Mourant Charity Poker Series - HEAT ONE

The inaugural heat for the Mourant Charity Poker Series, was a resounding success. Over 40 players registered and the poker lasted a solid 4 hours.

By the time the re-buy period ended, we had well over 300,000 chips in play!

I started back from the break with a miserable 3000 chips, which was the starting point for all players anyway, so I was looking forward to crashing out so I could start up a cash game.

I doubled-up when someone didn't believe that I'd paired an ace, then came the first of two hands which would make me a contender to get to the final table.

I was dealt suited Ace, 8 and two more hearts came out on the flop. A guy bet out, so I called hoping to see another heart on the turn... another player also calls.

Rag.

The guy basically puts me all-in and to my suprise, the other guy calls. It's now or never and here is my opportunity to treble-up to 20,000 chips.

I call and a Jack of hearts hits on the river, giving me my nut flush! Woohoo! I take two players out and now have plenty of chips with the blinds at 600/1200.

We split-up my table and are down to the final two tables of 16 players. I sit next to Poker Princess and the Pokerbrat is opposite me.

I look down at pocket 9s, so raise it up when it gets to me. I get two callers. The flop is beautiful, giving me trips, but there's two spades on the board. Stuart Rowsell, a guy I've know for years but haven't seen for years, bets out at me and I'm pretty sure he's chasing the flush. I move all-in and he calls quickly. I ask him if he's chasing the nut flush and indeed he turns over Ace,7 of spades.

Shit.

I stand-up and tell the dealer to pair the board. The turn is another 9, giving me QUADS!!! Beautiful card and I'm now sitting on close to 50,000 chips and must be one of the chip leaders.

The other table loses two players, and as I was last to my table, I grab my chips and move again.

First hand, I'm dealt Ace, King so raise it up. I take down the blinds and one limper folds - an easy 3000 chips added to my stack.

After about ten minutes, one table has six players left and the other five, so we need one more person to go out on the bubble to have our final table. Unfortunately, it's BT who becomes the bubble boy.

It's great to see three Fishhookpoker players make the final table - the last ten looked like this:

Poker Princess
Tom Cope
Rob Sanford

Chris the Fish

Garett O'Brien

AnteVirusjT

James Dixon

Tim Le Cornu
John Pendergast
Tony Reed

Poker Princess is really unlucky when she calls an all-in move with her full house. The guy turns over quad Kings! So the Princess in sent to the rail, but tenth in a field of over 40 is solid.

Two guys are clear chip leaders, James Dixon and John Pendergast, so I know I need to double-up as soon as possible.

Two more guys are busted and I'm staying tight to let the field thin out a bit more.

Chris the Fish puts his tournament life on the line when he moves all-in with an open ended straight... and of course, he gets the card he needs on the turn, boosting his chip stack.

Tony Reed is the short stack and he's making moves whenever he gets half a hand. I pair a King on the flop and move Tony all-in and he calls with Ace, rag. He hits an Ace on the river, which doubles him up and takes a third of my chips.

We have a massive show-down between the chip leaders in one hand, and they both move all-in, which shows to me their inexperience. This is a totally unnecessary move, as they could have made the final two by sitting tight and only playing optimum hands - not surprisingly, neither of them has a monster. James Dixon wins and takes John Pendergast out 7th, and is now a MASSIVE chip leader with close to 200,000 (or two thirds) of the chips in play!

The guy has so many chips, we have to stack them on the window ledge behind him!

Dixon sucks-up Rob Sanford's chips too, by making a suspect call only to flop two pair. He's running hot!

I'm down to the final 5, but I'm one of the short stacks along with Tony Reed. I could sit tight and hope to dodge my way into the points, or try and win it. My decision is made when I look down at pocket 10s. Now 10s are a bastard, because you know if you get a caller you're either behind or in a coin flip against two over cards. Sure enough, I get one caller to my all-in move and I'm praying for a lower pair in his hand or Ace, rag. He's got pocket Jacks, and I'm busted out 5th by Tom Cope.

Dixon simply calls every all-in move, with hands like Jack,7 or worse and just hits every time! He puts out Tom Cope and Tony Reed and eventually takes down the Fish when he flops two pair!

James Dixon is the Heat One winner and chalks up 2o points on the leaderboard!

2nd place - Chris the Fish - 10 points

3rd place - Tony Reed - 5 points

Mr Dixon also won a limited edition Hendon Mob Chip Set, which is numbered and signed - a very nice prize.

The Fish, ever the gentleman, donates his 2nd place prize of a Royal Twist Chip Set, back into the prize pool for future heats, as the bragging rights of being the only Fishhookpoker crew member on the leaderboard is more than enough... prick!

It was a fantastic night, and I can't wait for Heat Two on Friday, 2nd May!

There were some incredible hands, and I found out later that my quad 9s was only the second quad 9s of the night! Of course we also had the quad Kings, and I'm told there was also a Straight Flush on one of the tables!

A huge stack of thanks to the fishhook crew, to Relentless for sponsoring the series, and to Andy and the staff at the Tipsy Toad for being such excellent hosts.

Check out the photos below...

jT

Above - Chris the Fish and BT help set-up - we've sold our souls to Relentless!




Above - Scooge McDuck (Centre) looks greedily across at The Fish's chips!



Above - The action heats up just before the end of the re-buy period.

Above - my chip stack is looking healthier after my nut flush!

Above - I move tables and find myself next to Poker Princess and opposite Pokerbrat. I'm thinking the final table is going to end up looking like our home game!







Above - A golden moment captured forever! Renzo brings my camera over and says, "jT let me take a photo of your hole cards!" So I oblige. I tell him to take a look at the flop, as another 9 drops. I forget Renzo is even standing there when I'm all-in against someone chasing the nut flush, and I turn my Quads!!!