Once again a Redtooth Regional Final surges past the 200 player mark. This time it was the Alea Casino in Leeds that would play host to a total of 205 players for our West Yorkshire Regional Final.

Kenny Bellamy was our unlucky 205th place finisher, probably to the relief of Alan Styles who finished in 204th place. Many eliminations followed as our search for a champion got closer and closer. Bobby Barker was the final player eliminated before we got our 8 player final table.

A fairly even chip distribution meant that any of the final 8 had a good chance of glory and that proved true as two of the shorter stacks claimed 1st and 3rd places. It would be Adam Brown who came back from 66,000 in chips to get his hands on the winners trophy, largely thanks to the river as his 85 overcame Lee Tyson’s 97 on a KT5 9 8 board. A nice £1,000 was shared between the top 8 finalists, with all 8 earning a place in our eagerly anticipated National Final.

National Final Qualifiers And Cash Prize Winners
1st Adam Brown – Flying Inn, Pocklington
2nd Lee Tyson – Hornblower Tavern, Ripon
3rd Chris Jackson – Salts House Tavern, Hull
4th Tom Rimmer – Marine, Hornsea
5th Darren Taylor – Black Bull, Rothwell
6th John Francis – South Leeds Golf Club, Leeds
7th Peter Mace – Old Kings Arms, Horsforth
8th Harvey Orme – Bull & Sun, Bridlington

When you make a list of the worlds top poker venues, you may well include the Bellagio and the Venetian in Las Vegas, the Crown Casino in Melbourne and even the home of Redtooth Poker’s National Final, Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham. Rarely would the Spring Meadow in Droitwich get a mention, but the pub provided both players in the heads-up battle at the second West Midlands Regional Final of season 3 at the Circus Casino in Star City, Birmingham.

Lorraine Greenman was the chip leader as the final table began with 325,000, closely followed by James Atherley with 230,000. James eventually won the heads-up battle with two pair of jacks and nines to Lorraine’s one pair of nines. Spare a thought for the third player from the Spring Meadow, Tony O’Hara, not only was he the designated driver on the day, he also went out early in 169th out of a 192 player field. Congratulations to all winners and qualifiers.

National Final Qualifiers And Cash Prize Winners
1st James Atherley – Spring Meadow, Droitwich
2nd Lorraine Greenman – Spring Meadow, Droitwich
3rd Nick Fountain – Musketeer, Oxon
4th Malcolm Dewsbury – Old Windmill Inn, Coventry
5th Janet Page – Golden Hind, Birmingham
6th Duncan Taylor – Alfred, Burton-Upon-Trent
7th Jack Daneshyar – Da Vinci Bar And Lounge, Solihull
8th Darren Lewis – Pack Horse, Birmingham

The popular Loose Cannon Club in London played host to another of our Regional Finals. Over 150 players turned up to play this time around as the tournament was declared running at around 2:00pm.

Nine players sat down as the final table got underway, with Leo Chabert keeping the final table in good spirit throughout. Leo is deaf, but he didn’t let that hinder his progress as with a bit more luck, could of gone home as our Regional Final champion. But we are all glad he’ll be joining us in Nottingham next year for our National Final. One thing is for sure, he’ll be ready for a battle. Wayne Ginger from Rileys in Wealdstone emerged as the winner, 4 places ahead of his compatriot, Richard Scott. Doug Sharp from Bar Malden in New Malden was our unlucky 2nd place finisher as his ‘monster’ 72 of spades hand could not get the better of Wayne’s Q2 as the board ran out QT3 9 5, at least it was suited, eh Doug? You could say unfortuantely or luckily for Doug, as this was his second 2nd place finish this year, as he repeated his feat from season 1, and as you could imagine, he really wanted to go one better this time around but it just wasn’t to be. Perhaps he could could claim his elusive 1st place in our National Final next year. A cool £500 and a nice Regional Final trophy goes to Wayne.

National Final Qualifiers And Cash Prize Winners
1st Wayne Ginger – Rileys, Wealdstone
2nd Doug Sharp – Bar Malden, New Malden (Already Qualified)
3rd Martin Harle – Emma Hamilton, Wimbledon
4th Christine Warne – Sportsman, Reading
5th Richard Scott – Rileys, Wealdstone
6th Jamie Lynn – White Hart, Hayes
7th Leo Chabert – Butler’s, High Wycombe
8th Christian Borromeo – Elephant, Finchley

A little under 200 players entered the Gala Casino in Northampton for a chance of becoming the champion of our Central England Regional Final Season 3 09/10. An increase on last seasons 168 runners was only the start of what would become a great day.

