Event Two: London

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1st Vicki McKay	2nd Heidi King	3rd Heena Sheth

The weather on the run up to the second event at The Western Club in London tried its best to thwart what had promised to be another successful tournament. On the eve of the event, heavy downfall had resulted in ankle-deep water outside the club.

 

The conditions only resulted in the players becoming more determined to make an appearance for the second leg of the tour, and at approximately 3:30pm 105 ladies received their first cards of the tournament as the dealers were instructed to “shuffle up and deal”.

 

The first major talking point occurred on Table 9 following a flop of A…8…6. Trisha Millanta check-raised Belinda Burridge, and Belinda re-raised all-in, to which Trisha instantly called. Belinda turned over pocket 6’s, but Trisha flipped over the bullets…pocket A’s!! That hand crippled Belinda and only a few hands later she was the first player eliminated.

 

The styles of play were considerably different in the early stages compared against what was witnessed at Stoke. There was some very aggressive poker played, with big raises and re-raises from players attempting to build a large stack early on in the day. Enid Musson, the 2nd place finisher at Stoke doubled up quickly with pocket A’s in her bid to make consecutive Final Table appearances.

 

Of the 10 Final Table players from Stoke, only one failed to make an appearance, and that was event one winner Susan Adams, who is of course already assured one of the eight seats at the Grand Final Table. The first of the ‘Stoke Finalists’ to be eliminated was Olesya Kabbaj…her pocket 10’s were unfortunate to run up against pocket A’s.

 

Within a ten minute spell, we lost another three of the ‘Stoke Finalists’!

 

At approximately 6pm Mel Lofthouse looked down at her hole cards and saw cowboys (pocket Kings) staring back at her. Mel called an all-in re-raise and must have been devastated to see Robyn O’Neile flip over the bullets! The board offered no help to Mel and it was a painful walk to the rail.

 

At 6:05pm Debbie Witcombe pushed her short stack all-in with A 8 against Enid Musson’s K T. Enid was lucky enough to spike her T and it was another casualty.

 

Shortly afterwards it was Liz Thatcher’s turn to take the long walk (literally…she was seated in the far corner of the card room). She pushed her stack in with A K up against another two players with chips. Liz must have been delighted to see the flop come 3 K K , but when the turn came another diamond, Carla Goddard bet out and showed the nut flush!!

 

As the blinds began to increase we saw a big pot involving Kate Langshaw and Vicki McKay. On a flop of J …Q …6 all Kate’s chips (about 25K) went into the middle and the call was made by Vicki showing 8 4 to Kate’s J J who was now sweating on Vicki missing her club flush. The turn produced the T and the river was flipped to reveal the case J to complete quads for Kate allowing her to double up.

 

The bubble has burst…

 

With twelve players left we saw three-way action with Claire MacGregor pushing all-in from the button and Hanna Nilsson making the call from the big blind. Paula Agnew gave it some consideration and declared “I have to call”. Claire turned over A K, Hanna K 6 and Paula 8 9 . The flop came K…9…9 giving Paula a set of 9’s. The turn and river ran out an 8 and an A, and with Paula having both players covered in chips, we lost two players.

 

On the previous hand Claire had more chips than Hanna, therefore finished in eleventh place…the dreaded “bubble”. To ease the sickening feeling of finishing one place outside the money, Betfred have offered Claire a free seat in the next leg of the tour!!

 

Following the double elimination we are now down to the last ten players to battle it out at the Final Table.

Final Table Chip Counts:

 

Seat	Name	Chips in Play
1	Vicki McKay	93,500
2	Heena Sheth	59,500
3	Lorraine Bogue	96,500
4	Heidi King	57,500
5	Collette Deighan	47,000
6	Kate Langshaw	59,500
7	Annie Jones	20,000
8	Dulcie Thatcher	29,000
9	Rachel Howard	38,000
10	Paula Agnew	135,000

On the very first hand of the Final Table we have action. Collette Deighan raises to 10K and huge chip leader Paula Agnew makes the call. It folds round to Heidi King who announces “all-in” for a further 47.5K which sees Collette fold and puts Paula into the think tank. After much deliberation Paula lets the hand go leaving Heidi to rake the pot.

 

On the very next hand Paula raises pre-flop to 12K and again Heidi King pushes her remaining chips into the centre of the table. It folds round to Paula who has a sudden sense of deja-vu. Following a period of deep concentration Paula makes the call and flips over A J to be met by Heidi’s Q Q . The board runs out 4 …6 …Q …6 …2 and we have a new chip leader!!

 

Annie Jones makes a 16K all-in bet and the call is made by Rachel Howard. Annie shows T T to Rachel’s A K and the flop reveals 4 …J …3 …a huge boost to Annie who still leads with a pair, but also has a flush draw to boot! The turn however shows what a cruel game poker can sometimes be, as the K is shown. There are still several outs that will save Annie, but unfortunately for her, the 3 is not one of them, and we have witnessed our first elimination of the final.

