Daniel Hardy Poker
My name is Lawrence Dressler. My nickname in Otisville Federal Prison was Larry Noodles. I got my nickname after I got in trouble for smuggling spiral pasta from my prison job at the prison warehouse into my bunk. I am the Jewish guy in the middle pumping iron in the prison gym with my buddies Jeff and Willie. Jeff got five years for drug dealing on the dangerous streets of the Bronx. Daniel Hardy (United Kingdom) € 1,800 77. Davy Stevens (Netherlands) € 1,800 78. Daniel Horst Peche (Germany) € 1,800 79. Justas Semaska (Lithuania) € 1,800 80. Sulaiman Sesay (France) € 1,800 81. Lucian Draghici (Canada) € 1,800 82.
With COVID-19 disrupting our usual operations, we have reluctantly reviewed how we operate and the services we offer. Sadly we are unable to continue running poker tournaments or games at our UK venues. The exception being three-card poker games at selected venues. We would like to thank our poker community for their support over the years, especially to those who have been with us since Genting Poker Series launched in 2012, and our staff who helped create an experience that was valued by all our players. Any players who have funds in a prize pot should contact their local casino for more information.
WHY HAS GENTING UK DECIDED TO STOP HOSTING POKER TOURNAMENTS?
We have reviewed all aspects of the business and reluctantly concluded that, given the current circumstances and environment, commercially we could no longer offer poker tournaments at our venues. We understand this will be disappointing to our players and staff and want to thank everyone who has been part of the Genting poker community.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I STILL HAVE FUNDS IN A PRIZE POT?
Anyone who has funds in a prize pot should contact their local casino to arrange a refund.
HAS POKER BEEN STOPPED BECAUSE YOU COULD NOT MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING?
The coronavirus pandemic has presented a unique set of challenges for every business in the casino sector. It is these challenges in totality that has led to our decision.
HAS POKER BEEN STOPPED BECAUSE IT IS NO LONGER PROFITABLE?
Like all business we have to be commercially viable and we have reviewed every aspect of our offering due to the coronavirus pandemic. We approached this with an aim to ensure guests continue to enjoy a great experience at our casinos with the widest possible range of games available.
DOES THIS MEAN THE END OF THE GENTING POKER SERIES?
Yes, sadly we will no longer be running any poker tournaments at our UK venues for the foreseeable future.
IS ANY POKER STILL AVAILABLE AT GENTING UK VENUES?
Yes, three card poker can still be played at some of our venues. Please check with your nearest venue to see if it is offered as one of our table games.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE STAFF WHO RAN GENTING UK’S POKER ROOMS?
We value all our team members, and this decision has clearly and sadly had an impact on many individuals. We cannot however discuss specifics about the employment of individuals.
IS THIS A PERMANENT DECISION OR COULD IT BE REVERSED?
We will not be offering poker tournaments at our venues for the foreseeable future. We do however regularly review every aspect of the business to ensure we provide a great guest experience at our casinos.
12.05am: Day 1A is done
After 10 levels of play Day 1A has come to an end. Roughly 72 of the 246 runners made it through with Rich Trigg the overnight chip leader. You can read all about today's action in our end of day wrap which will be up shortly. Overnight chip counts will also be made available on the blog overnight.
We'll be back from noon to bring you live coverage of Day 1B. -- NW
11.55pm: Last four hands
The tournament clock has been paused and there will be four more hands before play ends for the day. -- NW
11.45pm: Late night news
Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody and defending champion Sergio Aido are amongst the last level casualties as are James Mitchell and Chris Sly. Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren is still grinding away with around 25,000. -- NW
11.25pm: Rich Trigg wins massive pot to take the chip lead
I just saw a massive pot between Rich Trigg and UKIPT2 Brighton winner Chris O'Donnell, one which ended with O'Donnell heading for the exit and Trigg heading to the top of the chip charts
Pre-flop O'Donnell raised to 2,600 from early position and Trigg three-bet to 5,400 on the button, call from O'Donnell. The flop fell Q♥J♥K♦ Trigg bet 2,000 and O'Donnell called. The 4♠ turn was checked through and the 6♥ completed the board. First to act O'Donnell led for 11,800 and had around 35,000 back, Trigg set him all-in and O'Donnell called it off.
First to show was Trigg who opened K♥6♥ for the rivered flush, whilst O'Donnell showed [10c]9♠ for the flopped straight and a bit of a cooler. After that hand Tirgg has roughly 190,000 although it was understandably taking him a while to stack his chips.
