Event Four: Reading

Watch video | View photos

1st Dawn Wood	2nd Becky Neilson	3rd Jo-Ann Clark

 

A total of 85 players descended on Maxim's in Reading for the fourth leg of the Betfred Women’s Poker Tour. The temperatures were soaring and both the card room staff and the players were eager to play their part in another successful event.

 

Play got under way shortly after 3:30pm following a welcome message from Darren the Card Room Manager. Noticeable players at the tables were Nikki Short, playing here at her local card room, and looking to extend her lead at the top of the overall leaderboard. Danielle Allen was lying in second place in the leaderboard, but placed on a challenging starting table against the likes of Shala Javadi, Karan Gordon, Somkhuan Harwood and Linda Iwaniak.

 

Much akin to previous events, the opening half hour or so was very tight, as players attempted to shake off any pre-tournament nerves. The first casualty of the day was Wai “Lolly” Yuen, whose ten high flush unfortunately ran into the nut flush of Rachel Howard.

 

Pina Folkes was not far behind “Lolly”. Having flopped a set of nines she was all-in against Karen Walton’s pocket K’s. The turn card produced one of the two remaining cowboys to send Pina home early.

 

At the latter end of level three a murmur went around the card room, and it transpired that Nikki Short had been eliminated from the event! Nikki re-raised Patricia Thatcher holding pocket T’s, and was quickly called by Patricia with pocket Q’s. The board offered no help to Nikki, and left her sweating on the outcome of the tournament.

 

The Ups & Downs of Poker…

 

After some raising and re-raising, two player’s cards were on their backs. Judith Edwards revealed pocket K’s and Sue Benson showed pocket A’s. A third player declared that she folded A K, leaving Judith in real trouble. The flop came J…Q…6, but the turn came the case K handing Judith trips to take the lead in the hand. Amazingly though the river revealed a T to push the pot in Sue’s direction with a ‘Broadway’ straight!!

 

With about 20 players left in the tournament, we saw a real go slow, as they all focused on gaining a seat at the Final Table, and their shot at a place in the Grand Final. Noticeable players at this stage were Lynne Beaumont, Rachel Howard, Dawn Wood and Ratsamee Mayall, who had all reached final tables in previous tour events.

 

At approximately 1:45am we witnessed the last elimination before the final table. Trisha Millanta made a straight with her A 2, but unfortunately for her she was up against the nut flush of Jo-Ann Clark holding A Q. The ladies that made the final will have breathed a sigh of relief, in the knowledge that they were guaranteed a portion of the prize fund.

 

Final Table Chip Counts:

 

Seat	Name	Chips in Play
1	Dawn Wood	39,000
2	Julie Waterfield	22,700
3	Jo-Ann Clark	91,600
4	Becky Neilson	40,000
5	Lynne Beaumont	62,300
6	Jane Wheeler	68,200
7	Tina Abery	31,000
8	Linda Iwaniak	95,000
9	Sue Benson	15,600
10	Lucy Hadfield	45,100

Linda Iwaniak takes to the Final Table hoping to banish the curse of the ‘Final Table Chip Leader’. In the previous three events, the starting chip leaders have finished 7th (Debbie Witcombe), 9th (Paula Agnew) and 8th (Lynne Beaumont).

 

Dawn Wood and Lynne Beaumont have their sights on climbing to the top of the overall points leaderboard at the very least.

 

Early into the final, the short-stacked Julie Waterfield pushes all-in with A J and is immediately called by Tina Abery who shows J J to leave Julie requiring a lot of luck. The flop of 8 7 6 offers no help, but the 5 on the turn provides a glimmer of hope, as any 4, 9 or A will keep her in the tournament. The river is the 3 and Julie must now take the long trip back to Cornwall, £165 better off.

 

Lynne Beaumont has put in another strong performance here in Reading, and is now looking good to increase her stack with K K against Lucy Hadfield who is all-in with 9 9. The board runs out J 9 Q 6 6 and Lynne experiences a touch of déjà vu, having lost a big hand at the Final Table in Newcastle with K’s against Q J offsuit.

 

Runner Runner Bad Beat…!!

