THE REPORT

An impressive 202 players took their seat for our West Midlands One regional final. No longer was there £500 for the winner, instead there was the small matter of a Las Vegas trip up for grabs. £500 and semi final seats were also awarded as prizes. Let the game begin!

Alan Bull, Tom Dempster and Andrew Gough were able to raid the buffet early as they were eliminated before the break.

In what was a late starting final table, they lined up as follows.

THE FINAL TABLE

Seat 1: Mark Hipkins – Spread Eagle, Wednesbury (25000)
Seat 2: Chris Bath – Vine, Harbourne (145000)
Seat 3: Shane Foster – Meadowlark, Dudley (25000)
Seat 4: Julian Davies – Fox, Tamworth (95000)
Seat 5: Carl Evans – Woolpack, Telford (65000)
Seat 6: Brenda Whittaker – Sportsman, Hinkley (150000)
Seat 7: Mark Hester – Swan, Kingswinford (150000)
Seat 8: Andy Gravenor – Round Oak, Brierley Hill (235000)
Seat 9: Richard Tolley – Windsor, Birmingham (55000)
Seat 10: Howard Rose – Old Clarence, Coventry (110000)

Shane Foster was the first player out in 10th with Carl Evans in 9th. Julian Davies in 8th with Richard Tolley in 7th. Short stack Mark Hipkins had a good run in 6th with Howard Rose in 5th. Chris Bath was 4th and Brenda Whittaker 3rd which left Mark Hester and Andy Grovenor to contest the title. The final hand was an unfortunate situation for Andy as his A-6 was up against Mark’s K-K. The final board ran out 2-9-7-J-2 to make Mark Hester our new West Midlands One champion!

VEGAS 100 QUALIFIER

1st Mark Hester – Swan, Kingswinford

SEMI FINAL QUALIFIERS & CASH PRIZE WINNERS

2nd Andy Gravenor – Round Oak, Brierley Hill
3rd Brenda Whittaker – Sportsman, Hinkley
4th Chris Bath – Vine, Harbourne
5th Howard Rose – Old Clarence, Coventry
6th Mark Hipkins – Spread Eagle, Wednesbury
7th Richard Tolley – Windsor, Birmingham
8th Julian Davies – Fox, Tamworth

SEMI FINAL QUALIFIERS

9th Carl Evans – Woolpack, Telford