The Gala Casino in Liverpool hosted our second North West Regional Final of the season. 10 players took to the final table but only 6 would progress to next years National Final.

Colin Hughes from Rileys in Chester would start as the big stack with 110,000, while Adrian Keegan would start as the short stack with a mere 20,000 in chips. As expected it was a brief final table appearance for Adrian as he was sent to the rail in 10th place with Andrew Sharpe and Damian Roberts probably expected to follow him shortly, as they had 25,000 and 30,000 respectively as the final table began. But that would not be the case as both Andrew and Damian made great comebacks to make the heads-up match and battle it out for the North West bragging rights.

The final hand of the tournament saw two nice preflop hands showdown, Andrew’s suited ace in the shape of A2 was up against Damian’s big pair in the form of TT. Damian’s 70% preflop edge with his pocket pair was not enough as Andrew proceeded to flop the world on a 2A2 flop with his A2, leaving Damian with only 2 outs. A 4 and a J peeled off on the turn and river to give Andrew the title and £500 for his efforts. Nice hand Andrew.

National Final Qualifiers And Cash Prize Winners
1st Andrew Sharpe – Venture, Wigan
2nd Damian Roberts – Ye Olde Coach House, East Preston
3rd Gary Wilson – Mulberry Tree, Warrington
4th Garry Hodgkinson – Queens Hotel, Lytham
5th Colin Hughes – Rileys, Chester
6th Ciaran Whelan – Farmers Arms, Liverpool

Other Cash Prize Winners
7th Nick Ince – Seven Woods, Warrington
8th John Phillips – Chapel House Hotel, Warrington