11.15pm: Latest exits
The total number of players left in has dipped to double digits for the first time today some of those who've facilitated that are: Scott Shelley, Ingemar Stahle, Ali Chaaban, Mark Reed, Richard Blacklock, Demetris Theophanous, Arjun Pasricha, Michael Jones, Ross Boatman, Louis Vial, Mohammad Sharifkazemi, Chaz Chattha, Mark Scarman, Christopher Barron, Mark Wates, UKIPT Series 3 Winner Dinh Tuan Nguyen, Carl Croucher and Dave Shallow, who late, late registered did not last long as he too is out. -- NW
11pm: No soft-playing
There aren't an enormous number of women in today's field, and they're not exactly sticking together either. Louise Duffy has just knocked out Sonja Kovac, making a big call for almost half her stack.
Kovac open shoved for about 12,000 and it was folded round to Duffy in the big blind. She asked for a count, asked forgiveness from her table for taking a little while to decide, counted her own stack, and then called.
Kovac tabled K♣7♣ and Duffy allowed herself a little nod as she turned over K♦J♥.
The board came 9♠3♠K♥Q♠6♣ and that was the end of that for our Croatian visitor. Duffy will likely now live to fight into day two. -- HS
Blinds up: 600/1,200, ante 200
10.35pm: Sick river for Zindrick
Oh boy was this a tough one to swallow for Bryan Zindrick. On the turn of an A♥5♥3♦[10s] board Ion Tronaru set him all-in for around 27,000. Zindrick committed his chips with a flourish and showed A♠K♣, which was well ahead of Tronaru's A♣2♠. An ugly 4♦ on the river gave the Romanian a straight and a stack of around 80,000.
As for Zindrick, he could only curse his luck as he picked up his coat and walked off into the night. -- NW
10.25pm: Latest exits
There's no easy way to say this but: Daniel Laming, Niels Ladefoged, Louis Livramento, Paul Parker, Chris Bjorin, Ioannis Vogiatzoglou, Steve Watts, Arvin Ravindran, Tim Davie, Daniel Edgington, Enkan Ismail, Nicky Katz, Philip Lee, Jackie Glazer, Jack Young, William Whittaker and Patrick Gaughan were all out before late registration closed. -- NW
10.20pm: From Bulgaria with chips
The chip lead is swinging around spectacularly tonight, with the latest incumbent seeming to be Rumen Nanev. He has about 130,000 and quite a decent reputation, so long as you're from Bulgaria. He holds the record for most number of poker cashes for any Bulgarian, and is fourth on the money list. (The PCA winner Dimitar Danchev is quite a way out front in that race.)
Henrique Pinho, of Team PokerStars Pro and Portugal, is not far behind Nanev. He has about 110,000 at this stage. There's one level left until we bag and tag for the evening.
10.15pm: The late show with Dave Shallow
The total number of entrants for Day 1A is 246. It had been stuck on 245 for ages but then one hero rocked up and bought in with just five minutes to go before registration shut. He's well known too for Dave 'Dubai' Shallow is that man. According to close friend James Dempsey he was always planning on playing today but decided to have dinner and watch the football first.
The two-time WCOOP winner wasted little time in putting his 20 big blind stack to use, he shoved over the top of Leon Louis 2,000 open and Louis tank folded. 'You have A-10?' asked Shallow, Louis gave a little nod as if to say that Shallow had guessed right. -- NW
10.05pm: Late night visit to the chip shop
Our exceptionally helpful tournament staff and media co-ordinator, Jen Mason, have found us the top chip counts in the room. Here's the top ten. These are approximate, but they give a pretty good indication of how things are going.
Nathan Davies 130000
Tom Langley 117000
Darren Pearce 101900
Michael Opree 100000
Sunny Chattha 99000
Phillip Mighall 95000
Ion Tronaru 95000
Kenny Hallaert 90800
Jack Salter 90200
There are two levels still to play.
9.55pm: Day 1A locked out
The players are back in their seats for the final two levels of the night. The start of level nine also marks the end of late registration, meaning if you really wanted to buy-in and get a 20 big blind stack then you're too late.
There are still seats for Day 1B available though for anyone who missed out today. A reminder to read this if you're planning on playing any UKIPT or EPT events. -- NW
Blinds up: 500/1,000, ante 100
9.35pm: Easy come, easy go for Philip Patrick
Philip Patrick was just involved in back to back hands winning one and losing the other. In the first he raised it up to 2,200, Mark Wates meant to call but put out too many chips so it went as a raise to 4,000. When it came back to Patrick he called.
