d-3s-2c board and suddenly I had 11,495 chips and was looking in good shape.

Lady Luck robbed me of the chance to be sat with more than 21,000 chips in a pretty standard hand. The blinds were 125/250/25a and a shorty moved all in for 3,305 chips with what turned out to be Th8h and his shove may have gotten through had the small blind not woken up with AcQc. He re-shoved but unfortunately for him I found KcKh in the hole and called the all-in! The board ran out 2s-4h-8s-10c-6s and although I lost the main pot I won the side pot so gained a couple of thousand chips.

From there I just could not get anything going at all and with the money bubble looming I was expecting to be the one to burst it. I kept my stack as lively as I could by three-betting all in a couple of times but I would need something extra because at 1,000/2,000/200a I was down to 6,161 chips. These went in the middle with Ah5d from middle position and when I was called in two spots, both all in, I was not very hopeful. The first guy showed 4d4h and the other AsJd which was a pretty bad spot to be in. The 6c-2d-Qs flop was nothing to write home about but the 5h turn gave me the lead and some hope because all I had to do was dodge a three, four or jack and I was home and dry. The river was the 6h and I was back to the dizzy heights of 10.5 big blinds!

The bubble burst locking up more than $220 which is always nice but I wanted more! I picked up aces and three-bet all in but found no callers despite my short-stack; then came a hand to highlight how I have been running. When I saw AhJc staring back at me with blinds at 1,250/2,500/250a and me only having 17,883 chips so I obviously shoved but ONOPER123 to my left found AdAs, nice. To make matters worse romeosensini called off his stack in the big blind with 9s9c so I had less than 8% equity I believe. A queen-high board saw ONTOPER123 climb to 57,665 whilst I bowed out 89/875 for a welcome addition to the bankroll of $270.36.

I was the third Betfair Poker player to cash and we were joined in the winner's circle by seven others, the best placed being RiblStrike of Russia who almost went all the way but eventually busted ion third place for a cool $11,156.90. You may remember the name RiblStrike from an earlier article because the Russian finished third in the mini-GSOP #6 out of a field of 1,562 for a score of $1,709. The GSOP has certainly treated him right!

Event #16 in numbers

Total entrants: 875
Total prize pool: $131,250
Total Team Betfair entrants: 148 (16.91% of field)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 10
Total Team Betfair prize money: $14,982.11 (11.41% of prize pool)

Mini-GSOP Event #16: $20+$2 No Limit Hold'em $15,000 Guaranteed

Mini event #16 attracted a bumper of 1,009 players but despite its huge size I still managed to make it into the money pace and the top 10% of the field. Go me!

There were no real hands of note for the first hour I'd say unless you like to read about raising then players folding to c-bets but in the 80/160 level some luck came my way and my stack swelled to sizes only my belly can compare to. UTG+1 min-raised to 320 and after one player folded bufik88 made the call. I was sat on his left and had been dealt AcKs so popped it up to 1,450. This folded out everyone except bufik88 who moved all in for for 5,060 in total. Getting almost 2:1 and only in trouble against KK and AA I called and was shown pocket jacks. I missed the flop but picked up the gutshot but I didn't need that as an ace turned to win me the hand and the 10,680 chips in the middle of the virtual felt.

I folded for what seemed like an absolute age then a strange hand came up at the 150/300/30a level. The action folded around to larseda. who we mentioned in the big GSOP, and they open-shoved from the button for 10,919. I called with AsKc, flopped a king, turned a third and that was more than enough to smash the red threes I was up against; another reprieve.

More folding ensued before I lost a crucial pot against a 10bb stack to leave me with 12bb. The action folded to fwllo Team Betfair player RR-T0T0Nr1 in the small blind and he shoved for 8,651. I called in the big blind with AdQh and was shown a dominating AsKd. He didn't need to but he picked up a king on the river and I was left needing some help. At least my chips helped him out as he went on to finish in 85th place, inside the money.

Shortly afterwards the blinds went up to 1,000/2,000/200a and shortly after that I was on my way out of the tournament. Everyone folded to me on the button and I moved in for 9,117 with Qd6h. Prthal11 re-shoved from the small blind with what turned out to be AcJh and although the 2d-10h-5s-4s board teased me with an unlikely straight a second ten on the river busted me out in 100/1,009 player but I was happy with how I played.

In total 33 Team Betfair players made it into the money with seven of those making it into the top 50 payout places. The best placed of us was ZyZH from Switzerland who finished in 11th place for a $199.82 return.