 

A TELLing moment…?

 

On a flop of 8…T…3 Dulcie Thatcher pushes her remaining chips “all-in”, a move that puts Vicki McKay deep into the think tank. After a great deal of thought Vicki passes, and shows pocket J’s and Dulcie elects to show the table pocket T’s for a set! Have we just witnessed the fold of the tournament!?!

 

Having seen a monster stack of 135K whittle very quickly down to 39K, Paula Agnew pushes all-in and the call is made by Heena Sheth. Paula flips over 6 6 to Heena’s A K and the flop comes 7 …K …Q leaving Paula with very few outs. The turn reveals the T and the river of 2 is no help to Paula who is eliminated in 9th place.

 

Under-the-gun Vicki McKay minimum raises to 12K and is greeted by an “all-in” declaration by Dulcie Thatcher for a further 27K more. The call is made and the cards are turned to reveal Dulcie’s A Q and Vicki’s K T . The flop brings Q …3 …8 leaving Dulcie in a great position to double up. The turn is the 4 offering Vicki several more outs and the 5 completes the King high flush leaving Dulcie with a £345 payday.

 

Following a quick break for the players, Lorraine Bogue pushes all-in with J J and is quickly called by Vicki McKay who flips over A A leaving Lorraine in a heap of trouble! The board runs out 2 …8 …7 …9 …9 and we are left with 6 players, leaving Vicki with a commanding chip lead.

 

Down to just 8K in chips, Collette Deighan is forced to call the pre-flop raise of Rachel Howard who shows A K . Collette has her work cut out as she slowly reveals 8 9 . The board of Q …A …2 …9 …4 offers no help to Collette and sees our fifth casualty of the final table.

 

You win some you lose some…

 

Having won the previous hand to eliminate Collette, Rachel Howard pushes all-in with A 3 on a flop of 3 …K …6 and Vicki quickly calls with K 8 . The turn and river of 6 J provide blanks for Rachel and we are now down to our final four players, each of whom are guaranteed a minimum four figure sum for their day’s work.

 

We have witnessed action…action…action all day, and why should the remaining four players offer us anything different! Kate Langshaw moves all-in from the button with K J and receives a call in the form of Vicki McKay holding 6 6 . The spectators lucky enough to have seats in the Salon Privé move in a touch closer, as the dealer quickly puts out 2 …Q …8 on the flop. The 9 on the turn offers Kate more outs, but the 3 is the last card she will see this weekend (unless of course she receives a couple of belated birthday cards on her arrival back at home…it was Kate’s birthday on Friday).

 

The action here today at The Western Club has been non-stop and there is no sign of it slowing down!!

 

Heena Sheth is all-in with A J against the T T of Heidi King. The flop brings K 7 8 stacking the odds further in Heidi’s favour. The 4 on the turn leaves Heena drawing to only six cards in the deck for her tournament survival. The 3 pushes the pot to Heidi, and pushes a £1,725 prize in Heena’s direction.

 

We are now heads-up after what has been a gruelling 10 hour session of poker, but only one of the remaining two ladies can claim their seat in the Grand Final taking place in December.

 

Following several hands of raising…thinking and folding from both players, Heidi makes it 30K to go, and Vicki obliges, then checks the flop of 8 …T …T . Heidi leads out for a further 40K and Vicki immediately announces that she is “all-in”. The call is made and the cards are on their backs…Vicki turns 9 T and Heidi reluctantly flips A 8 needing nothing short of a miracle for the tournament to continue past this hand. The turn card is the 2 leaving Heidi drawing dead!!

 

We have our second Grand Finalist to join Susan Adams from the first leg!! It has been an action packed day with raises, re-raises and all-in moves, but we have also seen a great deal of trap-checks, bluffs and some excellent lay-downs.

 

We take our hats off to George, Jeff, Adrian & Co. for making every single person that walks through their doors feel so very welcome. I am sure my feelings are echoed by all the players that participated in this tournament, that The Western Club really know how to lay on an event!!

 

The last word must go to Vicki, who has played an absolute blinder of a tournament to take 1st place, a £3,450 payday and a seat in the Grand Final. This victory has really whetted my appetite for the third leg of the tour at Aspers in Newcastle …we all look forward to seeing you there!!

 

The Final Result:

 

Saturday 21 July	Position	Name	Prize
£100 Betfred Women's Poker Tour Entries: 105 Prize Pool: £11,500	1	Vicki McKay	£3,450
	2	Heidi King	£2,300
	3	Heena Sheth	£1,725
	4	Kate Langshaw	£1,265
	5	Rachel Howard	£805
	6	Collette Deighan	£690
	7	Lorraine Bogue	£460
	8	Dulcie Thatcher	£345
	9	Paula Agnew	£287
	10	Annie Jones	£172