After a gruelling two days which saw 106 poker warriors whittled down to 2, it was a certain Mr Rob Yong and his good buddy and Dusk Till Dawn colleague, Simon Nowab, who took the spoils in the Midlands Meltdown Main Event.
Managed and railed by best friend and fellow DTD member Nick 'The Shrew' Whiten, Yongsta and Chubbs practically demolished a final table which included fierce competitors such as Steve Jelinek, Tom 'RED-DOG' McCready, and Ali Mallu.
In fact, it was Rob Yong's seemingly endless battle with the infamous Mallu that made this final such an entertaining one. Both were intent on eliminating the other, but, it was Simon who eventually ended the dispute when he found poket jacks in the big blind, after Ali had made an all-in over the top play to Rob's button raise with a rather vulnerable 4-2 off.
After Ali took 5th spot, he was closely followed by the avidly supported Iwan 'Buzz Lightyear' Jones, and then the impressive Richard 'Rudders' Rudling-Smith in 3rd, who, incidentally, still claims to have played more hands in five minutes of Day 2 than the whole of the Saturday session.
However, when the dust settled and the smoke cleared, we were left with the potentially thrilling heads-up battle between two close friends... and to say it was an eye-opener would be an understatement.
The final hand came when Rob's preflop reraise with Ace-rag was met with an all-in move from Simon with pocket ladies. After some 'Stephen Pearce-esque speech play', Simon was able to talk Rob into calling and, with no ace hitting the board, it was all over.
A big well done goes out to these boys, who, along with The Shrew, bring a lot of fun and joy to what could potentially be a dull and tedious game. To see them throw 60 odd grand into a bin bag and then trundle out, bag over shoulder, was quite a sight!
The boys are back in town!
[To view the final results in full, please click here]
