UK Team Challenge Live Updates

Adam Bone Wins The partypoker UK Team Challenge for £2,250!

Nits & Natter Win The Team Title for £12,000!

After an incredible heads-up battle, Adam Bone has won the individual Team Challenge for £2,250, with his team The Randoms taking 4th place and another £3,000 between their four members.

The final hand was won in truly dramatic fashion. Adam raised to 2m pre-flop and was called by Richard King. The flop of was c-bet by Adam to 2m again and got a call. The turn of prompted a 4m bet from Adam which Richard called, and on the river Bone shoved all-in! Richard called it off with , but was behind Adam’s .

Bone had the title and of course THAT meant that Nits & Natter, who had been sweating the outcome of the team tournament since taking the lead, won by just a few thousand points from the Ironmen, of course represented by King.

An amazing tournament was enjoyed by all and a Team Challenge embraced by players from around the country at Europe’s finest cardroom, the award-winning Dusk Till Dawn. Stick to partypoker this week for plenty more drama as the Grand Prix continues and we look forward to bring you the next live tournament updates!

Bone Leads Going Into The Break

Adam Bone still holds the advantage as the 30th Level of the tournament draws to a close and the players head for a well-deserved break with the clocks showing the time as 02:30am. The last hand before the break saw Richard King check-call a 4.2 million bet on the flop then check again on the turn. Bone moved all-in and King quickly released his hand.

Earlier in the day, Simon Trumper predicted that the tournament would end during the 1,000,000/2,000,000 level, which is what the players come back to shortly. Let’s see if Mr Trumper’s prediction was accurate.

Ebb and Flow

The direction of this incredible Team Challenge continues to veer first the way of Richard King then back to Adam Bone. Both men look tired, but also determined to take the tournament down. To Adam, that means a difference of £900 – the difference between first and second place. For Richard King, you can add in another £4,800 riding on it – the difference between his team finishing 1st or 2nd overall. The trophies, the title, everything is on his Atlas-like shoulders.

After Richard raised it to 3.2m (a min-raise now at these 800k/1.6m blinds) and Adam called, the two players saw a flop of . Richard continued to 4m and was called to a turn of . This time the bet was an eye-watering 10 million chips (over 10% of the chips in play) and Adam folded. 52m – 43m in favour of the King.

A couple of raise and take it pots for Adam and then both men limped to a flop. Two checks. 2.5m from King, a quick call. The turn was an and this time King pinged 4.5m into the middle. Adam raised to 14m and that got a rueful fold.

Advantage Adam – with 52 million to 43 million.

Back to Level Pegging
The chip stacks are back level thanks to Adam Bone coming from behind to win a coinflip for his tournament life. Bone was all-in with and Richard King called with the . Bone took the lead on the flop and stayed there through the turn and river.

Who’s Trapping Who?

Monster hands have come along in this epic heads-up, but when they have, they’ve been colder than a Whitewalkers’ silent disco!

Richard King min-raised pre-flop with the button to 2m, quickly called by Adam Bone. the flop of brought a c-bet from King of 2m, raised to 4m from Bone and called only by King. On the turn of , all-in the money went in and both players turned over what they must have thought was the winning hand.

Bone:
King:

King was ahead, and in a great position to double-up…but if a ten dropped, then this Team Challenge was over. The Nits & Natter team (pictured looking on anxiously in the background, above) stood up hoping to herald their victory. But the river of gave King the double, his ten kicker playing, and flipping the chip advantage on its head.

Richard King: 56 million
Adam Bone: 39 million

Bone Has More Meat
Adam Bone has doubled his stack and is back in control in this tournament.

The hand seemed much of a nothingness with a raise to 2 million preflop and a call. Both players then checked down the board until Bone led for 6 million into the 4 million pot on the river. Richard King raised to 14 million and Bone moved all-in. Halfway through having Bone’s stack counted, King called.

Bone showed and King mucked, claiming to also have a flush. Advantage Bone.

Bone Still Strong

Adam Bone has shown remarkable resilience throughout the tournament, and that has continued right into heads-up. With Richard King at one point holding a lead of 81 million o 14 million, Adam won three pots in a row to climb up to 35m without risking his stack.

The last of those was an interesting one. Richard King raised his button as he has been every time to 2m, getting a call. The flop of was continued by Richard to 2m, again called. The turn of was checked by both players, but the river of was bet by Adam to 4m. Richard called, then mucked upon seeing Adam’s cards – for a rivered pair. Not the strongest hand, but no pressure on that river – has that move given Adam a way back into this match?

Richard King – 60 million
Adam Bone – 35 million

Big Pot Goes King’s Way
Richard King raised to 2 million and called when Adam Bone three-bet to 6 million. Bone then led for 8 million on the flop and King called to create a pot of almost 30 million chips with only 95 million in play. Bone fired another bet, one weighing in at 8 million, on the turn and was called again. The river was checked by Bone and King checked behind.

“Seven-high,” said Bone. King showed and won the pot.

Momentum Swings to King

With Adam Bone going into heads-up with a 67 million to 28 million chip advantage, the odds were against Richard King (pictured, above), but over the last few hands following his double-up – which put the players roughly level – he’s managed to take a bit of control.

First Adam Bone won a raise and c-bet pot that took him to a lead of 55m ~vs~ 40m. But no sooner had he done that did Richard press on with some powerful poker to re-establish his own lead. He bet pre-flop and post-flop on a deal of and bled around 7m chips from Bone’s stack.

Next he raised pre-flop from the small blind and took it down. Then he called Adam’s bet of 1.6m on a flop of {As] before calling 5.5m on the turn. On the river of Richard moved all-in, and Adam, perhaps in an ultimately fruitless effort to prompt the same from his opponent, showed his cards, two-pair of . A big fold, maybe correct with the flush possibility out there, but we’ll never know. What we do know is that Richard has a handy lead, and the three members of the Nits & Natter team who can bear to watch from the rail are looking increasingly anxious. Their fourth member is at the bar, too nervous to peak, waiting for his team-mates to start celebrating. Don’t forget, they either win £12,000 if King fails to capture the crown or £7,200 if he does. Every pot is being felt here at Dusk Till Dawn.

Chop It Up
Another dramatic hand has gone down that started with a raise to 1.6 million from King and a call from Bone. Bone then check-called a 1.9 million bet on the flop and then checked the turn. King bet 4 million only to see Bone check-raise to 12 million. King then shoved all-in and Bone called.

Bone:
King:

Both player had a straight but Bone had a redraw to a club flush. The river was the , which was th ecorrect colour but the wrong suit and the pot was split.

Double For King
One of the first hands of heads-up has seen Richard King win a crucial coinflip to double through Adam Bone.

The chips went in preflop, Bone shoving on King with and King calling with .

“Come on, one time,” pleaded Bone, but his prayers went unanswered as the dealer spread the flop. The turn left Bone drawing dead and when the inconsequential showed up on the river, King’s double was complete.

Sylvia Hewitt OUT in 3rd Place (£900)

She’s dominated periods of this partypoker UK Team Challenge, but Sylvia Hewitt has gone out in 3rd place and misses out on the heads-up battle by the tiniest and cruellest of margins.

In a blind-on-blind battle, she open-shoved all-in for 10.12 million chips from the small with and was quickly called by Richard King in the big blind, who held . The flop of left Sylvia needing a miracle, and across the turn and river of and it simply didn’t happen. She cashes for £900 and we await team prize confirmation.

