With the success of the inaugural event in Bolton firmly behind them, the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour continued to blow wind into its sails as it went hurtling towards Event two at the Grosvenor Casino in Walsall.With Bolton Grosvenor ready to burst, it was clear that an extension to the event was required to cater for the overwhelming popularity, and this came in an extra day and 160 more players.
Within that 360 batch were all the usual suspects, including Blue Square representatives JP Kelly and Mickey Wernick, not to mention Bolton victor Praz Bansi, but also a whole host of ‘name’ UK players in Surinder Sunar, Lucy Rokach, John Gale, Keith Hawkins, Joe Beevers and the Boatman brothers.
With Days 1 (A&B) and 2 leaving us with just 12 players, it was Amsterdam Classics’ finalist Jerome Bradpiece who led the way with Late Night Poker legend, Peter ‘the Bandit’ Evans, not too far behind. And to offer even further potential of a star-studded final, Joe ‘The Elegance’ Beevers was still plugging away in 9th with 237,600 in chips.After losing Adam Wilkinson, Raj Patel and, in crushing circumstance (Queens outdrawing Kings), Chris Bruce, we were down to a final table that looked like this:
Seat 1: Jerome Bradpiece -- 918,400
Seat 2: Dan Carter -- 440,000
Seat 3: John Conroy -- 256,000
Seat 4: Mohammed Shafiq -- 203,000
Seat 5: Joe Beevers -- 135,000
Seat 6: Peter Evans -- 448,000
Seat 7: Ganesh Rao -- 181,000
Seat 8: Billy Ngo -- 548,000
Seat 9: Des Jonas -- 506,000
Although cries of ‘crapshoot!’ were communally bellowed throughout one particular level on Day 2, the final was anything but as it took over 9 hours to complete, quite remarkable for a table containing the constant chatterbox aggression of Blackburn’s Shaf.
As we passed midnight, the 100+ k was heading towards one of Shaf, Billy Ngo or Jerome Bradpiece, but although the former two were fine competitors, Bradpiece was seemingly unmovable and had maintained his chip lead throughout.
Shaf exited in 3rd to Bradpiece before Ngo (who eliminated Carter in 4th in a nasty full house vs. full house encounter) quickly succumbed to the Gutshotter, his A-8 all-in being called, allbeit after a session in the think tank, by Bradpiece’s A-J. No help and it was all over, the stocky and bearded 23 year-old being left to lap up the well-deserved plaudits.Jerome put his triumph down to his lucky hat, but it was clear that a high element of skill had let to his victory, not to mention the drive aided by the £50 side bet he’d placed on himself at the start of the comp.
But with the dust settling and the smoke clearing, the big news of the day was that the Grosvenor Tour had once again been a roaring success. A few tweaks required here and there, but with people like Jonathan Raab, Jamie and a certain Jeremy Kyle lookalike (he knows who he is) at the helm, there is no doubt that the Tour will continue to pass with flying colours as it romps towards its upcoming venture into Cardiff.