After a runners-up spot to JP Kelly at the last Luton festival, Luke Patten (left) was back once again to take the lion's share of the spoils, this time taking home the trophy too!
This past week saw the annual UK Open hit the Grosvenor Casino in Luton. 96 showed up in all with many a blondeite's name making it onto the plasma screen; Paul 'Actionjack' Jackson, Tracey 'Dingdell' Dell, Julian 'hartwith' Adamson, Simon 'Chubbs' Nowab, Julian 'Yoyo' Thew, Rob Yong - all the stars were there, and even that tikay off the tele showed his mug! The only notable absence was that of Dave 'elblondie' Colclough, who must be taking a brief sabbatical after a disappointing World Series.
After the likes of Alli Mallu, Alan McLean, Barry Neville, Arshad Hussain and Luke Patten had taken their usual early chip leads, we were up and running. However, when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, it was the former of those five who began to demolish the field. As Mallu discarded his foes in eye-opening circumstances (an 8-3 vs A-K all-in preflop encounter with Mallu four flushing the club, truly was a memorable moment), his stack just seemed to grow and grow, at one point even surpassing the 250k mark with 3 tables still remaining!
However, moving into the final table, it was Enfield's David Courtney who held the chip lead (205,500) after previously having his Pocket Rockets paid off by Mallu's speculative holding of Q-8 off (that man defines maniac). Meanwhile, moving beneath the radar were the likes of Tracey Dell, Rumit Somaiya and Dave Clark, all of whom had reached the latter stages withough causing too much fuss at all.
1. Arshad Hussain -- 44,500
2. Rumit Somaiya -- 36,500
3. Lalit Khajuria -- 50,000
4. Luke Patten -- 123,500
5. Ali Mallu -- 180,500
6. Dave Clark -- 76,000
7. Tracey Dell -- 127,000
8. Paul King -- 97,000
9. Dave Courtney -- 205,500
But as the end grew nearer and the bodies began to fell (most notably that of Rumit's whose flopped flush was rivered by Luke Patten's turned trips), we found ourselves left with 3 plucky contestants - Dell, Patten and Courtney.
The inevitable deal was soon agreed (30k each with 8.6k for the winner), and we were pretty much done. In double quick time, it was Luke Patten who took the extra shrapnel when his A-2 outdrew Courtney's A-Q for the title.
Whilst blondeite Tracey Dell's (left) incredible performance received the highest praise (tears were shed in an emotional moment), it would be foolhardy to overlook the incredible achievements of Luke Patten; 20k in Brighton, 30 odd thousand at Luton's Spring Fest, 50k at the World Masters - can anyone stop this man, and what the hell is his secret?
I need to know!!!