THE REPORT

A huge 214 players took their seat for the biggest (and longest!) ever East Midlands 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, we were certainly in for a very long day!

Two of our Last Table, Las Vegas finalists, Nigel Hardy and Paul Broughton (who had qualified to play in the regional final) were in attendance on the day as they received a pre-tournament round of applause for their efforts last month. Paul was after an immediate return to the National Final next year.

We kicked off a little after 2pm and within 5 minutes we had our first casualty. Jordan West from the Cornmill earned the wooden spoon and he was soon followed by Steve Robinson and Dave Crosby respectively.

The variance was at a maximum as we saw a club royal flush early on only to later see quad jacks lose to quad aces! A card guard was awarded to each to make it a moment they will never forget.

Hours later we were down to the final 9 once Gavin Lawrence was eliminated in a very respectable 10th place. The finalists lined up as follows…

THE FINAL TABLE

Seat 1: Mandy Hillman – Davy Lamp, Ilkeston (90000)
Seat 2: Paul Broughton – Chartwell Arms, Leicester (120000)
Seat 3: Harry Amott – Ravensdale Hotel, Mansfield (90000)
Seat 4: Christine Hewerdine – Plough, Lincoln (65000)
Seat 5: Jack Wakeling – Harrington Arms, Nottingham (95000)
Seat 6: Gary Edwards – Lockstone, Long Eaton (180000)
Seat 7: Craig Dowsett – Muddle Go Nowhere, Grantham (315000)
Seat 8: Paul Topham – Goose, Nottingham (55000)
Seat 9: Richard Bettison – Sun Inn, Pinxton (175000)

Craig Dowsett was in pole position for the National Final seat with a more than healthy chip lead. Short stack Paul Topham put in a great performance as he made the heads-up encounter. First out was Gary Edwards in 9th and he was followed by Harry Amott in 8th, Mandy Hillman in 7th, Christine Hewerdine in 6th, LTLV finalist Paul Broughton continued his good form finishing in 5th place and when Richard Bettison and Jack Wakeling finished in 4th and 3rd respectively, we had our heads-up match between Paul and chip leader Craig. The final hand at a little after 11:30pm saw big stack Craig Dowsett claim his Las Vegas package with a rivered 6 to condemn Paul to the biggest bubble of his life in 2nd place. Unlucky Paul and congratulations Craig Dowsett!

VEGAS 100 QUALIFIER

1st Craig Dowsett – Muddle Go Nowhere, Grantham

SEMI FINAL QUALIFIERS & CASH PRIZE WINNERS

2nd Paul Topham – Goose, Nottingham
3rd Jack Wakeling – Harrington Arms, Nottingham
4th Richard Bettison – Sun Inn, Pinxton
5th Paul Broughton – Chartwell Arms, Leicester
6th Christine Hewerdine – Plough, Lincoln
7th Mandy Hillman – Davy Lamp, Ilkeston
8th Harry Amott – Ravensdale Hotel, Mansfield

SEMI FINAL QUALIFIERS

9th Gary Edwards – Lockstone, Long Eaton