CSSC Poker

Fifth Yorkshire regional poker championship 2009.

Once again, the Yorkshire regional poker tournament took place at the now traditional venue, the Bradford Latvian Club.

The final competitors' list was reduced to only 30 players, due mainly to work commitments and difficulty with obtaining leave. The players who did turn up were all fiercely competitive with some excellent poker which was played in the right spirit and banter which always creates a great atmosphere.

A hush always descends in the room when a player announces 'all in'. Everyone prays for a call and then hopes for a player to be eliminated. Newcomer to the event, Katie Farrell, was the first to fall after nearly two hours of play. She took defeat well and put it down to experience then wandered the tables to encourage her colleagues.

Defending champion, Chris Houlden couldn't get a break on his table and joined Katie just after the first break for refreshments. It seems to be the tradition for champions to fall early. I thought this was down to the bounty prize offered for eliminating them but a similar scalp was on offer for each of the dealers and all four of them made the final table. Maybe the bounty isn't such a handicap after all.

Notable achievements:

Tracey Taylor-Dunne and Brian Herriot both played super aggressive hands early on and their chip stacks fluctuated greatly. Both players suffered when their stacks no longer frightened their tables.

Lee Campbell nursed a small stack through what seemed like hours of pain, before he finally came unstuck when yet another 'all in' was called.

Newcomer, Pete Tatum showed no fear in taking on everyone, but possibly over confidence cost him a large stack of his chips and the increasing blinds soon took care of the rest.

Eventually, the final 8 players were decided by process of elimination. As mentioned, the four dealers all made it through to the final table with varying ease. All the dealers were representing West Riding & Craven Area.

Matthew Dickinson took 11,700 chips to the final table. Lee Baron had 3,800, Phil Mackley 5,300 and Ihor Lewyk a massive 30,600.

They were joined by Pete Hepworth (West Riding & Craven) on 6,900, Iain Bradley (South Yorks) with 5,600, Mike Brooke (York) on 12,000 and Tim Rudland (South Yorks) with 14,100.

The first player to exit the final table was Lee Baron who lost to a straight on the last card. Pete Hepworth was the recipient of his chips and his 'Bounty'. The 'Bounty' consisted of some CSSC goodies and a bounty bar.

Iain Bradley had AceKing and pushed 'all in' and was called by the big stack of Ihor who held AceJack. Ihor was lucky to hit a Jack on the river card to put Iain out.

Two dealers clashed next with Phil Mackley holding all the Aces. Actually he only held two of them but these were far too strong for Matt Dickinson to compete with and Phil won a 'Bounty' of his own.

Mike Brooke, who was patiently accumulating his chips all day, began to try to put the squeeze on the table but came a cropper first against Ihor and then fatally against Tim and his pair of Tens.

Tim then ran into trouble himself against Ihor. Tim raised then Ihor went over the top with an 'all in' of his own. Tough decision to make and Tim called with AceTen only to find Ihor holding AceJack. The higher card held and Tim was out in fourth. Ihor donated his 'Bounty' to Tim for his valiant effort.

This made Ihor a powerhouse with over 70% of the chips in play in his possession. There was some careful play for a while, which is something Phil excels at and Pete was learning fast. Phil eventually raised a pot and Ihor called. Pete discarded his hand. The flop came down with three hearts which included a Jack. Phil who had the Ace of Hearts and Jack of Diamonds pushed all his remaining chips into the pot and Ihor called and revealed the two and three of hearts. The flush held and Phil was gone in third place.

This left Pete against a dominating chip leader, Ihor, heads up. Pete went all in with a pair of twos and Ihor called with 10, 7 of clubs. Ihor hit a 7 on the flop and this won him his second title in 4 years.