Event Six: Birmingham

 

A total of 103 players descended to the Broadway Casino in Birmingham for the final heat of the Betfred Women’s Poker Tour. Both the cardroom and the players were buzzing with excitement in what was proving to be an exciting climax to the Betfred Women’s Poker Tour.

 

Play got under way shortly after 3:30pm following a few last minute registrations from eager players. Noticeable players were Lynne Beaumont, who is all but guaranteed to be one of our qualifying finalists. Also, Nikki Short, who is also in serious contention for the last place at the coveted grand final.

 

As usual at these events play was fairly conservative in the first hour or so but we eventually got our first casualty of the day when Kendra Agnew who is the daughter of Paula Agnew who finished 2 nd at heat five in Sheffield . Kendra’s dreams were shattered when she moved all in pre-flop with A ,Q and ran in to her opponents Q,Q.

 

Going into the dinner break there are 81 hungry ladies remaining and things are proving to be as exciting as we expected in this final heat with so many ladies with a chance to claim the remaining two seats in the grand final on December 8 th.

It’s a long way to the final…

 

 After four hours of play we are down to 6 tables with the ladies clinging on with determination to make that precious final table, the prize money of £11,300 is also a big incentive for the remaining players.

 

We are now approaching 1am and the chip leader is the fearless Lucy Rokach with almost 100,000 of the 618,000 chips in play, with only 13 players remaining things are looking tense for what proves to be an exciting final table.

 

The bubble bursts…

At approximately 1:20am the bubble was burst and we had our 11 th place finisher Tina Aberly, Lucy Rokach who is now a huge chip leader set Tina all in on a flop of J, 5, 8, Tina called with J,4 but failed to improve over Lucy’s J,K.

 

 

 

 

 

Final Table Chip Counts:

 

Position	Name	Prize
1	Melanie Short	59,500
2	Joann Clark	38,000
3	Dawn Allen	34,000
4	Lucy Rokach	147,000
5	Catherine O’Brien	29,500
6	Sue Roberts	49,500
7	Linda Iwaniak	22,000
8	Vicki Thomas	57,500
9	Fei Wang	100,000
10	Suzanne Hayward	80,500

 

The final table - as it happened bursts.

Early on in the final table Linda Iwaniak makes a sharp exit to leave us in 10th place and takes home £194.00.

 

Next to leave us is Catherine O’Brien in 9th place taking home £249.00, closely followed by the shock exit of Lucy Rokach at the hands of Fei Wang when her J,J was crushed by the A,K of Fei when a cruel Ace fell on the river, Lucy received £332.00 for her efforts.

 

Fei Wang was next to leave us when her A,Q ran into her opponents Q,Q, Fei’s A,Q failed to improve and she earned £443.00 for her brave efforts.

 

Our sixth place finisher was Melanie Short who’s A,K suited failed to improve against Dawn Allen’s J,J, Mel received £554.00 for her sixth place finish.

 

Suzanne Hayward was next to depart taking home £776.00 for fifth place.

 

Vicki Thomas was our 4th place finisher when she fell on the wrong side of two bad beats, Vicki took home £1,356.00 for fourth place.

 

After some cagey play at the three handed stage a monster pot occurs, in which all three players are all in!!! Jo-Ann has A,K, Dawn has J,J and Sue has A,4 the board reveals 9,7,10,9,10 Dawns jacks hold up to take a huge pot worth 350,000 but we fail to lose a player.

 

Shortly after this hand Jo-Ann Clark leaves us in 3rd place after being crippled earlier she has no choice but to move all in with 10,2 and fails to improve to Dawn’s A,9. Jo-Ann receives £1,695.00 for third place.

 

We are now heads up between Sue Roberts and Dawn Allen, who are both Birmingham locals. The heads up battle proves to be one of the shortest in history lasting just one hand! Sue moved all in with K,7 and Dawn quickly called with A,8, the poker gods were obviously shining on Dawn when both an ace and an eight fell on the flop to seal the win and her place in the grand final.

 

Our winner Dawn Allen will join Lynne Beaumont, Nikki Short, Susan Adams, Vicki McKay, Samantha Grayson, Dawn Wood, and Carla Goddard in the grand final on December 8th where these top female players will battle it out for the £20,000 sponsorship deal.

 

The Final Result:

 

Saturday 17 November	Position	Name	Prize
£100 Betfred Women's Poker Tour Entries: 106 Prize Pool: £11,080	1	Dawn Allen	£3,324.00
	2	Sue Roberts	£2,260.00
	3	Jo-Ann Clark	£1,695.00
	4	Vicki Thomas	£1,356.00
	5	Suzanne Hayward	£776.00
	6	Melanie Short	£554.00
	7	Fei Wang	£443.00
	8	Lucy Rokach	£332.00
	9	Catherine O' Brien	£249.00
	10	Linda Iwaniak	£194.00

A full report with photos, updated leaderboard and video and will be available soon.