“SPUKT, Leg 5 - Swansea Stunner Monday 11th May09
The Sky Poker UK Tour road show decamped to South Wales on Saturday, for Leg Five of this spectacular Tour, and once again, all Seats were taken months in advance.
Swansea was bathed in bright spring sunlight on Saturday morning, and on a quick amble around Town, I was surprised to see that Swansea has a beach! I suppose most places on the coast do, but for some reason, it never struck me as a seaside Town. There you go, live and learn. It has a Castle too - who’d have thought it? I really need to get out more.
Our host Venue for the day was the quite spectacular Aspers Casino, and when I arrived at 11am, Sky Poker’s Sarah Brompton - many of you will have met him - was already hard at work, setting up the Meet and Greet Table. The Staff at these Events really work their socks off.
By 11.30am the players had started arriving, and it’s a wonderful thing to see so many folks who have all set out to have a fun day, doing their thing - tournament poker - with such high hopes of just hooking up with their fellow Sky Poker players. A bond, a kinship, a community has grown out of these SPUKT Events, and to be honest, the players are not overly fussed whether they win or not, it’s just about having a good day.
Two Sky Poker Film Crews were present - The Club were represented by Producer Chris Cohen and Presenter Dan Lobb, whilst In-Poker had Jill and Anneka behind the camera, and Compo and myself the other side.
At 2pm, to the second, with 134 players safely at their seats, the Poker Tournament began, and within 10 minutes that amazing sound of a dealer shouting out “PLAYER-ALL-IN - and CALLED” rung out. We were to hear that about 130 times before the day was out!
Amongst the players were Richard Orford and Michelle Orpe - neither of whom were to survive for long - but upon exiting, they began a marathon session of Play The Presenter SNG’s. I believe Richard Orford played 11 of them. Without cashing once……he’s a terrific sport, he really is, and players target the Presenters, so getting a result is not easy, but Rich takes it all in his stride. He told me he’s quite used to losing, in fact. Ho-hum.
The Tournament, despite a decent early structure, seemed to play very fast, and the exits were fast and furious. “GREGHOGG” and “MaggiesDad”, both Sky Poker Vegas 2008 veterans, were present, if not entirely correct, both exiting without troubling the judges. Or the cashiers.
By 11pm, we had our Final Table, and it looked like this;
Seat 1, Matt Chamberlain, aka “SIRBETALOT”, 83,500 chips.
Seat 2, Carole Jones, aka “pokahontas”, 69,500 chips.
Seat 3, Charles Overton, aka “FlashFlush”, 11,400 chips.
Seat 4, John Howells, aka TENOFSPADES”, 62,000 chips.
Seat 5, Terry Attwater, aka “cia260895″, 65,900 chips.
Seat 6, Kevin Standen, aka “Kevin1968″, 116,000 chips.
Seat 7, Aaron Hopkins, aka “RonMcDon”, 100,100 chips.
Seat 8, Chris Sproulle, aka Sparrowkiss”, 45,000 chips.
Seat 9, Phil Jenkins, aka “Phil12UK”, 7,000 chips.
With nearly £2,000 to the winner, plus the coveted Grand Final Seat (value £220) on offer to the Top Ten finishers, it was a bit more serious now, but all credit to the players, who behaved impeccably all day, and played their poker in tremendous spirit.
Blinds were now 4,000, 8,000, with a 1,000 Running Ante, so several players needed to get busy early, notably Phil and Charles. The favourites, by virtue of their awesome towers of chips, were Kevin and Aaron.
The Final started in spectacular style, with the two Chip-Daddies - Kevin and Aaron - clashing almost immediately, in a hand which saw Kevin felted, but not quite out, and a double-up for Aaron.
Almost inevitably, Phil was first to exit in 9th place, in a 3 way coup which also saw original Final Table Chip Daddy Kevin Standen departed in 8th. Phil had shown quite exceptional sportsmanship earlier, when he found Aces, and his opponent, who had jokingly said “I call” to Phil’s shove, was allowed to Pass, when, technically, a Call was obligatory. Phil never said a word, never objected, complained nothing. Top bloke him.
By now, short-stacked Charles had conjured up a beautiful series of hands - one suspects “sleight of hands” would be a better description - to run his stack up to over 100,000, from a starting point of 11,400 - impressive stuff!
Chris was the next to go busto, (7th), the cards were cruel to him, and Matt was soon walking in 6th place.
John Howells went next (5th), and in 4th place, the spirited Carole eventually had to give best, but what a display by our good friend “pokohontas”, the alias being named, by the way, after her pet goldfish. “Have you fed pokohontas today?” has a certain ring to it, you must admit, and I doubt that too many goldfish rejoice in such a splendid moniker.
Three-handed, it was Ian who, having been down to a bowl of rice after an early accident, found himself with the Chip Lead, with early leader Aaron seemingly having run out of puff.
Charles, who had began the Final so spectacularly, increasing his stack 10-fold, eventually departed in 3rd - a fine player, and a total Gent.
Heads up it was Aaron and Ian, and Ian had the momentum, but a spectacular Call, which left onlookers gasping, saw Ian take the runner-up berth, and the £1,050 that goes with it.
And so victory went to young Aaron Hopkins. Aaron is the husband of Sky Poker Hotshot “sharksbite”, aka Naomi, who ran 2nd in the first of the Viva Las Vegas Finals this year for £9,000. Aaron and Naomi run a fish-farm (they grow fish!) in the West Country, and are a truly lovely couple. Aaron collected £1,800, a lovely Trophy, a Grand Final Seat valued at £220, plus the all-important bragging rights.
After the photos, interviews and celebrations were dispensed with; it was champagne time, thanks to Aaron - what a top bloke he is!
So that was that, after 16 hours, at 2am and work was done and dusted for the day. And did we do the sensible thing, and go to bed? I think not - it was time for a few Staff SNG’s. Michelle, Rich, Compo, Tony, and Sarah all had a few games, and it was 4am before we retired. Well, no point going to bed too early, is there? - we did not have to get up until 9am on Sunday……
So, roll on the Grand Final! The details of which are here….
http://www.skypoker.com/uk-tour-final/
You really MUST try and qualify for this - it will be “a bit special”. Trust me, it will.
That’s me done for now. I just have to say a big “thank you” to all the players, and indeed all the Staff, for what was, really, the most perfect of days.
Sky Poker. Serious about having fun.”