Blonde’s Have More Fun At Coral UK Team Championship
G Casino Luton was the setting for APAT’s Coral UK Team Championship on 30th/31ST January when 240 players representing 30 teams sat down at the tables to battle it out, and having been a hive of excitement and anticipation in the run up, the spectacular new poker room fell suddenly quiet and things got serious when shuffle up and deal was called for the 14:30 start.
An hour into play and the first exit came from Team Sutton Poker, but it was Frome Poker Group who took the hardest hits early on and were the first team reduced to 4 players. By the end of day one, the Championship battle was over for 4 clubs including the defending champions Scotsquad, but also the Hitsquad Ice Tigers, who’s last surviving player, and captain, was the last exit of the day. In the lead at this point were Midlands Ballbusters with 4 players remaining and a potential maximum score of 408, 40+ points ahead of Blonde Poker and LPPL Terry, two of several teams with four players left but, due to their players exiting with points, their maximum potential scores currently put them in silver and bronze positions. So, with all still to play for the remaining 51 players, representing 26 teams, bagged up their chips at the end of the night ready to come back for Day 2 and keep their teams’ dreams of glory alive – with individuals now earning high points for each exit, teams with only one player left could still make a huge difference to the overall team scores, and standings could still change dramatically for several teams.
With a 12:00 noon start on Day 2 two players exited by 12:15 and it wasn’t long before captains, and players, were starting to pay much closer attention to the points table and feverishly working out strategies. By the time players reached the individual cash payouts, with 20 players remaining, there were 14 teams still represented, with a total of 7 teams left with medal hopes, 5 of these all in contention for bronze and the top two fighting it out for gold and silver. There was a healthy, competitive tension in the air and with 14 players remaining there were only 4 teams left with a chance of taking home a medal; BCPC’s remaining two players and London Poker Meetup’s remaining three players all fighting to get their team the bronze, and Midlands Ballbusters’ last man standing and Blonde Poker’s last two players fighting it out to decide gold and silver.
Reduced to a field of 10 players the points worked out that all the medal places had been decided – BCPC lost their last two players in quick succession, meaning that London Poker Meetup took the Championship Bronze Medal. With both players of Blonde Poker still in, they were guaranteed the Championship Gold and Midlands Ballbusters, their player also still in but unable to outscore two players, guaranteed Championship Silver.
With the team medals already awarded, the final table was all about the individual payouts and, with a top heavy payout structure, play was reasonably slow to begin with but, within a few hours the individual Championship Bronze Medal went to Glenn Townsend from Blonde Poker – a great weekend of Poker for him taking home the individual Championship Bronze and the Team Gold.
Heads Up concluded with individual Championship Silver going to Martin Sieder from Sutton Poker, and Brian Yates, from Midlands Ballbusters, took the individual Championship Gold Medal to add to his already claimed Championship Team Silver.
APAT next return 19th – 28th March 2016 when Aspers Casino in the Westfield Shopping Centre, Stratford, East London will host the World Championship Of Amateur Poker (WCOAP), a festival of 22 unique events covering a plethora of poker variants, including the inaugural 8-Game Players’ Championship – full details http://www.apat.com/forum/index.php?board=153.0
