Silver Then Bronze, And Eventually Gold Medal in Scottish Amateur Poker Championship
Grosvenor’s (Maybury) Casino in Edinburgh played host to the APAT Scottish Amateur Poker Championship with a sell out crowd of 150 from the first card dealt, and an Alternates List started for those unlucky enough not to beat the queue.
15,000 chips and a 45 minute clock with a slow structure starting at 25/50 allows for plenty of play, and at shuffle up and deal at 2:30pm, in the first hand Allan Miller found pocket Aces – and duly found them cracked and he departed the tournament as first man down.
Day 1 played out for 10 levels and a respectable ‘to be’ completion time of 11:30pm, with 48 players making the cut for Day 2, including at the top of the Chip Stack list:
Paul Green 193,800
Paul McGuinness 151,400
Zander Robertson 114,300
Stuart Matthews 99,100
John Lowe 95,100
James Raeburn 78,20
Kee Tak Cheung 75,600
Dave Burt 73,000
Nicol Kinnear 68,600
With a few notables down at the lower end:
John Murray 24,500
Charles Kearns 23,300
Barrie Penman 21,000
Local player Sandy Drennan is the first casualty of the day when his AK gets trumped by pocket Aces, and he is swiftly followed by both Gordon McArthur and James Neill when all in and the pocket tens of Iain Swain on a Board 10 8 K K 9 betters Gordon’s flopped trip eights and James’ flopped top pair.
By the first break 23 players remained, with Paul Green still atop, now on 209,000 and trailed by Peter Macdougall with 205,000 and James Raeburn on 180,000, with John Murray at the bottom on 16,000.
Play reached the money when Pamela Venters, the last remaining female, moved all in for 28.2k and Scott McDonald made the call from the Big Blind – Pamela flipped over Js 9c, and Scott 7c 9h – and the Board runs out 3c Ac 5h 6s and 3s on River to give Scott a straight and send Pamela to the rail in the bubble position for the 2nd time in 3 years of the Scottish Amateur Poker Championship.
A Final Table 9 is reached with the departure of Peter MacDougall when he gets his stack all in with pocket queens only to run into pocket aces which hold:
John Lowe 575,000
Paul Green 560,000
James Raeburn 290,000
Andrew Whiteford 220,000
Robert Davidson 198,000
John Murray 165,000
Charles Kearns 130,000
Robert Macdougall 120,000
Daniel Marshall 53,000
A slow final table eventually sees the departure of Robert Davidson in 9th, John Murray 8th, Robert Macdougall in 7th and Charles Kearns in 6th when Charles pushed his stack holding Js 9s to be called by and knocked out by Paul Green who’s Ks Jd flopped a straight.
James Raeburn departed in 5th, just before Daniel Marshall pushed his 360k stack holding Qh Js to be called by Paul Green with Ah Jd and Paul stayed ahead and Daniel left in 4th position, taking the event to the APAT National Championship Medal positions, and with an Added Value ‘Destination Vegas 2017’ package for the winner, plus over £3k, there was a lot at stake with a total of £7k still to be played for.
Bronze Medal and £1,400 eventually went to Paul Green who moved all in with Ks 10h only to be snap called by Andy Whiteford who flipped over Ah Ad with Paul missing the Board. A tense Heads Up battle ensued between Andy Whiteford and Paul Lowe, until Andy sent John into an uncomfortable tank… but John calls showing 3c 3h against Andy’s Jd 9h and the Flop is Qc 10h 6h, with a Turn Ah keeping John ahead but needing to avoid any 8, 9, J, K or any Heart… lots of outs for Andy and he gets 7h on River to give him the higher flush and John Lowe finishes 2nd with Silver Medal and £2,180, and Andy Whiteford is the Scottish Amateur Poker Champion taking National Championship Gold Medal, £3,285 and the Added Value of a Destination Vegas 2017 Package.
Moreso this was a considerable achievement for Andy in the Scottish Amateur Poker Championship, as he finished with a Silver Medal 2015 and a Bronze in 2016 – but now he has added Gold – 3 consecutive years in the Scottish Championship Medals!
