The Gala Casino in Bristol hosted our re-arranged South West & South Wales regional final which was played on a Saturday afternoon this time around. Eight players would win a cash prize with the top nine players gaining an invite to the March extravaganza in Nottingham.

Spirits were high as the game got under-way and as player after player hit the rail and team after team were eliminated we neared the prizes. The first prize to be awarded was the team event trophy. For the first time we had a tie for 1st place. Michael Soutar, Mark Hayes and Johnathan Wood who were representing the Greyhound, Bridgwater would share the honours with Ben Davis, James Wintle and Robert Scarfe who were representing the Courthouse, Caerphilly.

The big story of the day involved our eventual winner, David Rakestrow from the Farmhouse, Exmouth. When we were down to our final three tables David had no more than one 1000 chip piece! A quadruple up put David with 4000 in chips as we went down to our last two tables, but then amazingly as we reached the final table David appeared with a 115,000 chip stack! His momentum showed no signs of slowing as David bulldozed his way to the heads-up match against Lee Froud from the Tynewydd Inn, Barry. Unfortunately for Lee, he couldn’t stop David either as David went on to collect the South West & South Wales regional final trophy, £500 and an invite to this year’s national final.

Cash Prize Winners
1st David Rakestrow – Farmhouse, Exmouth
2nd Lee Froud – Tynewydd Inn, Barry
3rd James Wintle – Courthouse, Caerphilly
4th David Horstead – Rotunda Tavern, Cheltenham
5th Jack Gleed – Black Castle, Bristol
6th Joe Nolioth – Traders Tavern, Cardiff
7th Arthur Randell – Victory Inn, Cornwall
8th Lynne Simpson – Ebdon Arms, Wick-Saint-Laurence

National Final Qualifiers
David Rakestrow
Lee Froud
James Wintle
David Horstead
Jack Gleed
Joe Nolioth
Arthur Randell
Lynne Simpson
Johnathan Wood

Team Winners
Greyhound, Bridgwater – Courthouse, Caerphilly