What we do know is that Richard King must win the ensuing heads-up battle to win both the individual and team element. Should he come second and lose to Adam Bone in this mano-a-mano duel to the finish, then his team (known now in the cardroom simply as ‘Iron Men’) will take second and Nits & Natter will win. The four members of their team are in no particular order anti-railing Richard’s efforts, drinking at the bar and pretending not to be aware or nervously pacing the finest cardroom in Europe. It really is incredible stuff on the floor.

Chip-counts going into heads-up:

Adam Bone = 67 million chips
Richard King = 28 million chips

The two men have shaken hands. Let’s get the battle on!

Hasmukh Khodiyara Busts in Fourth Place

The tournament has lost Hasmukh Khodiyara who bust in fourth place at the hands of Adam Bone. A brief yet intense raising war broke out on an flop that resulted in Khodiyara four-betting all-in and Bone calling with no hesitation at all.

Khodiyara turned over and was crushed by the of Bone. The turn failed to change anything and when the completed the community cards it was game over for Khodiyara, a result that nets him £700.

Cezary Binczyk OUT in 5th

‘Binczyk Binks It’ was obviously the dream headline, but we won’t be writing it (except for just there) as Cezary has said goodbye. Super-short at just over 4 million chips, he shoved into Hasmukh Khodiyara’s raise with and he had no problem calling it off. The king on the flop put Cezary behind, and he never caught up to leave us in fifth place, winning £600.

Level 29 – Blinds 300k/600k/100k – 5 players remaining – 19m = average chips

Adam Bone at the Double!

Adam Bone has been fearless throughout this Team Challenge, and we’ve just seen the benefit! After Hasmukh Khodiyara raised to 1.3m, Bone re-raised to 3.4m and faced a shove all-in from Khodiyara to the tune of 32 million chips! Holding just 16.9m at the start of the hand himself, it was the biggest pot of the tournament so far, and bone ‘sigh-called’ (his own words) to see that he was flipping.

Bone:
Khodiyara:

Bone was standing, as opposed to Hasmukh, who sat still, unmoved by anything. Bone was going through the ringer until the flop came and he breathed deeply.
‘No ten.’ he asked the dealer. The turn fell… the . ‘No ten.’ again Bone pleaded. on the river was close, but he doubles to 34 million in chips and takes the lead from his vanquished foe, Hasmukh dropping to 16m.

Matt Hays OUT in 6th Place

Matt Hays has often starred in some of the best hands of this Team Challenge, but his tournament is over. Matt got his last 6.4m into the middle with over the top of Hasmukh’s opening bet of 1.3m, and Khodiyara called off the rest with . The board of ended Hays’ hopes, and he must now cling on to a very specific order of bust-outs aligning to keep his team, the Cravens Shaven Havens, in the top 5 money places of the Team Prizes.

Nicola Caunce Crashes Out in 7th Place

Nicola Caunce’s tournament is over. She three-bet all-in over the top of an Adam Bone raise with what turned out to be and Bone called with . The dealer fanned the board and Caunce was heading for the exits.

Adrian Ko Knocked Out in 8th Place

Adrian Ko is out of the UK Team Challenge final after pushing all-in from the hijack with and being looked up by Hasmukh Khodiyara with . A final board reading resigned Ko to an eighth place finish.

Tom Simm Crashes Out!

Tom Simm was the last of the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ team, and needed to finish 7th or higher to guarantee his team would overtake Nits & Natter, but sadly his tournament has come to an end. He shoved his last six big blinds into the middle with and was called by Hasmukh, who still has a lot of chips at this final table, with . the flop brought a queen as it came .

The turn of made things even worse as now the six outs Tom thought he had were replaced by the four tens in the pack. But the river brought only the and Simm was finished, his team having racked up an incredible 818,750 points, but just falling short of Nits & Natters with 835,000.

Amazingly close for the poker heroes (in a half-shell), but their hopes went into the Shredder.

Big Pot For King

Richard King opened to 800,000 in early position and was called by Adam Bone on the button and Sylvia Hewitt in the big blind. All three players checked the arrival of the flop and Hewitt checked the turn. King bet 2.4 million and only Bone called. The river was the and Bone led for 3.7 million then instantly mucked when King called. King also mucked and raked in a chunky pot.

Bone Loses Some Ground
Adam Bone hasn’t got off to the best of starts and has lost around 10 million of his chips. Some went to Matt Hays when Bone opened to 1.2 million from under the gun then folded, and showed , when Hays three-bet shoved from the next seat along.

Some more of Bone’s chips went to Sylvia Hewitt who opened to 900,000 from early position and Bone called in the big blind. Bone then check-called a 1.4 million bet on the flop before both players checked the turn. Bone then check-folded to a 1.6 million bet on the river and showed the , to which Hewitt responded by showing .

Strong to the Bone

Hasmukh Khodiyara has a big lead here at the Team Challenge final table, but that can change very quickly in poker, and if there is one player he won’t want to clash with too much in the early stages, it is Adam Bone(pictured). The Randoms’ sole hope is fearless at the felt and has already raised or re-raised his way to an extra couple of million chips in the opening orbit.

Final Table Seat Draw

Seat	Player	Chips
1	Adam Bone	16,125,000
2	Matt Hays	6,050,000
3	Sylvia Hewitt	9,975,000
4	Tom Simm	3,400,000
5	Richard King	9,925,000
6	Nicola Caunce	10,175,000
7	Cezary Bincyk	5,375,000
8	Adrian Ko	6,400,000
9	Hasmukh Khodiyara	27,950,000

Permutations

As things stand, the Nits & Natters are in the clubhouse with 835,000 points. This mammoth total guarantees them a top 3 Team Challenge placement, and £4,800 prize-pool to share out, but they’ll be hoping that they can hang on to the top spot and guarantee themselves the £12k top team prize.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will overtake Nits & Natters IF their last turtle standing Tom Simm can finish 7th, HOWEVER, he is short-stacked with 9 players remaining. The rail atmosphere is genuinely nothing like we’ve ever seen before!

We believe that Iron Men could win the Team Challenge… but only if their TWO remaining players (they’re the last team with a duo still standing *applause*) finish 3rd and 4th minimum.

Confused? Stay tuned. Abacus at the ready.

Simm To Win It?

Tom Simm may have the look of someone who is destined to appear in Countdown’s Dictionary Corner one day but the young man in the woollen jumper wears a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle patch, therefore he has the heart of a lion. He’s a hero in a half-shell and he is displaying true turtle power.

Having dwindled to just one big blind with a dozen players left, Simm doubled when he shoved and managed to toppled A-T off-suit. He then got a shove through, before being all-in for the third hand in a row with A-K triumphing over A-T. Now, all of a sudden, two more players have busted and we find ourselves at the nine-handed final table BUT on the direct money bubble. To soften that, DTD are going to give whoever does bubble a ticket in to the Grand Prix! Everyone loves this place.

If these TMNT heroes win, surely they’ll be ordering in the pizza? Cowabunga!

Down to 11
There are only 11 players remaining in the field after Steven Anderson fell just a couple of moments ago. Anderson pushed his short stack into the middle and Hasmukh Khodiyara made a call based on pot odds from the big blind. Khodiyara flipped over and Anderson . An eight and a three on the flop left Anderson drawing thin and when he couldn’t find a third king he exited the tournament area.