Both players checked dark on the J♣3♣5♦ flop and the T♥ fell on the turn. 'I can't check any longer,' said Patrick and true to his word he fired out a bet of 4,000, call from Wates. The K♣ fell on the river, both players checked, Patrick rolled over pocket fives for a sneakily played set, whilst Wates showed K♣[Qd.
In the second Patrick raised it up to 2,200 again, Ian Simpson moved all-in over the top for 7,725 and Patrick tanked for an age before putting the extra in.
Simpson: 4♥4♦
Patrick: J♠T♦
The 6♥9♥A♥K♥K♠ kept the pair in front and Simpson doubled up.
He and the rest of the players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW
9.30pm: The end of the road
Come in Shlomi Gardi, Luis Dono, Stuart Preece, Mark Goodchild, Daniel Rankin, David Burraway, Stefan Baustert, Stephen Lockett, Cristian Bala, Ramey Shaio, Sebastian Mueller, Alex Zeligman, Deborah Worley-Roberts, Stephen Chidwick, Ondrej Kopecky, Laurence Houghton, Nik Persaud, Jamie Dodd, Sameer Singh, Tom Ward, Adrian Mateos, Chun Ho Law, Willie Tann, Petra Hruskova and Philip Gorres. Your time is up. -- HS
9.20pm: Cody chats
Jake Cody is always good for an interview. Here's proof:
9.05pm: Big stacks
A lot of the chips in this room are sitting in front of two men: Phillip Mighall and Michael Opree. The former is probably chip leader at the moment, with what looks like about 130,000. His neighbour Tim Davie is looking on with envy.
Opree, on the other hand, has about 95,000 and is on one of the toughest tables in the room. He has a chipped-up Chris Bjorin there, plus Scott Shelley and Steve Watts. The good thing for Opree is that they are all to his right.
Opree just added another small portion to his stack when he called on the button after Paul Whyman had made it 1,600 to play under the gun. The flop came K♦A♥6♥, which they both checked, taking them to a 5♦ turn. Whyman bet 2,100, Opree called, and they saw a J♠ river.
Whyman checked, Opree bet 3,000 and Whyman made a crying call. Opree showed A♦9♦ and took the pot. When it happens repeatedly, it makes a stack like Opree's. -- HS
Daniel Hardy Erj
8.50pm: Lundmark making his mark
Kent Lundmark is one of four former EPT champions still playing today in London. (That's even when you discount Tom Middleton, who is now out.) Lundmark is wearing a bright blue zip up top bearing the badge of Arsenal football club, and is under jaunty-coloured headphones. But he's still doing much of his best work away from our gaze.
However, we did catch this hand, in which he took a tidy portion to add to his stack. Lundmark raised to 1,200 from under the gun and picked up four callers: Iaran Lightbourne two seats to his left, Paul Williams in the cut off, Shlomi Gardi on the button and someone in the big blind who called and folded at first opportunity.
The flop came 8♥3♠K♦ and after two checks, Lightbourne bet 2,400. Williams called, as did Lundmark. The turn was 2♠ and this time Lundmark and Williams checked, allowing Williams to bet 5,150. Lundmark was the only caller.
The 2♦ rivered and Lundmark checked again. Williams checked behind, much to Lundmark's disappointment. He tabled 3♦3♣ for a flopped set and rivered boat. Williams showed K♠[10s], then mucked.
8.45pm: Chip counts
Just 153 of 245 registered players remain the latest exits include: Shevron Glover, Catalin Dragomir, Matuesz Zbikowski, Souheil Mansour, Stewart Kirby, Martin Hogarty, Tony Fayad, Julien Legros, David Licht, Dahe Liu, Michael Welland, David Dineen, Jerome Bradpiece, Martin Bader, Praz Bansi, Dost Mohammad Ghraibe, Hakon Johansen, Team PokerStars Pro Mickey Petersen, Goran Mandic, Jan Muller, Dylan Linde, Thomas Kettel, Paul McTaggart, Marc Goeschel, Oleg Emelianov, Jose Schwaiger, Athir Ali, Julian Reuter, Nigel Goldman, David Gant and Anthony Wright.