 

The very next hand Sue Benson is all-in for her last few chips holding Q T. Jo-Ann Clark makes the obligatory call for a handful of chips and shows Q 4, much to the delight of Sue. The flop is an interesting A T 4, both players hitting their remaining live cards to cancel each other out. The turn provides the 5, but the 4 on the river hands a set of 4’s to Jo-Ann, eliminating a very unfortunate Sue for a £215 payday.

 

Jo-Ann is in the thick of the action again as she calls an all-in bet from Jane Wheeler with Q T. Jane reveals J T and this time the dominating hand holds up as the board runs out 7 2 K 5 4. Jane takes away £285 for her efforts.

 

Having seen her stack fall to less than half the average, Lynne pushes all-in, and having taken a little time to calculate the odds, Linda Iwaniak makes the call with A 7. Lynne sheepishly turns over 8 4 hoping that it’s her turn for a bit of luck. The flop is T 9 J, providing Lynne with an open-ended straight draw. The K on the turn however, reduces the number of outs for Lynne, as the Q would give Linda her flush. The 7 on the river completes the straight for Lynne to keep her tournament alive.

 

Having taken a blow a little earlier, Linda Iwaniak moves all-in with 4 3 and is called by Lucy Hadfield holding 8 7. The flop of K 2 5 offers more outs to Linda, but the 8 8 on the turn and river put an end to what has been a very impressive day of poker from Linda who collects £475.

 

And then there were four…

 

Lucy pushes all-in with A 3 and is called after a little thought by Dawn Wood with J 8. The 3 J 7 puts Lucy behind in the hand, drawing to any 3 or any A. The turn and river run out 4 4 to hand Lucy a £665 payday.

 

Lynne makes her move relatively short stacked with Q 7 and is called fairly quickly by Dawn Wood who shows J T. The board runs out 7 J 8 J K to hand the pot to Dawn and eliminate Lynne in 4 th place for a £1,140 payout. Lynne has shown real form in recent events, and is proving to be a serious contender in the points leaderboard.

 

Dawn calls another all-in bet, this time it’s Jo-Ann making her move with K 7 running into the A 3 of Dawn. The flop of 9 A Q leaves Jo-Ann very close to elimination, and the 2 8 turn and river is the end of a long day of poker for Jo-Ann Clark and is awarded with £1,425 for her efforts.

 

It has been a long, long day of poker, but we are now down to our final two players in Dawn Wood and Becky Neilson.

 

It’s shortly after 5am , and we have an all-in and call on a flop of 5 Q 2. Becky leads with her Q 3, but Dawn has several outs holding 3 4 as she attempts to win this event here and now. The turn card is an incredible A handing Dawn a straight flush!! Becky is drawing dead, so the 8 on the river is irrelevant, and Dawn Wood has secured her place in December’s Grand Final.

 

Becky’s second place finish hands her a very impressive £1,900 payday. I am sure we will see Becky at the next couple of events, knocking on the door to a place at the final table!!

 

As for Dawn, she has overcome some bad beats throughout the day, and made some excellent calls and player reads. She is well deserving of her £2,850 payout and seat in the Grand Final, having already placed fifth at the Stoke event. To end the day with a straight flush was simply the icing on the cake!

 

A big thank you goes to Carol and Darren of Maxim's for making this day possible, and our thanks go to all the staff for working so tirelessly over what has been a very long day.

 

With just two events remaining before the all important Grand Final, the leaderboard is beginning to take shape, with Nikki Short and Lynne Beaumont currently in the driving seats at the top of the table.

 

We look forward to seeing you all again in Sheffield on Saturday 27 October.

 

The Final Result:

 

Saturday 15 September	Position	Name	Prize
£100 Betfred Women's Poker Tour Entries: 85 Prize Pool: £9,500	1	Dawn Wood	£2,850
	2	Becky Neilson	£1,900
	3	Jo-Ann Clark	£1,425
	4	Lynne Beaumont	£1,140
	5	Lucy Hadfield	£665
	6	Linda Iwaniak	£475
	7	Tina Abery	£380
	8	Jane Wheeler	£285
	9	Sue Benson	£215
	10	Julie Waterfield	£165