Heriot-Watt Poker :: British Poker Open

Alex · Five of a Kind

I will be playing in this year's British Poker Open which will be shown on the Poker Channel in March.

Check out how I got in:

AlexScottUK,

It has come to the attention of Full Tilt Poker that you are one of our better customers from the UK. To reward your loyalty and continued support, Full Tilt Poker would like to offer you a free seat in the British Poker Open.

The British Poker Open will take place in London beginning on the 23rd of March and ending up with the finals on the 26th of March. Last year’s tournament paid out over 100,000 pounds to 1st place and this year’s prize pool is expected to be even larger. For more information on the British Poker Open, follow the link below:

http://www.britishpokeropen.com

Full Tilt Poker would cover the entry fee into the tournament and any travel arrangements and expenses will be your responsibility.

If you are interested in taking us up on this offer, email us back and we will forward you more details on the event as well as the contact information for the organizers of the British Poker Open.

We hope to be hearing from you soon,
JD
Team Full Tilt

It would be great to have as many of my friends there to support me as possible. If you want to come down to London to watch, you can email Adrian.Mackenzie@thepokerchannel.co.uk for tickets.

I've just had my worst ever night playing poker (£1500 down), so needless to say this cheered me up no end!

BigD · HW Legend

Accie · Full House

Go get 'em Alex!!

I would've loved to go down and watch you if it wasnt for my stupid bloody bastard work! Although if you ask me nicely i may lend you bagpuss for a bit of extra moral support!

Grunter · HW Legend

Jammy Cock!

You better put in a good show and not put us student players to shame!

Stuart · Royal Flush

That's great! Good luck!

Grunter · HW Legend

I was thinking last night. If your entry is from full tilt you'll no doubt be in their heat. So that means you'll be playing with 3 of the full tilt pros. Any ideas which ones will come over this year?

I can't see Ivey coming over. Will they send the same 3 as last year - Lederer, Jesus and Block or will they send jennifer harmon, seidel, lindgren.... etc

Interesting thought.

Also whats your preperation going to be like? A lot of 6 handed play I'd imagine.

Stephen · Royal Flush

Nice one indeed, but you know we're all going to get to see your hole cards when its on telly! So you might want to reconsider playing in case you give away too much info

Stephen · Royal Flush

Doogle_oo7 · HW Legend

Congrats Alex. I would love to go London but unless something amazing happens with my finances I will be unable to attend. Good luck tho.

Mark · Straight Flush

Nice one! Staring down Lederer after pushing all-in with 72o it is then!

Good luck when you get there.

Furno · Pair

[i]AlexScottUK,

It has come to the attention of Full Tilt Poker that you are one of our better customers from the UK. To reward your loyalty and continued support, Full Tilt Poker would like to offer you a free seat in the British Poker Open.

Does this "better customers" mean that you've spent/lost shit loads of cash and that way they are using your own money to send you down there??

Alex · Five of a Kind

Stuart · Royal Flush

Alex · Five of a Kind

Right, my heat for the BPO is on Saturday 25th March and starts at 3.45pm (the final is the next morning).

Its being filmed at Riverside Studios, which are in Hammersmith in London.

I need to know:

Who's coming down to London
Who needs me to book a hotel room for them.

If you can post here as soon as possible I'd appreciate it.

BigD · HW Legend

Sorry i cant make it, who is in your heat though?

Alex · Five of a Kind

Actually I'm not sure. It looks like three pros though, and two other 'amateurs'.

Card Rack · Royal Flush

2 weeks later and I'd have been down in a shot, shame really. Stupid exam!

Scott · Full House

I've decided to go. Should be ace (no pun intended). It'll be interesting to see behind the scenes at one of these events.

Grunter · HW Legend

So thats 4 of us. How we getting down? Have we got tickets? whats on at the gutshot that weekend? can't think of any other questions.

Alex · Five of a Kind

Once I know exactly who's coming I'll send your details to the Poker Channel who'll sort out the tickets.

I have a train booked for Saturday morning. If you guys also want to get a train I can let you know which one it is and where to book it. Chris mentioned something about a Megabus though?

The Gutshot has a tournament on every night but I'm not sure exactly what it'll be that weekend. There will be cash games (£25 buy ins, £200 buy ins, and maybe a mixed game) too.

Alex · Five of a Kind

Check out who's in my heat tomorrow!

Clonie Gowen
Mike Matusow
Kristy Gazes
Leigh Chapman
Brant Baum
Alex Scott

It should be loads of fun. I'm really hoping I can flirt outrageously with the two ladies on television!

Now that I know who's playing, I'm gonna try to find their names in Poker Tracker and see how they play!

Oh, and here are two pictures of me busting Clonie Gowen and Kristy Gazes in cash games:

(all in on the turn by the way)

Stephen · Royal Flush

Erp I've actually heard of a couple of them!

If Mr Matusow gives you any crap remember to wind him up about being a jailbird

Dave · Full House

Remember to sing....

"Poker, poker, it's all skill
Start with the worst hand
And go up hill!"

Mark · Straight Flush

Alex · Five of a Kind

Well, I played really badly but fluked my way to second place. Mike Matusow came first.

Mike was the best player at the table by a country mile and totally deserved to win. He was a little bit off his game in the final today though, and finished sixth for £5000.

In the fourth hand of the heat, Clonie Gowen raised to $6000 with A-Q and I made it $18,000 with 7-2 offsuit! The flop came K-J-7, and she check raised me and I folded, losing nearly half my bloody stack in the process.

From there I was lucky enough to pick up some nice hands to bust Clonie Gowen, steal a couple of blinds and double up.

However I screwed up later on when I laid down A-Q out of the big blind against Mike Matusow's first position raise. I went with my instinct, which was wrong because he told me during the break he had J-9s.

Later I gave Mike a free card to a straight and then paid him off with an extremely weak hand when he hit it. I also failed to defend against a bluff he made - by that point my confidence was gone.

I was lucky not to bust out third. Brant Baum basically threw away his chips against Mike with a K-Qs, instantly calling his raise all-in (Mike had A-Q and it held up).

Heads up the blinds were 7000/15,000 and I had 96,000 in chips to Mike's 504,000. On the third hand I found a king and pushed all-in. Mike thought for a while and called with J-10. The river made him a straight and that was that!

I'm going to have to redeem myself by winning my way into another TV tournament and actually playing well. With a bit of luck I should improve on second.