Blinds up: 400/800, ante 100
8.30pm: Chip counts
With almost 70% of the days play completed here's how some of the notables stack up: Steve Watts (31,000), Sergio Aido (8,600), Tim Davie (17,100), Henrique Pinho (8,800), Stephen Chidwick (39,000), Leon Louis (22,000), Dinh Tuan Nguyen (15,600), Robbie Bull (34,000), Thomas Ward (15,300), Mickey Petersen (10,350), Paul Parker (37,500), Toby Lewis (48,000), Chris O'Donnell (31,000) and Jack Salter (57,000). -- NW
8.15pm: Coren counts chips with ace knockout
A slightly controversial hand to involving Team PokerStars Pro Victoria Coren to tell you about. It was only controversial in the sense that the floor was called and in truth both players were happy with the resolution and it probably could've been sorted out without the intervention of the floor staff.
The action was started by Adrian Mateos Diaz, he min-raised from under-the-gun+1 to 1,200, next to act Coren flat called, the player on the button did likewise only for Adrian Smith to silently slide his stack of chips totalling 17,700 across the line, Diaz folded, Coren then slid her stack of chips across the line (she covered Smith) without uttering a word, the button folded and Coren and Smith both exposed their hands.
So far, so standard, but it was then and only then that it became clear that Smith was not in fact all-in and had around 500 in chips behind, all in 25 denomination chips. So the floor was called, Smith's chip that were across the line totalled 17,700, Coren's 19,500.
It was established by the floor that both hands were live and betting action could still take place. On the Q♣5♠7♠ flop Smith committed the rest of his chips but bricked on the J♦ turn and 4♥ river and Coren is now up to around 38,000.
8pm: Salt and shake
Sometimes you have to make tough calls, as Josh Stamp-Simon proved in our 6.35pm post. But sometimes you'll be wrong. Jack Salter bet all the way on a board of 8♦4♠7♣5♠7♦ so that by the time they got to the river, he was sliding out 7,825 chips.
Daniel Hardy Poker Player
Julian Reuter had been calling, and he also called on the very end, which is when he was shown Salter's A♦6♦. The straight was good and Reuter mucked in frustration. -- HS
7.40pm: We're back
Players have now returned and are into level seven. The tournament information screen shows that there are 172 players remaining from 245 who entered. Both figures can change. The former will likely plummet as these blind levels increase. The latter could yet creep upward as registration is not closed for another two hours. -- HS
6.40pm: Chip counts
Here's a batch of chip counts for your delectation: Barny Boatman (40,000), Nik Persaud (16,700), Mickey Petersen (16,500), Leon Louis (28,000), Willie Tann (14,200), Paul Zimbler (45,000), Jake Cody (44,000), Kevin Allen (37,000), Mat Frankland (51,000), Tom Hall (19,800), Laurence Houghton (42,000), Chris Sly (22,000), Karl Mahrenholz (37,000) and Richard Trigg (14,000).
The players are now on a one hour dinner break.
6.35pm: Not the king of the Kastle
Casey Kastle is as regular a face at major poker festivals as anyone. Barely an event slips past without him in the fold. It goes without saying that you pick up a few tricks the more experience you get, but big moves don't always pay off.
Kastle has just lost more than 25,000 of his stack, doubling up Josh Stamp-Simon in the process, who made a gutsy call.
Three players saw a flop of 3♠K♣4♣ and Kastle bet 3,875. Only Stamp-Simon called, which took them to a 4♣ turn. Check, check. The river was the 6♥ and after Stamp-Simon checked again, Kastle said that he was all in, pushing forward four blue chips, worth 5,000 apiece.
It seemed that that covered Stamp-Simon, who went into the tank for a good couple of minutes. When he emerged with a call, Castle was forced to table Q♠J♠, or air in other words. Stamp-Simon was clearly delighted to be able to turn over K♥Q♦. -- HS
6.30pm: Middleton hits the rail
EPT10 Barcelona champion Tom Middleton was sat at a table with James Dempsey, the latter was on the phone so I took the opportunity to ask Middleton about his exit: 'I got heroed by James Cawley (although Middleton used Cawley's online handle). I checked the flop, bet the turn and shoved the river with Q-10 on a J-6-2-9-A board and he called with eights. I had about 10k to start the hand.'
Just one table along sat a similarly dispatched Kimmo Kurko meaning that the first and second place finishers at EPT10 Barcelona are both out. -- NW
6.15pm: Shelley avoids set-up
Scott Shelley is one of the few players in the field today who has a WSOP bracelet to his name, having won the £1,000 no-limit Hold'em event at the 2010 WSOP-E. He's down to 17,000 but it could've been much worse had he not made a disciplined laydown.