Kett Out…But Turtles Hang In?

Ben Kett can consider himself incredibly unfortunate to have just busted the Team Challenge and in his undoing perhaps the Team Challenge title is going somewhere other than the ‘Heroes in a Half-Shell’, a.k.a. his team, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Kett, all-in and at risk to Sylvia Hewitt, showed pre-flop, called by Hewitt’s . The flop of was a nightmare and neither the turn or river could save him. Kett’s points put ‘the Turtles’ in an interesting position. Nits & Natters are leading the Team Challenge, but ALL FOUR have busted. Sole remaining turtle Tom Simm would need to finish 7th or better to accumulate the points to overtake N & N, but waiting in the wings are two teams with two players left. Cravens Shaven Havens and Ironmen both have a deadly duo lurking to try and overtake at the last…but both players on each team may need to reach final table to do so!

Caunce’s Cowboys Rattle Bone
Nicola Caunce, one of two female poker players still in the hunt for the individual title here in the UK Team Challenge, has doubled through Adam Bone after having her pocket kings paid off.

After raising to 600,000 from the hijack, Caunce watched on as Adam Bone made the call on the button. She then continued with a 900,000 bet on the flop, a bet that was called. The turn was greeted with an all-in bet of 2,355,000 and a call from Bone.

Bone’s needed some help to come from behind to beat the of Caunce, but the help failed to arrive as the completed the community cards and Caunce doubled her stack.

Final Nits&Natter Players Busts
James Lafferty is one the sidelines meaning the entire nits&natter team are now out of the tournament.

Lafferty got the last of this stack into the middle while holding the and found himself up against the of Hasmukh Khodiyara. Once again a player’s tournament life was to be decided by a coinflip scenario.

The flop gave Lafferty a sweat as he could now hit a diamond to double and stay in the tournament. The added outs to a straight, but the river was the very definition of a brick and he headed for the rail.

So Sick for Clossick

Jamie Clossick may have made the fold of the tournament when he laid down pocket queens earlier today in the face of the 193rd 3-bet of Sylvia Hewitt’s morning, but the cards don’t award luck to the skill of their holders, and Clossick has just found that out.

Raising to 750,000, Adam Bone watched as Clossick tipped his 6.5m stack into the middle of the table. Bone eventually called it off and it ws a classic ‘coinflip’ situation:

Jamie Clossick:
Adam Bone:

The board played it cruel with Jamie’s hopes and dreams, the king in the window spreading a fan of – all hope fading. The opened up the possibility of the ‘Broadway’ straight, but the river extinguished any chance of Clossick climbing the points ladder. 16 left.

Chips With Two Tables Left

With 17 players left in the partypoker UK Team Challenge, here are the full chip-counts from the two tables…

Table 1
Adam Bone – 8 million
Jamie Clossick – 6.5m
Matt Hays – 4m
Gavin Jones – 4.7m
Tom Simm – 2.2m
Rich King – 7.6m
Nicola Caunce – 5.2m
Steven Anderson – 6.6m
Adrian Ko – 4.6m

Table 2
Cezary Binczyk – 3.7m
Sylvia Hewitt – 4.7m
Ben Kett – 2.6m
James Gadd – 3m
James Lafferty – 1.8m
Gordon McArthur – 5.1m
Hasmukh Khodiyara – 19.9m
Trevor Duddle – 5.5m

As you can see, Hasmukh has a whole heap of the chips (nearly 20% of the 105 million in play) but with the money bubble bursting when we reach our final 8 players, anything can happen!

Jacks Result in Johnson’s Demise
Paul Johnson is heading into the cold Nottingham night after calling an all-in on the flop with and running into the of Hasmukh Khodiyara. The turn gave Johnson outs to a flush, but the river sent Johnson to the rail.

Duddle Condemns Vandanapu to an Early Bath
Vamshi Vandanapu has been quite active this afternoon and that has come around to bite him on the backside after he pushed all-in with the lowly and was snapped off by Trevor Duddle’s . A final board reading resulted Vandanapu busting.

Zinhi is Skinned

Ali Zinhi has busted the tournament in 22nd place after he lost his final hand in a cooler situation. Raising it to 350k with A-K off-suit, and getting two callers to a flop of A-7-5. Amazingly, all three players checked here, but the money went in from Ali and his opponent, who held pocket sevens , on the turn of . The river was a meaningless brick and Ali walked away, his dream over.

Level 23 – Players Remaining = 21 – Blinds 80k/160k/20k – Average Chips = 4 million

Caunce Shove Gets Through
One of The Ninja Turtles, Tom Simm, raised to 325,000 from middle position and was initially called by Paul Johnson in the cutoff. Nicola Caunce, on the button, moved all-in for around 2.5 million putting the action back onto Simm. He sat looking at the ceiling while he calculated if he was getting the correct prize to call before deciding he wasn’t and folding. A little speech pay by Johnson was ultimately followed by a fold.

Everybody Loves a Chopped Pot
Poker can be a funny old game. With hold’em having community cards, anything can and does happen when all five are seen. One such selection of community cards came to the rescue of Vamshi Vandanapu who raised to 350,000 before calling off his last 1.3 million when Sylvia Hewitt set him all-in from her seat in the big blind.

Vandanapu turned over and was way behind the of Hewitt. A few moments later and the board read , and Vandanapu stood to leave the table, thinking he’d bust, but was pulled back by one of the players who informed him of the chopped pot.

Clossick Busts Body
Daniel Body’s tournament has been brought to an abrupt end by Jamie Clossick. Body pushed his final seven big blinds into the middle of the partypoker-branded felt with and Clossick called from the big blind with the dominated .

Body’s hand remained best on the flop, then fell behind on the turn and remained so on the river. Game over for Body.

Good Call, Sir!

With 29 players remaining, Adam Bone has just clashed with Jay Scott in one of the biggest pots of the tournament so far. Betting 1.2m on a board of , Bone was faced with a massive all-in shove from Scott, to the total of 7 million chips! Bone deliberated.

‘You could have pocket eights or pocket sixes. They beat me. Or Ace-Queen.’

It was at this point of proceedings that maybe Jay Scott felt like he’d swallowed something jagged. But the man himself was implacable. A granite rock rebounding any plaintive attempts from Bone at finding a tell.

‘I call’ said Bone, turning over and looking relieved to see Jay Scott’s hand – just . A gut-shot re-draw but just a great bluffing spot…and the jack did not come, with the landing on the river and sending the pot of 7.1m towards Adam Bone, who moves second in chips.

Chip-count Highlights

Gordon McArthur – 9 million chips
Adam Bone – 7.1m
Paul Johnson – 5.6m
Tom Simm – 4.5m
Sylvia Hewitt – 4.0m
James Gadd – 3.2m
Ali Zinhi – 3m
Matt Hays – 2.1m
Ben Kett – 2.1m

Under Pressure

Play is now starting to get pretty tense, with money places only for the final eight players left… and final five teams. We’re getting closer and closer to the money, so every decision is pivotal.

Our last team with four players were Nits & Natter, but as of the latest break, they are left with just two members of the team. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and BRS Sprawlers also have a duo remaining…will anyone get to the final table with an amigo?

Level 22 – 31 Players Left – Blinds 60k/120k/20k – Average Stack = 3.07m

Jones Heads for the Showers
A raise to 275,000 from Matt Hays in middle position looked set to claim the blinds and antes until Phil Jones called from the big blind. Jones then led for 250,000 on the flop, Hays raised all-in and Jones called.