More superb results from Betfair players and I am sure we are performing the best out of all the sites on the Ongame network. Our players have now cashed 348 times in the GSOP events for prize money of $564,275.33 whilst our mini-event player have made it into the money 410 times for money worth $31,523.32.

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Poker is a funny old game. Sometimes no matter what you do absolutely nothing goes right for you but on other occasions everything seems to slot into place and you completely crush the games. Nope, I've not been dominating event #15 but Team Betfair completely annihilated it.

GSOP Event #15: $190+$10 No Limit Hold'em 1R1A $250,000 Guaranteed

Event #15 was another event I was looking forward to due to the one rebuy one add-on structure, something I am a big fan of as explained in previous write-ups. Again I planned on playing the $200 buy-in version on one bullet as it had served me right on more than one occasion so why not this time around?

As usual I got off to a slow and steady start but picked up a nice pot during the 25/50 level when I opened to 125 from the hijack with pocket jacks and the big blind called me with what turned out to be pocket nines. Villain check called a 175 bet on the 8c-Ks-7d flop and check-called a 395 bet on the arrival of the 7h on the turn. But  couldn't pull the trigger again when the Ac fell on the river so we both checked and I scooped the pot.

Shortly afterwards I won a big pot by gambling with ace-king. A player opened from early position to 200 at 40/80 and the action folded to the small blind who inexplicably moved all in for 2,332. Something just didn't smell right and I decided to take what I thought would be a flip with some small to medium pair so I shoved for a few hundred more and the original raiser folded. The three-bet shover then turned over KhQh and although he picked up an open-ended straight draw on the 10d-2c-Jd flop, the turn and river bricked off and suddenly I had close to 5,500 chips.

I climbed to 6,700 or so when my ace-queen held against a 10bb shove from Ah7h and then I won a nice pot with 88 after flopped a boat and rivering quads. Unfortunately the board was eight high so it was difficult to extra any value at all really, but for the first time really in the GSOP I was picking up cards when I needed to and was hitting cards; could this be my big win?

I further added to my stack after the rebuy period when the the small blind made it 3,600 to play with blinds just 150/300. He only had 610 behind so I put him all in with my red jacks, which held against his king-ten of hearts then I picked up aces twice in 15 hands and won a total of 10,400 chips and the Mrs was planning on what to spend my winnings on but there was time for me to mess things up.

With the blinds now 400/800/80 and me having 16,317 chips I was in an awkward position stack wise and a stack size that I am not used to playing at all. Three players folded and a shorty moved all in for 1,443 chips. I was next to act and for some reason I opted to make it 3,200 to play. Here I should be folding but if I was to play then I should have been shoving but hey, I'm a low stakes cash game fish! Anyway, two players folded but the button called. The flop came down Qc-Js-Td, I checked and villain checked behind. The turn was the 3s and there is now way villain has AK or 98 here but again I made the mistake of going for the check-raise instead of leading, a mistake because if he is drawing then I am giving him infinite odds to make his hand. Anyway I checked, he bet 2,800 and I check-raised all in for my last 13,117 chips. Villain snapped my hand off before showing me TsTh for a set of tens. Jesus! The river was the 4c and I was left with 5,140 and in need to double again.

A couple of hands later I picked up queen-jack UTG and open shoved for 4,900 and won the blinds then four hands later the action folded to me in the cutoff and I open-shoved 5,300 with 2s2d. Unfortunately for me the button, 61kepn, woke up with AsKs. He flopped a king and I was eliminated in 141/697 with 92 paid. I emailed a few top poker players about the 33 hand and each of them said I should simply have folded. Damn!

Once again my disappointment was turned into joy as Team Betfair demolished the field. A big shout out to 1PLAYNUDE from Finland who could have bought themselves some clothes had they not bubbled the tournament but at least they can console themselves with the fact everyone else who busted out after them picked up $673.11. Five Betfair Poker players won this amount but we also have four players who won between $1442.38 and $2,860.72. This alone would be cause for celebration but waiting until you read this next little bit!

Raidalot, 110100101101, grifsdik, CANCELC and St3kR3 finished first, third, fifth, sixth and seventh respectively! Absolutely unbelievable performances there from our heroes! Their results alone were worth more the $97,500 and I can't describe how amazed I am at those results; breathtaking is somewhere near.

