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| Garry Mann is crowned The Nuts Poker League Champion for Scotland SCOTTISH NATIONAL FINALS REPORT The Nuts Poker League National Main Event for Scotland took place on Saturday 5th December at Alea Casino, Glasgow, with 100 qualifying players battling it out to be crowned The Nuts Poker League Champion of Scotland 2009. The event was underway at 1.30 when the dealers were told to “Shuffle up and Deal”. The casino floor remained fairly quiet for the first blind level then players started to get eliminated. There was a special event planned for the first 9 players out of the main event which was to play a £50 free-roll against Steve” The Badger” Bellis. It was to be £30 for 1st place and £20 for 2nd with an additional £20 bounty on Steve’s head. A nice touch we thought, and will be introduced to the next England & Wales main event. The 9 players were:- Michael Davidson Raymond Milliken Kevin Anderson Raymond Lyle Fraser Grieg John Muir Brian Macfie Mike Timms Colin Moore Talk about aggressive poker! Maybe because the players were eliminated from the main event, they though it was time to get into a higher gear and start to bully. Every hand was raised pre flop for the first 20 mins. Steve The Badger managed to pick up a few juicy pots against players who were still on tilt from the main event. After what seemed like hours of play the table was down to 2 players John Muir and Steve Bellis. After another 15 mins of cat and mouse play Steve eventually won the game with John the runner up. It was decided that Steve would donate the £30 and the £20 bounty to a local children’s charity. There was a special prize for the best hand of the day and not 30 mins into the main event hands shot into the air and players shouting “straight flush over here”. Upon inspection we saw the straight flush was to the King and held by David McMahon, only a Royal Flush was going to beat this one, and as expected did not appear. Best hand of the day £50 to David McMahon from McGills, Bargeddie There was also a random hand prize of the first pocket 8’s to win at showdown, £50 went to Dylan Barclay from Kirkton, Carluke. It took until 10.25pm to get down to the last 10 players with the Final Table looking like this: Garry Mann from Top Break Snooker Club, Peterhead 211,000 Jim Petrie from The Pines, Glasgow 45,000 Andy McCraw from International Casino, Aberdeen 77,000 Douglas Findlay from The Clachan, Largs 64,000 Grant O’Rourke from New Roxburgh Bar, Greenock 206,000 James Aitken from Kirkton Inn, Carluke 42,000 Dale Watson from Old Cross Guns, Cowdenbeath n/a Espen Helland from Espionage & Antiquary, Edinburgh 221,000 Andy Rooney from Espionage & Antiquary, Edinburgh 116,000 Emily Izatt from Westsider, Edinburgh 36,000 Dale Watson was unlucky as he did not manage to actually sit down at the final table. We had the situation of three players all in on one table and an all in on the other. As fate would have it Dale ran into pocket Kings which held up and finished in 10th position. A special mention to Emily Izatt who had the lowest chip count at the start of the final table managed to be patient and make some all in moves just at the right time to pinch the blinds on several occasions and to double up, which put Emily right in there with a chance. With blinds at 4,000 and 8,000 the action was fairly slow to start, but soon warmed up with Douglas Findlay going out in 9th position, quickly followed by Jim Petrie in 8th and Andy Rooney in 7th place. James Aitken’s pocket Queens were busted by pocket Kings even after hitting trips on the flop, a King was dealt on the river. James was out in 6th place. Grant O’Rourke and Andy McCraw soon followed in 5th and 4th place respectively. Just a few hands later Emily picked up pocket 6’s and pushed all in, with a call from Garry with pocket 10’s. The pocket 6’s did not improve and Emily was eliminated in 3rd place. A very creditable effort, coming from being the lowest chip stack, to finish in such a high position. So we were now heads up with Espen Helland and Garry Mann and after the photos were taken play resumed. Not a great deal of action for the first 10 mins and then a huge hand came down with Espen holding pocket jacks pushed all in. Could this be the deciding hand and it would cost Garry all of his chips to call. Garry called and very quickly turned over pocket Aces whilst the spectators delivered the now usual oooohs and aaaahs. The Aces held up and Espen lost over 200,000 chips. Play resumed and Garry could sense victory, but Espen had other ideas and played his cards well until picking up pocket 8’s and pushing all in. Garry thought about this for a moment and said call. The cards were turned to reveal Garry with A 5. Both players stood to witness the flop deliver A A 3 giving Garry trip Aces. Only an 8 could save Espen now, which did not come on the turn or river. Espen and Garry played some excellent poker and entertained everyone with their play. A big well done to Espen finishing runner up and to Garry Mann who is the new Nuts Poker League Scottish Champion Garry Mann from Peterhead Crowned Champion and wins £2,400 Runner up Espen Helland £1,400 3rd Emily Izatt £800 4th Andy McCraw £500 5th Grant O’Rourke £250 6th James Aitken £150 7th Andy Rooney £100 8th Jim Petrie £100 9th Douglas Findlay £100 10th Dale Watson £100 The Nuts Poker League now has a worthy Champion in Garry Mann from Peterhead. He has set a standard by which even he will be pushed to live up to. Good luck in defending your title. |