Jones’ was trailing the of Hays and that fact remained true when the turn was followed into play by the river, sending Jones home and leaving only 30 players in the hunt for the title of champion.

Vandanapu Wins Battle of the Blinds
Battles between the blinds can throw up some crazy hands and we thought there was one such hand brewing when Vamshi Vandanapu raised to 265,000 from the small blind and Tom Simm called in the big blind. Vandanapu fired a 525,000 continuation bet on the flop but just as things started to grow interesting, Simm let his hand go.

Hays Makes a Hero Call

Matt Hays has not had the easiest tournament, never seeing to be up above average in chips but somehow managing to survive. Has he timed his rise to prominence just right?

Raising it up pre-flop with , Matt got one caller and saw a flop of . Both players checked to a turn of which saw Matt’s opponent bet 205,000, which he called. On the river of a complete brick, Matt faced another bet – this time to a whopping 605,000!

‘If I lost the pot after calling, I wouldn’t even be left with a big blind.’ said Matt. He was proud of this call, which he did make and his opponent had ‘absolute air’. Matt’s queens and sixes ride home and he now sits behind a stack of 2.3 million chips.

The Rich Get Richer

Gordon McArthur is rapidly approaching 10 million chips after claiming the stack of Leigh Wiltshire.

Bryan Tismond started the preflop betting action with a raise to 215,000 from under the gun and after one player folded Leigh Wiltshire called. To Wiltshire’s immediate left was Gordon McArthur and his towers of orange 25,000 chips and he put in a raise of his own, setting the price to play at 775,000.

Tismond folded, but Wiltshire moved all-in for 2.1 million and was instantly called by McArthur.

Wiltshire:
McArthur:

“Come on the clubs,” said Wiltshire. The deck had different ideas as the flop fell . The turn gave Wiltshire a glimmer of hope, although the river was not one of his remaining two outs and he is now heading home while McArthur is sat with approximately 9.4 million chips.

Heneghan Takes a Hit

Rachel Heneghan (pictured) has survived many scrapes over the course of the last two days, but the latest hand may see her unable to recover. On a board of , she saw Tom Simm (a.k.a Donatello in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who have lost Michaelangelo – Vinnie Moran – from their team) fire a bet of 650,000 into a pot of around 1.05m.

Heneghan thought for a very long time, but eventually called it off. She saw Tom Simm turn over and mucked as she contemplated how many chips she has left, not much more than a million to our eyes.

Durkin Doubles Through Vandanapu
David Durkin has doubled his stack after finding pocket kings in a hand with Vamsh Vandanapu.

The latter opened to 210,000 from early position and David Durkin called from the button. A flop reading saw a flurry of action that resulted in Durkin being all-in and at risk of being sent into the cold Nottingham afternoon.

Durkin flipped over and Vandanapu the . The turn was followed into play by the river and Durkin’s double was complete.

Linsdell Shoves on Wiltshire

Everyone folded to Leigh Wiltshire on the button and after a peek at his hole cards he raised to 180,000. Jeff Linsdell was next to act and he announced his was all-in, instantly folding out the big blind. Wiltshire wasn’t prepared to invest any more chips and he flicked his cards back to the dealer.

Turtley Radical

With three members of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still in play, we caught up with them to find out their current chip-counts and also which Turtle they would represent. Amazingly (worryingly?) each player had already decided which turtle they would be and why! Ben Kett has 2.4m chips and would be Michaelangelo, wheeling his nunchuks around all over the place. Vinnie Mohan (1.45m) would be Leonardo – and we’ve seen some creative moves from Vinnie this weekend! Finally, Tom Simm, currently sat on 2.3m chips, would be Donatello. Legends, the lot of them!

Big Stacks
There are some pretty big stacks out there at the moment including:

• Gordon McArthur – 5,265,000
• Adam Bone – 4,220,000
• Vandanpau Chaitanya – 3,200,000
• Binczyk Cezary – 3,000,000
• Leigh Wiltshire – 2,800,000
• Rachel Heneghan – 2,600,000
• Ben Kett – 2,500,000
• Tommy Dyer – 2,500,000
• Robert White – 2,440,000

Nits&Natter in Control

The Dusk Till Dawn staff have supplied us with a list of the remaining teams in the UK Team Challenge. At the end of the third level of play, Nits&Natter still have all four of their team members still in the tournament, with The Ninja Turtles having three players present and correct.

Check out the table below to see if you can find your favourite team.

Team	Players remaining
Nits&Natter	4
The Ninja Turtles	3
Neo	2
THS Dingo Stars	2
Randoms	2
Happy Giraffes	2
Monmouth Fishermen	2
Herd of Donkeys	2
BRS Sprawlers	2
The Donkey Hunters	2
Cravens Shaven Havens	2
The Pokeriety Heroes	2
Ironman 3+1	2
St Stephens	1
Palmer Poker	1
The Four Pokeriety Musketeers	1
Hitsquad Alsorans	1
Quad Kings	1
Hitsquad Old Skool	1
Beauty and the Beasts	1
Blonde Tamm	1
Blonde Highlights	1
All In Blind	1
Qbar City	1
Buddies	1
For Vectron!	1
UK Destroyers	1
Team Kick-Ass	1
1000K	1
The Four King Nuts	1
Badregsupply	1
The Freerollers	1
Degenfund	1
Fairplaythree	1
The Rat Pack	1
Killjoys	1
THS Quid Hats	1
Laterunners	1
Weasel	1
Maddogs	1
Matchsticks	1

Zinhi Doubles Thorugh Linsdell

You can’t keep a good man down goes the saying, and Ali Zinhi, one of two members of the ‘BRS Sprawlers’ team still sitting (table talker extraordinaire Sylvia Hewitt being the other) remains in the hunt for both the top collective and individual Team Challenge prizes.

Three-betting with his pocket eights, Ali called the 4-bet all-in from Jeff Linsdell, who sat behind 5 million chips at the start of the hand (there are 105 million chips in play). Zinhi was winning, holding pocket eights to Linsdell’s sevens, and held comfortably to double up fro 1.1 million. He’s already up to around 2.6m and right back in contention.

Level 19 30,000/60,000/10,000 – 55 Players Remaining – 1.9m

Superstar Move of the Day

It’s one of the moves of the tournament so far, so it was nice to capture the moment. Consider first how active Sylvia Hewitt is, especially with players she knows well such as her opponent in this hand, Jamie Clossick.

Under-the-gun, Clossick led the betting pre-flop and pumped it to 110,000. The play was folded around to Hewitt in the small blind, who made it 275k to go. Clossick considered everything for around two minutes, and eventually folded face up! Shocked, Sylvia Hewitt turned over .

‘Wow, that’s a sick fold!’ she said. We can’t argue. Clossick only lost a few big blinds with pocket queens against easily one of the most active players at the table. And that flip wasn’t accidental, he knew he had the worst of it with the third-best starting hand in poker. Top class.

‘We’re On the Same Team!’

Some hands at this weekend’s partypoker UK Team Challenge have been dramatic, tense and exciting. This one has the lot!

After both Adam Bone (pictured, above) and Aaron Easom were two of four callers to the tune of 105k and saw a flop of . Bone made it 225,000 and only his team-mate called. Tension in the room. The turn was the and again Bone fired in a bet, this time 300,000. Sensationally, Easom put all his chips into the middle!

