209 players gathered at the Alea Casino in Leeds for the latest West Yorkshire Regional Final.

Play started promptly at 2.00pm with the first casualty of the day being eliminated in the very first hand, bravely, Neil Metcalfe of the Grange Hotel in Leeds took to the stage for a well deserved round of applause. With the pressure off from being the first out, everyone settled down to the task of making the final table and qualifying for the National Final on March 28th. At the buffet break, only 16 people had been knocked out but soon after more and more players started to hit the rail.

With eight qualifiers needed for the National Final, the pressure was off for all nine of the players who made up the final table as Lee Tyson from the Hornblower Tavern in Ripon had already booked his place at the previous Regional Final. Lee has certainly been in good form this year, winning his pub league in three out of four seasons, (His dad, Eric, won the other one!!), and making the final table at two Regional Finals. He’s certainly hoping his good form lasts until after the National Final.

The hot favourite at the final table was Daniel Barber from the Station Hotel in Leeds who came onto the table with a commanding chip lead. His aggressive style of play saw his chipstack continue to rise and at one point he had almost 800,000 in chips! A more patient approach adopted by Mike Fletcher from the Ainsty Hotel in York and Brian Welsh from The Fox in York paid off eventually, with Daniel finally being eliminated in 3rd place. After a tense head’s up battle Brian fought off a strong challenge from Mike to finish up as the eventual winner.

National Final Qualifiers & Cash Prize Winners
1st Brian Welsh – The Fox, York
2nd Mike Fletcher – Ainsty Hotel, York
3rd Daniel Barber – Station Hotel, Leeds
4th Danny Blackburn – Airedale Heifer, Mirfield
5th Richard Hoyle – The Gate, Wakefield
6th Lee Tyson – Hornblower Tavern, Ripon (Already qualified)
7th Wayne Kelly – Carpe Diem, Leeds
8th Darren O’Shea – Halifax Snooker Club, Halifax

Other National Final Qualifiers
9th Danny Greenwood – Royal Oak, Keighley

NB: Unclaimed raffle prize, if anyone has ticket numbers 301 -305 (and the colour and serial numbers match!) please send them into the office along with your name and address and your prize will be despatched.