With it only being their second Festival, the Bolton Grosvenor must be praised for their success of first the Poker6, and now the Bolton Extravaganza. Whilst the former was very well received, perhaps only hindered by a certain footie match against Portugal, their latest attraction drew a similar positive response.
Attracting a respectable crowd, the Grosvenor was host to many of the circuit regulars with the likes of John Hewston, Dave Colclough, Marc Goodwin, Iwan Jones, Ash Hussain, Paul King, Micky Wernick, Jim Reid and co all making their presence known.
There was also a strong blondeite showing in the form of Paul 'Pab' Foltyn, Stu 'Easy Pickings' Rutter, Tom 'RED-DOG' McCready, Matt 'B4Matt' Tyler, Steve 'Card Shark' Read, Barry 'vinni' Neville, Michael 'Slick Kid' McCool, Paul 'Actionjack' Jackson and, of course, our plucky hero, Sir Anthony Kendall. In fact, from what I can recall, the only notable absentees were Carlo Citrone, Luke Patten, Willie Tann, Bambos and the ever-dangerous Mallu, whose excuse of a wedding was non too believable, unless of course it was his own, but even then I feel he would have escaped for a hand or two at the Blackjack tables.
After an exhausting first day in which players seemed to drop like flies, it was Iqbal Patel (right) who held the chip lead with 66,600, just several thousand in front of Marc Goodwin who had impressed neighbour tikay throughout the whole of Day 1.
But, after having his Kings busted by nines and running Queens into Kings, Marc suffered a brisk demise, whilst Patel continued to prosper, becoming the first player to surpass that magic 100k mark.
But the riser of the day was shiny-headed Mick Fletcher, who, after finding a succession of big hands, managed to turn his 60k stack into a gigantic pile of 163,000, a clear chip lead and one which he never looked like relinquishing.
And, after Andrew Douglas took that undesired 10th spot, we had our final, with Fletcher retaining the advantage with 250k, double that of second placed Patel.
More remarkably, however, was the inclusion of a certain Mr Kendall in the final 9. Up and down like the proverbial yoyo, our blonde Chief seemed to be having the time of his life, eventually taking 4th spot for a very credible £6,300. That should feed the cats for a week or two!
And, after John Huckle was removed in 3rd place when his A-T was rivered by Patel's K-4, we were left with two buddies, which inevitably led to a quick deal being made, each taking away around 22 grand.
However, there was still a trophy to be played for and, after some swift chip swapping, it was Fletcher who snatched the title when he found Pocket Kings - a hand that Patel failed to crack with his paltry J-5 off.
Whilst I applaud the well-deserved victory of Fletcher, who I was reliably informed is the only player to win 2 Grosvenor Main Events, I would be foolish to ignore the efforts of Grosvenor, Bolton. Two buffets, a friendly atmosphere, a well organised comp and supervisors who were eager to listen - even making a last minute adjustment to the clock on the advice of several players.
So, for that, I tip my hat to you. Bravo!
Offical results:
1st Mick Fletcher -- £28,200
2nd Iqbal Patel -- £17,400
3rd John Huckle -- £10,300
4th Tony Kendall -- £6,300
5th R Mulla -- £4,700
6th Richard Herbert -- £4,000
7th Paul King -- £3,200
8th Brian Medley -- £2,800
9th Glenn Ashworth -- £2,000