‘We’re on the same team. I’m going to knock you out of the tournament! Do you have a set?’
Bone asked, with little or no response from Easom.

Eventually, bone folded, showing the trips he’d flopped as he turned over . Easom smiled, and showed – he’d flopped the full house!

The dynamics of the Team Challenge may have saved Adam Bone’s tournament life!

Full Double for Dyer
Tommy Dyer has secured a full double and is now flying high with more than 2,500,000 chips.

Dyer min-raised to 100,000 from early position and was called by Adrian Ko a couple of seat to his left. The action then passed around to Ryan Pritchard, of The Quad Hats, on the button, and he squeezed to 400,000. Dyer wasn’t done with his hand, far from it, and he promptly moved all-in for what was 1,251,000. Ko instantly folded, putting the action and the eyes of those at the table squarely on Pritchard.

After at least one full minute, Pritchard opted to call to put Dyer at risk of elimination.

Dyer:
Pritchard:

Dyer was in a great spot to double his stack preflop and his grip on the pot grew stronger when the flop came and even more so on the turn. The river saw Dyer double and Pritcard drop to 10 big blinds.

McConnell Has It

With just seven tables left in the Team Challenge, everyone is now looking to build a stack towards making the final table and therefore the money. One player who has a decent shot at doing so is Ross McConnell, representing TNS Dingo Stars, who still have three players in the mix! Only one team has all four members still in the tournament, and that is Nits & Natters.

McConnell was one of four players who called Leo Valdezco’s raise to 90k pre-flop, meaning it was a decent pot to e won when the dealer fanned . Dann Williams – one of the players involved – called it the ‘driest pot in the world’, and he folded to Leo’s UTG c-bet of 120,000. In fact, only McConnell came along, and saw a turn card of . Leo continued again, betting 120k once more, but folded to McConnell’s quick raise to 250,000. He turned over for the turned straight. A good fold from Leo, but she is the only survivor on her team, and has 800,000, now around half the average of 1.55 million chips. McConnell, on the other hand, has plenty at 1.9m.

Wiltshire Continues to Climb
Leigh Wiltshire, the last surviving Four Pokeriety Muskateer, added to his stack after having a river bet paid off by Daniel Body.

Body raised to 85,000 from under the gun, one player folded and Wiltshire called. Everyone else ducked out of the way until Gavin Jones called in the big blind.

The trio of players checked the arrival of the [Kc5c4c] flop and the turn. It looked like the was going to receive the same treatment as both Jones and Body checked, but Wiltshire took a stab at the pot with a 145,000 bet. Jones folded after around 30-seconds of deliberation, and Body called, albeit after around another minute of thinking time.

Wiltshire showed and Body mucked.

Check it down
James Gold opened to 90,000 from early position and was called by Sylvia Hewitt in the cutoff. Hopes of a flurry of betting and raising, something quite common when Hewitt is in a hand, were soon dashed when the duo checked down a board, Gold taking down the pot with his to Hewitt’s .

“I can’t believe played that so passively,” said Hewitt as Gold added the handful of chips to his stack.

Level 17 – Blinds 20,000/40,000/5,000 – 72 Players Remaining – Average Chips = 1.46 million

Wiltshire Wins Over Gudger

Eleanor Gudger came into Day 2 play today in good stead, but after just a few orbits here in the final has bowed out in dramatic fashion.

Raising on the button, she saw some action from Leigh Wiltshire, playing for The Four Pokeriety Musketeers. She went all-in over the top of Leigh’s raise and he made a quick call. Eleanor turned over pocket queens, but the lady would need help, with Wiltshire flipping over pocket aces!

‘He got an ace on the flop for good measure.’ Eleanor put it afterwards, updating her fellow team member Kevin Wheeler on the fact that he is now flying the flag solo with seven tables of players to fight through!

Welcome to Day 2!

We’re back in the Dusk Till Dawn casino Nottingha for Day 2 of the partypoker UK Team Challenge. Who will win the top team prize of £12,000 and individual prize of £2,250 for becoming the champion?

Day 1 Chipcounts & Day 2 Table Draw

With the remaining players bagged up, here’s a run-down of the overnight chip-stacks and their seats and tables for Day 2. Bring on the Team Challenge final!

Johnson Paul 13 1 2,861,000
Clossick Jamie 13 2 1,500,000
Zihni Ali 13 3 1,780,000
Minshull David 13 4 437,000
Gadd James 13 5 2,168,000
Linsdell Jeff 13 7 3,659,000
Duddle Gary 13 8 573,000
Hewitt Sylvia 13 10 3,272,000
Bone Adam 14 1 1,927,000
Brown Andrew 14 2 1,500,000
Borrer Craig 14 3 1,373,000
Easom Aaron 14 4 2,131,000
Farrell Di 14 5 650,000
Oates Neville 14 6 772,000
Jeffrey James 14 7 202,000
Swales Hannah 14 8 783,000
Fullerton Emma 14 9 1,895,000
Duddle Trevor 14 10 1,984,000
Perkins John 2 1 708,000
Williams Dann 2 2 1,725,000
Mcconnell Ross 2 3 670,000
Pham Simon 2 4 1,563,000
Hayes John 2 5 197,000
Kerr William 2 6 1,874,000
White Robert 2 7 1,796,000
Valdezco Leonora 2 8 550,000
Khodiyara Hasmukh 2 9 934,000
Mcknight Nathan 2 10 618,000
Jones Gavin 25 2 992,000
Gudger Eleanor 25 3 706,000
Durkin David 25 4 2,089,000
Wiltshire Leigh 25 5 2,683,000
Powell James 25 6 920,000
Kendrick Brett 25 7 794,000
Leigh Michael 25 8 1,951,000
Underhill Darren 25 10 744,000
Pritchard Ryan 26 1 657,000
Scott Jay 26 2 4,273,000
Watkin David 26 3 779,000
Dyer Tommy 26 4 979,000
O’mahoney Michael 26 6 559,000
Ko Adrian 26 7 1,100,000
Bates Matthew 26 8 407,000
Mohan Vinnie 26 9 790,000
Palmer Kevin 27 1 928,000
Jones Paul 27 2 1,238,000
King Richard 27 3 1,600,000
Wheeler Kevin 27 5 1,653,000
Hays Matt 27 6 791,000
Monks Paul 27 8 367,000
Simm Tom 27 9 545,000
Large Jeff 27 10 1,318,000
Binczyk Cezary 36 1 564,000
Porter Mark 36 2 1,252,000
Heneghan Rachel 36 4 3,001,000
Whittall Ryan 36 5 525,000
Garland Andrew 36 6 1,591,000
Kett Ben 36 7 1,619,000
Cinquemani Jimmy 36 8 617,000
Vandanapu Vamshi Chaitanya 36 9 825,000
Lafferty James 36 10 1,007,000
Gottshalk Marcell 37 2 723,000
Jones Gareth 37 3 617,000
Passantino Benedetto 37 4 525,000
Chappell Karen 37 5 663,000
Willis Jonathan 37 6 1,680,000
Body Daniel 37 7 338,000
Caunce Nicola 37 8 553,000
Mcarthur Gordon 37 9 1,338,000
Tismond Bryan 37 10 826,000
Winsper Peter 38 1 916,000
Anderson Steve 38 2 1,540,000
Gilbert Sam 38 3 1,169,000
Caunce Denis 38 4 917,000
Gordon Adam 38 5 834,000
Ross-jones Will 38 6 764,000
Maszlag Maz 38 7 1,384,000
Ramkeesoon Eric 38 8 792,000
Hamilton David 38 9 632,000

Late Night Survival

With just fifteen minutes to go until play ends for the night, there are still four teams who have three players or more in the mix! ‘Monmouth Fishermen’ and ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ have three men left in, while BOTH ‘TNS Dingo Stars’ and ‘Nits & Natter’ have all four team members in the mix with 88 left – that is a phenomenal achievement whatever happens from here on in.