A larger than usual final table saw 10 players line up with only eight qualifiers for our National Final. Julie Hayler from the Hobsons Choice in Kettering started in the best shape, with 255,000 in chips and she was followed by our eventual winner, Glen Asbury from the New Inn in St Neots with 185,000 respectively. The heads-up battle came down to Glen and one of the short stacks from the final table, Tom Sutch from the Burnt Oak in Milton Keynes. The final hand saw Glen get some support from the poker gods, as his 65 would come from behind to beat Tom’s K2 on a AAT 5 4 board. Glen picks up a trophy and £500 in cash, congratulations.

National Final Qualifiers And Cash Prize Winners
1st Glen Asbury – New Inn, St Neots
2nd Tom Sutch – Burnt Oak, Milton Keynes
3rd Judy Hayler – Hobsons Choice, Kettering
4th Andy Skutela – Ploughman, Peterborough
5th Robert Jones – Burnt Oak, Milton Keynes
6th Michelle Barnes – Rileys, Stevenage
7th Margaret Pearson – Moulton WMC, Moulton
8th Chris Bowler – Kennington SSC, Oxford

It was a great day for the pub with two players from the Spring Meadow in Droitwich making the final three places at the Circus Casino in Star City. Meet Tony O’Hara, the weak link from the Spring Meadow, who finished 169th.

Two players from the Spring Meadow in Droitwich started the final table at Star City in Birmingham as chip leaders. Lorraine Greenman began with 325,000 chips and James Atherley started with 230,000

After finishing third in this year’s national final, Shaun Walsh from the Goose in the City in Wolverhampton was the first player to crash out of the regional final at the Circus Casino at Star City in Birmingham. Shaun drowned his sorrows with a pint at the bar!!

With the continued growth of the Redtooth poker league, the North West region now hosts two Regional Finals, Liverpool and here in Manchester. 115 players arrived at the Circus Casino on Sunday with many of them competing in their first ever Regional Final.

Play got underway promptly at 2:00pm and many of the competitors expressed their suprise and pleasure at the increased size of the starting stack and the revised blind structure. These improvements were reflected by the fact that only seven players were eliminated before the buffet break. First man out was Roger Hough from the Three Lions in Hazelgrove, the first of many ‘bad beat’ stories heard throughout the day.

By 7:00pm we were down to the final nine, although it would be almost 9:00pm before the winner was crowned. The unfortunate player who finished 9th and missed out on a cash prize was Scott Callum. Richard Taylor and Zak Salim followed soon after but it was almost an hour later before anyone else was eliminated. John Collinson-Taylor finished 6th with Imran Pervaiz and Dale Peters in 5th and 4th respectively. The final three exchanged the chip lead amongst themselves for almost half an hour before Joe Ecclestone was eliminated in 3rd place.

The final hand saw Dave Richards going all-in with pocket 4s, only to be called by Steve Greenhalgh with AJ. The flop came down 710A giving Steve the advantage which was further increased with a J on the turn. Only a 4 could now save David, but when the river card was a 3 Steve was left as our well deserved champion.

National Final Qualifiers And Cash Prize Winners
1st Steve Greenhalgh – Beaumont Arms, Bolton
2nd David Richards – Rileys, Altrincham
3rd Joe Ecclestone – Forrestors Arms, Burnley
4th Dale Peters – Sparking Clog, Bury
5th Imran Pervaiz – Varsity, Manchester
6th Jon Collinson-Taylor – Bowling Green Inn, Chadderton

Other Cash Prize Winners
7th Zak Salim – Donkey, Rochdale
8th Richard Taylor – Cross Keys, Burnley

The only three female players at the first night at the Lane Ends in Preston finished in the top three places. Jemma Aulton finished third and Carol Blacker and Jacqueline Potts fought out a long heads up battle before Jacqueline (centre) came out on top.

Landlady Carol Blacker wins a massive pot at the first night at the Lane Ends in Preston. It was the first time that Carol had ever played poker and she made a heads-upbattle with Jacqueline Potts on the final table.