22 on 672 8 4, guy raised turn and bet 85% of pot on river, pretty sure he has 910 every time, 17k from 20k start with 30mins till din break
— Scott Shelley (@PKR_Scott) October 2, 20136pm: Gone
There are just 192 of 245 registered players left in the tournament. There's no easy way to say this but: Elliot Panyi, Sokratis Linaras, Kimmo Kurko, Neophytos Neophytou, Robert Timothy, Chris Spinks, Brent Chapman, George Hassabis, Alan Brown, Yucel Eminoglu, Immanuel Siebert, William Champion, Dillion Cathro, Karoly Kiss and Thomas Wallsgrove are only part of the latter number, not the former.
5.40pm: Debs the destroyer on the comeback trail
During her run to fifth place at UKIPT3 Cork, Deborah Worley-Roberts picked up the nickname 'Debs the destoryer'. The only thing getting destroyed earlier was her stack which plummeted as low as 6,100 at one stage. It was back over 30,000 when I saw the following hand play out.
There was a raise to 1,025 from UKIPT2 Brighton winner Chris O'Donnell, from the cut off, a call from Tony Vu in the hijack and Worley-Roberts then called on the button. The 2♥5♥A♦ flop was checked to Vu, he bet 2,100 and Worley-Roberts was the only caller. The 6♦ hit the turn, Vu slowed down, checking it to Worley-Roberts, she bet 3,700 and it was enough to take the pot. --NW
Blinds up: 200/400, ante 50
5.30pm: All-in and call
A very interesting hand just played out between Samir Tageldin and Eugenio Verde, one which saw betting on every street and Tageldin all-in by the river. Pre-flop Tageldin made it 875 to go, Verde three-bet to 1,750, Tageldin four-bet to 4,400 and Verde smooth called.
The flop fell 6♠J♣K♥, Tageldin c-bet 3,675, Verde seem surprised at the size of the bet and elected to smooth call. The [10d] fell on the turn, Tageldin fired again, this time for 6,525 and again Verde smooth called. The Q♦ put four to a straight on board, Tageldin, who had roughly 14,000 back elected to check, Verde set him all-in and Tageldin snap called.
Verde: A♣Q♥
Tageldin: A♦K♠
So it was a chopped pot, Tageldin pointed at the flop and said: 'You're basically drawing dead there,' he then said: 'Nice turn and nice river though.' -- NW
5.20pm: The slow death rattle
Poor old Aleksandar Denishev. He had two green chips to his name, meaning a stack worth 50 tournament points. He was under-the-gun with J♦3♦ but had no choice but to get the chips in.
Both blinds went with him, but when the flop ran 3♣K♥Q♥A♥2♦, that three, remarkably, was good. Amazing. The coup was worth 425 in blinds and antes.
But with a big blind of 400 now to pay, he found himself with only a solitary green chip to play with. Samir Tageldin opened from under-the-gun and after mocking a fold, Denishev flipped the 25 chip in the middle.
Tageldin tabled 8♣9♣. Denishev slowly revealed the 2♥, which made him wince, and then the 8♠, which was about as bad as it could possibly be. 'I'm drawing dead,' he said, even before the 8♦7♣Q♥6♥A♥ flop, turn and river sealed it.
Sometimes you want to just rip off the Band Aid, but others make you peel it slowly.
5pm: The fallen
No easy way to say this, but Craig Sweden, Philippe Souki, Nicholas Pryce, Danny Blair, Simon Fuller, Oliver Price, Jonathan Weekes, Marc Daubach, Nicholas Aly, Daniel Hardy and Rajkumar Ramakrishnan have all busted before registration even closed. Indeed, registration is open until the end of level eight - three hours from now - so come on down. You've no excuse. --HS
4.35pm: Start again
We're into a new level here in London, but have a couple of skirmishes to report from late in the last.
First up, Tom Hall lost a bunch after he flopped a set of fours but Sheveron Glover made a flush. This one prompted quite an inquest as to how to play it, although the cards were on their backs by the time I arrived, so I can't tell you exactly how it went down.
Hall had 4♠4♦, Glover had A♣8♣ and the full board read 4♣9♣7♣[10d]2♣. Hall ended up doubling Glover's 9,400 stack.
Over in another corner of the room, John Eames pulled off a double knock-out, finding aces and two players all in ahead of him. Eames opened to 500, the first victim, Daniel Eversole, shoved for his short stack (less than 6,000) and the second, Oliver Price, also shoved for about 13,500.
Eames snap called with his aces and was up against threes (for Eversole) and kings (for Price). The board ran 4♦7♦8♣[10h]Q♦ and one of Eames's aces was the A♦, so that was easy.
Daniel Hardy Poker Games
Reporting team: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.