On the individual front, the day will surely belong to Sylvia Hewitt, who has 5 million chips on her own and is a clear chip leader. Incredible play all day, and those crucial cards caught at the right time in marginal pots.

As soon as we have the chip-counts, we’ll let you know what everyone has!

Ladies Night?

There’s a chance that tomorrow’s final could be an all-female affair at this rate! Rachel Heneghan (2.0m), Sylvia Hewitt (3.0m) and many other ladies are thriving too. Eleanor Gudger won the WPT500 almost a year ago, and she’s looking good to run deep in this Team Challenge with 89 players left. She just had against to eliminate Lewis Dorrett and chip up to around 700k.

Level 15 – Blinds 12,000 / 24,000 / 3,000 – 89 Players Remaining – Average Chips 1.18 million

The Knockout Blow

We’ve been surrounded by legends here at Dusk Till Dawn, including World Poker Legend Mike Sexton and four-time World Champion Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch! (above)

While those two have been having a ball individually in the Grand Prix leg set here at Europe’s finest cardroom tonight, others have been focused on the team game. The partypoker UK Team Challenge hinges on small margins, and teams are already looking around them thinking about the long game.

After witnessing a pretty fortunate two-million-chip pot going the way of Ali Zinhi when his managed ot flop an ace against his opponent’s shove for forty big blinds, that changed things at the top. Here are the top four teams in reverse order….

‘The Randoms’ are represented by Aaron Easen (1.5m) and Adam Bone (2.0m) with 3.5m to their name at present…and they sit three seats apart! They also have points on the board already, with a busted team member in the points if not the money.

Ali (2.0m) and Sylvia Hewitt (3.0m) are ‘BRS Sprawlers’ and have 5 million fun-discs, and are also sat on the same table!

‘The Ninja Turtles’, who are all wearing apparel in the fashion of everyone’s favourite late-eighties crime-fighting amniotes, have ALL FOUR members alive and kicking. Cowabunga! They’re collectively stacking up around 5.2m at present.

But top of the poker pops as we approach the midnight hour are ‘Nits & Natters’, who feature two monster stacks with their team members Johnson (3.3m) and Lafferty (1.7m) bossing different tables and once again ALL FOUR members of their team sitting behind chips, totalling a whopping 6.5m!

Rachel Rising

Rachel Heneghan certainly has the game for tournament poker. Every time we’ve checked her chip-count, she’s tended to have more than the last time. If that trend continues until tomorrow night, she’ll have 105 million and the trophy. Sadly for her, she’s the last lady standing from her team, so she may HAVE to win the tournament to make thousands.

Elsewhere, we lost Angelo Milioto when his shove with pocket tens was looked up by Ace-Jack and a spike on the river sent him packing.

Level 14 – Blinds 10,000/20,000/3,000 – 112 Players Remaining – Average Chips = 943,000

Big Chances?

Who’s hitting and who’s missing this evening as we approach the final two levels?

Sylvia Hewitt 2.0 million chips
Adam Bone 1.5m
Aaron Easen 1.4m
Kevin Wheeler 1.2m
Eric Ramkeesoon 815,000
Eleanor Gudger 570,000
John Thompson 400,000
Ali Zinhi 300,000

A Piece of Cake

No, not a nice Lemon Drizzle or a tempting Victoria Sponge. It’s not the Bake Off tent, but Dusk Till Dawn casino in Nottingham and the battle is not an individual race to be ‘star baker’, but a Team Challenge to end them all…and lift the FOUR Team Challenge trophies!

Two players still well in the hunt as we told you earlier are Kevin Wheeler and Eleanor Gudger, who have 1.2m and 560k respectively. Just ahead of them in the chip-counts are Ali Zinhi (300k) and Sylvia Hewitt (2.0m) but even further up the leaderboard are Adam Bone (1.5m) and Aaron Easen (1.4m) as ‘The Randoms’ – and their strategy early on today was that two of their three players need to make the final table. Only two of them remain in the shape of Adam and Aaron…can they do it?

Slinky Climbing Mountains

It would be fair to say that Silvia ‘Slinky’ Hewitt (pictured, above) as she is known in the poker fraternity is one of the biggest winners so far on Day 1. No prizes are handed out today, of course but Hewitt and Ali Zinhi are still riding high as BRS Sprawlers, and the march to the latter stages may well be traced back to two all-ins for Hewitt that have yielded pure drama.

In the first one, Stephen Ayres was all-in and at risk for around 170,000 with and Sylvia had . The flop of flop gave her top pair and that held to knock out a strong opponent. But it was only the beginning.

In the very next hand, Hewitt and Paul Romain got it all into the middle on a board of with Sylvia having raised all-in over Paul’s bet of 175k to be all-in for around 900k. Romain made what was a great call, holding as Sylvia turned over but was very live with any queen, seven or club available to her. Better than 30% then, but Romain was still a big favourite…until the landed on the river. One card from 1.8 million in chips, and instead, Hewitt has almost that, while Romain has 4 big blinds. Poker can be cruel.

Level 12 – Blinds 6,000/12,000/2,000 – 144 Players Remaining – Average Stack = 734,000

Heneghan Doubles Monks

It’s definitely that time of the evening where players face the choice of whether to shove or fold. One player making the choice to get all his chips in was Paul Monks, who shoved for 15 big blinds and was re-raised all-in for 600k by Rachel Heneghan. Everyone else folded, included an increasingly influential Sylvia Hewitt, who hated (but obviously loved) Rachel’s powerplay.

Rachel held pocket eight and Monks , and when a queen arrived on the river, he doubled up to a quarter of a million in chips. Heneghan takes a hit, but is still doing well. Can the new DTD marketing employee put herself on a final table to reckon with?

Fame and Fortune

With just four more 40-minute levels remaining of today’s Day 1 play, several players are putting themselves in a position to make a push for that all-important final table.

From the Poker Hunters, Leo just busted another, when her rode home in an all-in pre-flop situation against pocket sixes. That put her up around the average mark, but who else still has chips? Here are a few ore hopefuls who will be desperate for their cards to hold…

Dann Williams 2.0 million chips
James Lafferty 1.75m
Nikolaos Cheetham 1.5m
Robert White 1.4m
Steven Anderson 1.38m
Simon Pham 1.2m
Brett Knedrick 910,000
Dave Durkin 900,000
Leigh Wiltshire 350,000

It’s a Team Game

With 175 players still in the hunt for the £12,000 Team Challenge top prize and £2,250 individual top prize, there really is everything to play for.

One tea who may yet do some real damage is the two-titan team of Eleanor Gudger (former WPT500 champion) and Kevin Wheeler. Gudger started the day roughly with what she has now, 550,000 chips, but Wheeler has done even better, racking up a massive 1.2 million fun-discs to date.

If one of them were to win, they’d split the money right down the middle and have FIVE trophies between them!

