Sunday 4th December 2011

Time: 2:00pm
Venue: Loose Cannon Club
Where: London
No. of Players: 174

Regional Final Winner: Nathan Hatwell
Nags Head, Welling

Team Event Winner: Three Blackbirds, Bexley
Gary Day
Gary Barnard
Keith Brown

The Carnage…

Our first of two London finals took place at the Loose Cannon Club in London. 174 players sat down to find seven National finalists and eight cash prize winners. Regional final regular Keith Richards kicked off the eliminations as he was the first player to leave. Soon to follow was Jim Hicks and Jayesh Mistry respectively. Last season’s Team Event winners, the Recreation Ground didn’t fair too well this time as none of their players could maneuver into a top 100 place. Instead it was a first team title for the Three Blackbirds in Bexley as their heroes were finalist Keith Brown, league champion Gary Day and Gary Barnard.

The Final Table…

Seat 1: Chris Keogh – Old Ash Tree, Chatham (53,000)
Seat 2: Paul De Sousa – Railway Tavern, Thornton Heath (129,000)
Seat 3: Alan Coull – King Canute, Canvey Island (3,000)
Seat 4: Mahesh Kanji – Beech Tree, Bromley (174,000)
Seat 5: Lee Baker – Globe, Chelmsford (25,000)
Seat 6: Paul Duncan – Beech Tree, Bromley (54,000)
Seat 7: Keith Brown – Three Blackbirds, Bexley (85,000)
Seat 8: Joe Toussaint – Horns Tavern, West Norwood (90,000)
Seat 9: Nathan Hatwell – Nags Head, Welling (182,000)
Seat 10: Alex Little – King & Queen, Caterham-on-the-Hill (99,000)

Unsurprisingly our short stack with only 3,000 in chips departed in 10th place and he was swiftly followed by next in-line, Lee Baker. Our chip leader, Nathan Hatwell, was progressing nicely as he became a big favourite to take the East London title. The unfortunate player to miss out on a National Final seat was Chris Keogh from the Old Ash Tree in Chatham. But true to form our two big stacks from the start made it to the heads-up stage, Mahesh Kanji and Nathan Hatwell. The final hand saw Nathan come from behind with his 8-9 suited against Mahesh’s A-5 off suit. The flop came down 2-8-T to give Nathan the lead and with a J-5 turn and river, Nathan completed the victory and become East London’s newest champion.

The Winners…

Cash Prize Winners
1. Nathan Hatwell – Nags Head, Welling
2. Mahesh Kanji – Beech Tree, Bromley
3. Paul Duncan – Beech Tree, Bromley
4. Keith Brown – Three Blackbirds, Bexley
5. Paul De Sousa – Railway Tavern, Thornton Heath
6. Joe Toussaint – Horns Tavern, West Norwood
7. Alex Little – King & Queen, Caterham-on-the-Hill
8. Chris Keogh – Old Ash Tree, Chatham

National Final Qualifiers
Nathan Hatwell
Mahesh Kanji
Paul Duncan
Keith Brown
Paul De Sousa
Joe Toussaint
Alex Little