Tour Manager Jonathan Raab posts a daily diary during each GUKPT event

Would Thew believe It?

Well, I've had a day off to recover and reflect on the Brighton GUKPT and all in all, I'm extremely pleased with the way the event went. There were of course a few things I would have liked to have done differently, not least having a more robust table to conduct the final on. However, we intend to use last year's TV table for all the remaining final days, so there should be more sense of occasion from now on, and a bit more space for the players to sprawl out on. One of the themes that preoccupied the press room on the final day was the punnery that could be associated with Julian's surname. Yes, Thew guessed, he's done it again. Had Karim Louis emerged as victorious I had lined up The Taming of the Thew as my pun of choice, but in the end the age old favourite Thews the Daddy turned out to be more appropriate.

Anyway, I would like to have been able to say that the heads up encounter was Fast and Thewrious, but in fact it was a bit of a marathewn, lasting for two and a half hours. There were indeed some rather strange Thewy puns floating around the press room on Sunday and I'm not entirely sure I understood Jon Binstead's (Blue Square's content manager) To Kill a Mocking Thew one. Answers on a Thewlf addressed envelope please. Thew'll be lucky to find any worse Julian puns than these. Going into the heads up stage of the game Julian had a 2:1 chip deficit but he quickly rethewled and found enough energy to make over the finish line in 1st place. I suppose, if the match had gone the other way, there were a whole bunch of Karim Louis puns waiting to be used as well, but on this occasion the Karim just narrowly failed to rise to the top.

Anyway, I hope that's puntastic enough for you all and I do apologise for writing a diary entry as cringeworthewy as this.

Jonathan Raab
GUKPT Tour Manager
Wednesday 23rd January, 2008

Day 2 - How the day unfolded

The second day of the main event saw 71 players return to fight it out for the 1st prize of £86,800. Amongst them were former GUKPT winners Dace Colclough, Dave Clark and Julian Thew. The overnight chip leader was 22-year old Robert Cowen, a student who lives in Swansea. Blackpool's Mick Fletcher and Internet pro James Atkin were also amongst the chip leaders. By the first break, two hours into the day, 28 players had been eliminated and it was Joe Grech who had emerged as the new chip daddy. In the next session of the day Joe increased his lead even further after winning a massive pot with K-J against Mick Fletcher's K-3. Joe though for an age before calling Mick's all in on a K-T-8-4 board and while punched the air in celebration, Mick made a hasty exit.

Play slowed as the bubble approached and it was young James Atkin who took the dubious honour of being the first player to hit the bubble on the GUKPT in 2008. His stack had dwindled throughout the day, but he was unfortunate to see his A-K of hearts cracked by Robert Garfield's 6-2 offsuit. However, fortune was to take a cruel twist of fate for Robert as he just missed out on a final table himself when he called Karim Louiss all-in bet on a K-Q-J of clubs flop. Karin flipped over pocket queens for trips, but Rob, holding A-9 with the ace of clubs had a royal flush draw. The turn brought the 9 of clubs, giving Rob the nut flush, but a further nine on the river improved Karim's hand to a full house and sent Rob packing in tenth place.

Meanwhile, on the other table Jen Mason had been looking like a certainty for her first final table on the GUKPT, but she lost a massive pot to Julian Thew and never recovered, exiting in 13th place. Julian retained a big stack until the end of play and goes into it seeking to be the first player to win 2 GUKPT titles. Jim Reid ended the day as the chip leader and Nik Persaud also made it to his first GUKPT final table. Having finished in 10th place twice last year and 16th in last year's Brighton event, he will be delighted to have shaken off his reputation as the bubble boy.

Sunday's final should be a good one. It is a shame that we are not televising this one, as it has the making of a great final, but it should be a good one to watch all the same.

Jonathan Raab
Sunday 20th January, 2008

Tour Manager's Diary: Brighton Day 1

The two starting days are now over and in total there were 280 players in the tournament. I am delighted at this turnout as just a few days before the event began I had visions of there only being about 200 runners. Given that there was not much marketing done for this first leg, the brochure was not published until this week and the fact that the website has only recently been updated, 280 is an absolute result. Moreover, many of the players taking part here are attending their first GUKPT event, so it is not all repeat business from last year. All in all, the 2008 future for the GUKPT looks rosy. It is a shame that we will not be recording the final table in all its glory for Channel 4, but discussions are still underway, so it is possible that the cameras will return in the second half of the year. The main thing however is that the spirit of the GUKPT is alive and well. The camaraderie between the players, the staff and the press is fantastic and everyone seems to be having a good time.

71 players survived day 1 with Robert Cowen holding the overnight chip lead on just under 108,000. Blackpool's Mick Fletcher, this time an online qualifier is in second place with just over 96,000 chips. Other players flying high include Niall Charlton, Clive Layton, Adam Clark and James Atkin. Three previous winners of GUKPT main events are also still in the running - Dave Colclough, Dave Clark and Julian Thew. There are also still three women left in - Jen Mason, Debbie Littlejohn and Liv Boeree. The blinds on day 2 start at 600-1200 with a 100 running ante, so there should be a lot of early action when play resumes. There is also a £100 rebuy tournament taking place on Saturday evening at 7pm, so the casino is expected to be very busy once again.

Jonathan Raab
Friday 18th January, 2008

GUKPT Rocks in Brighton

The GUKPT is underway once again, with the first leg of 2008 taking place in the Grosvenor casino in Brighton. The three warm up events earlier in the festival week were all well attended. Two of them sold out with 120 runners plus alternates and the third would probably have sold out if it had not been for a torrential downpour that led to the closure of the M23. With no cameras here to film the final table, many had expected the turnout for the main event to be low, at around the 200 mark. Even by the time the casino opened on Thursday there were just 90 players registered for Day 1a, but the queue at the cash desk told a different story. By the time tournament director uttered the immortal words shuffle up and deal', over 130 were seated and ready to play. It looks likely that the final figure will be well over the 250 mark and it may even get close to 300.

The weather is still atrocious here in Brighton, but it looks like there's a storm brewing inside the casino as well. Several 2007 GUKPT winners have braved the elements today to take part, including Dave Clark, Paul Bracken, Praz Bansi, Jerome Bradpiece, Mazhar Nawab and Grand Final winner Michael Ellis. At the time of writing, both Ellis and Bradpiece were already out of the running and presumably on the train back to London. There is still a lot of play left today but the Mehrdad Saffari was the player who made the early running and was up to close to 50,000 chips after three hours of play.

John Eames won Monday's £100 Double Chance No Limit Hold'em freezeout. It was a marathon tournament that ended up with a chip count at 5.30am but John had the lead at that point, collected the lion's share of the prize money and becomes the first player to win a seat into the Champion of Champion's tournament. Tuesday's event was a £300 No Limit Hold'em freezeout, taking place over two days and was won by Peter Wood. Wednesday's £200 No Limit Hold'em Freezeout was another long tournament, eventually concluding at 4.30am and was won by Paul Gardner, who finished 2nd in Blackpool's GUKPT main event last November.

Jonathan Raab
Thursday 17th January, 2008