Level 11 – Blinds 5,000/10,000/1,000 – 165 Players Remaining – Average Chips = 644,000

Thank Gadd For That

There have been a few lucky rivers for players today, but you might find it harder to get much luckier than Shaven Craven Havens’ team member James Gadd. Gadd called the all-in from Karl Turner on a board of , and was distraught to see that turner held .

Gadd only had but the river busted turner and swept a massive pot Gadd’s way. With fellow team member Matt Hays still going strong, could the craven Havens be in seventh heaven?

Chips with Everything

With the most recent break just ending, here are some of the prominent players still involved here at Dusk Till Dawn in the partypoker UK Team Challenge

Richard King 1.6 million chips
Adam Bone 1.58m
Paul Romain 1.18m
Kevin Wheeler 1.16m
Jamie Clossick 1.15m
Ben Kett 1.14m
Andy Wool 1.04m
Sylvia Hewitt 1.03m
Gavin Jones 695,000
Rachel Heneghan 640,000
Ali Zinhi 505,000
Cat Winch 365,000

Thompson Takes Out Sladkovsky

John Thompson has just shown Jiri Sladkovsky exactly how to win a pre-flop showdown here at the partypoker Team Challenge!

All the chip were into the middle between the pair, and while Jiri held and needed to improve, Thompson had the best of it with . The flop of completely ended any suspense, with the first two cards giving Thomspson quad kings and it was over for Jiri!

Elsewhere, Tristan Chaplin is out after he ran short and shoved with A-T, called by K-Q, before seeing a two-queen board bust him well before the money – not his day.

Pitt Flushed Away

Matthew Pitt (pictured, above) had enjoyed a very steady day at the felt until this level, never lower than 180000 chips and growing his chipstack consistently but he’s just been eliminated from the partypoker UK Team Challenge to possibly the one player he wouldn’t have wanted to lose to!

It was a ‘War of the Roses’ situation as Leeds United superfan Matthew took on Sylvia Hewitt, who is such a partisan Manchester United supporter that she bleeds red, black and white!

On a flop of A-K-T, all the chips were into the middle, with Matt holding two-pair of A-T and Sylvia A-J, but after picking up the flush draw on the turn, it came in on the river. Matthew Pitt is runner-runner-ran out of town, and Sylvia continues to build a chip mountain!

Rock Starring

Paul ‘The Rock’ Romain (pictured, above) may be nicknamed ‘CroydonJim’ on partypoker, but he’s well aware of how to get the most out of premium hands, and he’s done it again at the expense of Paul Jackson.

Raising pre-flop, Paul got 4 callers to a 9-high flop, where he bet 16k, Jackson made it 40k to go and Romain re-popped it to 135k. Induce-play? Paul Jackson only called, before the turn of another 9. This time, Romain led for 60k, and Jackson called. On the river of ‘an off-suit two’, Romain’s shove was called by Jackson, who insta-mucked when he saw Romain’s hand of pocket jacks.

Level 9 3,000/6,000/500 – 201 Players Remaining

Young Half-Buries Marrow

We’ve seen some great play already today here on Day 1 of the 2-day partypoker UK Team Challenge. Premium hands getting paid, pitch-perfect value bets and everything in between. We’ve just seen one of the best bluffs.

On a board of , Andy Young led the river to the tune of 70k, but faced a tricky re-raise to 150k from Paul Marrow. Young re-raised to 325,000, putting a serious chunk of Marrows’s chips at risk. Eventually, Marrow folded…and was shown Young’s for good measure!

Much interest from the rest of the table… Marrow survives but has taken a major hit while Young hops over the million-chip mark to our eye.

Level 7 – Blinds 2,000/4,000/500 – 231 Players Remaining – Average Stack = 457,000

Up or Down At the Break

Here are plenty of players who will be returning in Level 7 of the partypoker UK Team Challenge, with variety of chip-stacks to arm them for the next three levels…

Sam Gilbert 1.3 million chips
Ben Kett – 1.15 million
Sylvia Hewitt 910,000
Stephen Ayres 900,000
Richard King 840,000
Rachel Heneghan 375,000
Cat Winch 285,000
Jamie Moniz 250,000
Paul Monks 190,000

Cove Culled at Second Break

Caroline Cove can certainly consider herself unlucky not to be racking up chips at the second break as the remaining players gather to discuss bad beats, lucky rivers and last longers.

Short-stacked at around 65,000, Caroline raised to 8k, with ‘Cropsie’ one of two players to get involved when he called a re-raise to 30,000. He then called Caroline’s re-raise all-in to 65,000 when he was distracted and soon the cards were on their backs. for Cropsie and pocket aces for Caroline! A ten came on the flop…and then a five on the river to break Cove’s heart and give Cropsie a fortuitous boost!

Name on the trophies…? (above)

Heneghan Begin Again

Rachel Heneghan always has a reason to look cheerful upon her arrival at Dusk Till Dawn, after all she recently joined the DTD team on the marketing side of things in the finest cardroom in Europe. She came into the tournament in fine fettle, but has just lost a big one after making a chunky bet of 100,000 on the river of a board showing with Jack-Ten. Unfortunately for her, Stephen Ayres called it off with and now has 850,000 as opposed to Heneghan’s 250,000.

Elsewhere at that table of drama…

Sylvia Hewitt 750,000
Denis Prickett 430,000
Matthew Pitt 260,000
Paul Monks 200,000

Whiten Feeling Blue

Level 6 – Blinds 1500/3000/400 – 241 Players Remaining – Average Stack = 438,000

The bounties are dropping like flies here at Dusk Till Dawn on Day 1 of this 2-day Team Challenge, where 80% of the prize-pool goes to the team, and 20% the players. After the exits of Gary Oakes, Simon Trumper and Dave Allsopp, Nick Whiten has joined the scrap heap in an ‘amusing’ run-out for his chances according to his conqueror.

Andrew Booth called Whiten’s raise from UTG and saw a flop of whereby Whiten bet 20k, which Booth flat-called. On the turn of a seven, whiten went all-in… and Booth called that too, showing for the flopped trips. Whiten held pocket kings, and the river of a four sent him packing. Andy Booth is a kind spirit, however, and the Cardroom Direct man proceeded to offer each remaining player at the table a chunk of the Bounty bar.

Isn’t he ‘sweet’?

Short No More

Ian Short, playing for team ‘All-in Blind’ was looking down at a rather short stack, but has just made a good few chips from one of the above-average players at the table, chipped-up Matt Hays. Short was the initial raiser, to 4.5k, with Hays and Colin Andrews coming along to a flop of

Short led out a c-bet to 8k, called only by Hays. On the turn of that c-bet price went up to 15k (again called) and on the river it stayed 15k. Hays saw his chance, pouncing to raise it up to 55,000. Now it was a crucial pot for Short, who took three minutes or so to eventually call, getting an instant muck from Hays, and showing Tc] himself to sweep a valuable pot towards his Teach Challenge ID card.

Back in the game…

Level 4 – 1000/2000/300 – Average Chips = 367,000 – 288 Players Remaining

Trumper Trounced!

Simon Trumper held onto his bounty for as long as he could, but it has finally been taken from him. Deciding to shove all-in blind, Simon got not only callers, but one raiser to 15,000 from his all-in stack of 6,900 and four callers of that bet! After the flop of Colin Andrews immediately shoved for over 120,000 chips! Although Sam Gilbert amongst others gave it serious thought, everyone else folded….only for Andrews to show the for the flush draw. Could Trumper be ahead?? Well… no. His was still live though, but after the turn and river, Andrews’ king-high kicker with the pair of aces on board was enough to take a valuable pot and Simon’s chocolate, to consternation from those who folded better hands.