Event #15 in numbers

Total entrants: 697
Total prize pool: $250,000
Total Team Betfair entrants: 117 (16.79% of field)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 16
Total Team Betfair prize money: $110,856.40 (44.34% of prize pool)

Mini-GSOP Event #15: $20+$2 No Limit Hold'em 1R1A $30,000 Guaranteed

Mini-Event #15 saw me not only re-buy quite early on but also add-on at the break as I really had a good feeling about doing well in this one. In total there were 777 players making for some decent prizes and like I say I just had a feeling about it.

My spider sense must be slightly off because for the first 90 minutes I essentially folded, folded and folded some more and I was wondering if the Poker Gods were not pleased about my $40 investment but then all of a sudden I won a few pots in a row. First I three-bet over the top of a late position raiser and took down the pot without contest then I not only picked up pocket rockets but I picked them up and got shoved on, magnificent.

The blinds were 150/300/30a and I picked up AhAc in early position and made it 600 to play. To my direct left was bmf1968 and I cannot really fault him for three-bet shoving 6,715 chips with AdQd at all. Obviously I called and was delighted to see his hand as I was a substantial favourite to be sat with over 14,000 chips in a few moments' time. The 7c-9c-8s flop gave me even more joy as now the diamond flush was impossible and he had around 4% equity. The 10h turn improved that to 14% but surely I'd still win? No, not a chance. The river was the Js which although gave me a straight (playing the board) gifted the bmf1968 a higher one thanks to the queen in his hand. I swear you could not make this up!

I managed to double on the next hand with A8 vs 77 but then shoved with JdTd and ran into AdJc. Neither of us improved and ace-high took the pot. So instead of bragging about another really deep run I had to make do with 336th place. On to the next one!

Just like in the Big GSOP equivalent Team Betfair walked all over this tournament too, with 22 of our players cashing and two of those almost going the full distance before falling down in fifth, sixth and tenth. Step forward, in that order, the guy who all but busted me bmf1968 (at least he put my chips to good use), KkmocrosKK and MookBlaylock. Top bombing guys.

Mini-Event #15 in numbers

Total entrants: 777
Total prize pool: $36,520
Total Team Betfair entrants: 109 (16.72% of field)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 22
Total Team Betfair prize money: $6,106.17 (% of prize pool)

With those amazing results Team Betfair players have won more than half a million dollars this series! GSOP players have cashed 338 times for combined winnings of $549,293.22 whilst the mini-GSOP players have bagged themselves $29,920.08 spread across 373 cashes. Superb results people!

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Event #14 of the Grand Series of Poker saw the play switch back to Pot Limit Omaha but not just any version of PLO, no. This one was six-handed with unlimited rebuys for an hour. Things were about to get messy.

Event #14: $50+$4 Pot Limit Omaha Short-Handed $50,000 Guaranteed

If ever there was a time to use your “one-time” then this was the tournament to use it in but only if you, like me, were planning to play on a single bullet. I see little point in rebuying into a tournament that you have no edge at all so off I went in an attempt to go big or go home.

Had this event been Omaha Hi/Lo then I may have actually played some hands within what seemed like three months, actually that's a lie because the cards I was being dealt were pathetic and basically unplayable. The problem with being card dead is everyone labels you as a complete nit so when I raised with KK44 double suited everyone folded and I picked up the 150 blinds. That's right folks, my first raise came in the 50/100 level, that's how bad things were. I went back to folding for a couple of orbits before opening with AhJsTsTh and again picked up the blinds. Boo.

Yet more folding took place when something miraculous happened' I flopped a set and it held! Finding myself down to 1,595 chips and blinds at 75/150 was not an ideal scenario so when the action folded to me on the button I raised to 525 with 9s9d3h3c, not the most premium of hands but with my tighter than a duck's bumhole image my raise should have gotten through. But that was not the case because ffreshhh decided to make it 1,725 from the small blind, and rightly so because he held a nice looking AdKhQsTh. Unfortunately for him I was in a gambling mood and called and when the board ran out 8s-Kc-9c-2d-5c I doubled to 3,340 but was still not exactly deep stacked. Then I had a brain fart and blew my chips.

I opened from UTG with JdTh9s6s because I am a donkey but if my raise was bad then my four-bet shove over the top of ffreshhh's re-raise was horrendous. He snapped my hand off and showed AdKdKc4s, the baord ran out 6d-3c-Ah-4h-5s. Why did I play it like that? I honestly do not know because it was a terrible move. Pud you big fat fish.