Andrews is the only player still alive from the duo who started the day as team ‘Jammy Doughnuts’

‘You’re the last doughnut standing?’.

He smiles, saving that chocolate bar for later on. He may well be here through the final level of the day (Level 15).

In or Out?

We’ve lost a couple of bounty players, with Gary Oakes (pictured above) and Dave Allsopp both out, Allsopp agonisingly so after being all-in and at risk with pocket queens against pocket aces pre-flop, hitting a queen on the flop then seeing an ace drop on the turn. He bricked the river to bust. Simon Trumper has two big blinds!

With most teams still at full strength and play still very deep, here are a variety of chipstacks from our players:

John Leslie 800,000
Denis Prickett 500,000
Paul Romain 430,000
Andrew Booth 320,000
Leigh Wiltshire 220,000
Matthew Pitt 210,000
Jamie Moniz 70,000

Trumper On The Brink

Simon Trumper is one of our in-house bounties here at Dusk till Dawn as the DTD poker legend puts his neck on the line for an appropriately named chocolate bar and a DTD Grand Prix seat worth £70. Everybody at his table seems desperate to bleed him dry in order to get it too, and he is down to fresh air as the break nears.

Simon limped UTG and was joined by five other players in seeing a flop of . Matt Hays led the betting, called only by one opponent. They called his c-bet on the turn too, bumping another 20k into the pot after the fell. On the river of , Hays bet 25,000 chips, was called by pocket sevens and showed [*h] to scoop yet another pot. He’s well past 600k now, is the young man from Cambridge. And he’s hungry for coconutty chocolate. Trumper beware…

Level 3 – Blinds 800/1600/200 – 340 Players Remaining – Average Chips = 310,000

Ayres a Rock?

Stephen Ayres came into the Team Challenge with quite the partypoker reputation, being a former Pokerfest High Roller champion. So, does he deserve it? You can make your mind up at the end of this hand!

Stephen was the only player going to the flop for 8,000 chips along with Paul Monks. The flop of kept both players interested, with Monks continuing for 4000. Ayres called. The turn of saw Ayres lead out of position, a strong move, making it 8k. Monks made it 25,000, and after a while considering, Ayres tipped in the chips. The river was crucial, and it fell the . Monks, playing for his team ‘The Rat Pack’ checked, but Ayres made it 35,000 – a sizeable chunk of his stack. Monks thought for a long time, but eventually made the fold, claiming to have had pocket aces and he looked suitably agonised. Ayres rightly looked more than a little pleased with himself, and well he might, having made that superstar river move with pocket threes! Skills.

Gudger Goes For It

One player who will be looking to continue a strong record here at Europe’s best cardroom Dusk Till Dawn is former WPT500 winner, Eleanor Gudger. The professional poker player took down last year’s award-winning WPT500 almost 12 months ago, and as part of her warm-up for defending her title, she’s taking part in the Team Challenge as part of a duo. Rejecting the traditional four-player size, Eleanor has teamed up with Kevin Wheeler and just bullied three players off the pot where she was not the original aggressor.

Facing a raise to 2.5k, Eleanor was one of four callers to see a flop of and the only one to bet – from mid-position – to 5k. Everyone showed her respect and got rid of their cards.

Sexton In His Seat

World Poker Tour legend and partypoker ambassador Mike Sexton is in the house!

The worldwide fan favourite will be hoping ‘all his pots are monster’ in the Grand Prix event, which now running here also.

Level 2 – Blinds 600/1200/200 – Average Stack = 307,000 – 344 Players Remaining

Hays Making Hay

With some of our players beginning play with over a thousand big blinds (!) it’s fair to say we don’t expect too many bust-outs early on. One player who came into play with nearly a million in chips is Sam Gilbert, representing ‘Nits N Natters’. He raised it up to 2,500 and only Matt Hays came along for the ride, hoping to add to his team (‘Craven Shaven Havens’) and their tally.

The flop of saw Gilbert continue to 3500, eliciting a call from Hays along with the line:

‘Have I made you break that million yet?’

A rye smile from Gilbert, and a check on the turn of . Hays wasn’t content to check, however, betting 6500, which got the call from Gilbert. On the river of Hays was the aggressor again, this time making it 10k to see his cards. Gilbert clicked the call button and mucked when Hays showed his for top two with the ace kicker.

Make Yours a Bounty?

With plenty of Dusk Till Dawn staff involved in the tournament, they each have a bounty of a Grand Prix seat worth £70 riding on their survival. Fancy tracking down one of these poor victims – ahem, players -? they each have a Bounty bar in front of them at the felt, which will also be yours should you bust them. The players with this chocolate and poker prize on their heads are as follows:

Michelle Orpe (pictured, above)
Simon Trumper
Jamie Moniz
Dave Allsopp
Gary Oakes
Nick Whiten
Danny Bell

Go for them!

The Name of the Game

With so many different teams in attendance, picking through the nuts and bolts of each group is very interesting. There are certainly some strong teams out there. One such is definitely ‘Pour Pokeriety Musketeers’, who feature the legendary ‘Pennyroll Champion’ Leigh Wiltshire, along with our very own Matthew Pitt, Paul Haycock and Neil Strike.

There is already a great atmosphere at Pitt’s table, which he shares with Sylvia ‘Slinky’ Hewitt, herself part of the ‘BRS Sprawlers’ team alongside Paul ‘Action Jackson’ and Ali Zinhi.

Hewitt got involved with a chunky 2.5xraise on that table, keeping two players interested enough to see a flop of . Her c-bet of 1500 was only called by Denis Prickett, however, and when she checked the turn of , Prickett wasn’t shy in sticking another 1500 into the middle, That got a fold from Hewitt, and Prickett wins a nice early pot.

‘Too early, isn’t it?’ he asks, with a smile.

Front Runners

There are plenty of teams with well over average, but these are the elite, the Top 5 teams as play is about to begin.

Position / Team Name / Total Chips
—1— Hitsquad Alsorans (rosjim1, pred888, EBBERDON47 & andrew111226) – 4,137,000
—2— The Ninja Turtles (DoobieFish, hittheshowers, VanH3Lzing & Fugliee) – 4,040,400
—3— nits&natter (nitsandnatter, paulscot1, CALELLA67 & MizterSam) – 3,923,000
—4— Team Kick-Ass (mrdoovde, RAK1NGBAD, Ratie1 & khazi64) – 3,123,200
—5— Herd of Donkeys (fredthegull99, Baileydog9999, scoobietuf & Leanne15790) – 2,938,200

There’s No I in Team!

This really is a team event today, as the partypoker Team Challenge gets under way in just ten minutes. It’s worth remembering that 80% of the prize pool will be paid out based on team standings and 20% on individual places, so we expect to see plenty of support on the rial from any busted team members. 349 players kick-off proceedings, with 15 x 40-minute levels standing between players and a seat in tomorrow’s final day festivities.

Who can last the course?

Level 1 – Blinds 500/1000/100 – 349 players remaining – Average chips = 298,000

Welcome to our UK Team Challenge live updates where you’ll find all of the action, as it happens, from what should be a fantastic event.

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