Thankfully the fact I played like a pile of poo was overshadowed by the awesomeness of Team Betfair players. In total 12 of them made it into the money places including PapAmericano who has had some amazing results this series and is really impressing me. His latest 47th place finish worth $251.74. Special mentions simply have to go to LazyDaawg from German, RE_WIRED of the UK and ImToulouse of Sweden who finished in 12th, 11th and 10th respectively. Congrats because reaching the final two tables is great achievement.

Another amazing accomplishment is finishing in fourth place like .HajniAK. Did for $4,429.46 but the best of all came from Canada's anustobouche who went all the way and won Event #14 for a cool $12,139.32! Absolute quality from the  four card loving Canadian.

Event #14 in numbers

Total entrants: 391
Total prize pool: $62,750
Total Team Betfair players: 74 (18.93% of field)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 12
Total Team Betfair prize money: $21,317.76 (33.97% of prize pool)

Mini Event #14: $5+$0.50 Pot Limit Omaha Short-Handed Rebuys $10,000 Guaranteed

This little event should have been a barrel of laughs thanks to the low buy-in and the crazy nature of the game. But it is only fun if you get to play some hands, something I didn't really do until the 75/150 level. By this stage I had lost a large chunk of my stack and had to rebuy, well I didn't have to but wanted to you see, that way I could give even more chips to my fellow players!

The first donation came when I folded a street, maybe two, too late. UTG limped and I limped behind on the button with 9s8s6h5h, the big blind checked (there was no SB as there had just been an elimination). The three of us shared a 3s-10s-9c flop a flop that the BB bet 150 into 450 and we both called. The 8h turn saw the big blind change tactics and instead of betting small they bet 900 into 900 and again the open-limper and I called. The 2d on the river was a complete blank but that did not stop the big blind potting the action and now both myself and my passive opponent decided enough was enough and we folded.

A few hands later and I doubled up after finding aces, a great Hold'em hand but not so much Omaha. I opened to 525 with AhAc6d3s not planning on anything than having my UTG raise scoop the blinds for me. But the next player called and then muncken87, on the button, squeezed to 1,987. Hmm. I thought why not shove so did that, folding out the cold caller but muncken87 made the call with AdQs5d5s and despite picking up a flush draw on the turn he failed to hit and I suddenly had 10,745 chips but just as I was starting to really warm up I played a hand that I am sure I butchered.

With blinds now 200/400 I opened to 1,400 with Ah-Ks-Qc-Jc and villain three-bet to 4,800 with just 3,850 behind. The action folded to me and I think I should be shoving here and seeing all five community cards but for some reason I flatted, missed the flop and check-folded. In fact scrap the first sentence, I know I butchered this one. Wow, I played that badly, really badly. I paid the ultimate price too because I was eliminated the very next hand in a three-way all in.

I limped UTG with AsQhThTd and the cutoff, small blind and big blind came along for the ride. The flop came down Ts-9c-7c gifting me top set but I actually had poor equity because after the chips went flying in resulting in both myself and the small blind being all in against the cutoff I discover I was up against a flopped straight 9s9d8c6d (cutoff) and a flush and straight draw QsJc2c2s (SB). The Kh turn improved the SB to a straight but kept me in the game. The 6c river ended that game and the SB scooped the 25,075 pot. Oh well, maybe next time!

Again, like in the bigger GSOP, my fellow Team Betfair players' performances helped to gloss over my disappointing finish. Commiserations to Dr.Giddens of Norway who busted out in 93rd place with 92 paid, difficult to go so deep and not cash but someone has to burst that bubble. With Dr.Giddens becoming the bubble boy it paved the way for 11 Betfair Poker players to help themselves to some cold hard cash. Germany's nIcELiFe.DK busted in unlucky for some 13th whilst xxxTH80xxx was the 10th place finisher. Like the “big” Event #14 we had two Betfair players on the final table, RR-T0T0Nr1 eventually losing out in fifth place and PapAmericano falling just short of the tine in second place. PapAmericano has had an amazing GSOP and once all the events are written up it will be interesting to check out their figures. Well played everyone, you did Betfair proud.

Mini Event #14 in numbers

Total entrants: 620
Total prize pool: $11,185
Total Team Betfair players: 87 (14.03%)
Total Team Betfair cashes: 11
Total Team Betfair prize money: $2,432.10 (21.74% of prize pool)

Team Betfair have now cashed 322 times and won $438,436.82 whilst the mini editions have cashed a total of 351 times for $23,813.91

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