The State Finals took place at Clayton RSL on the 20th January, 2008. The doors opened at 10am and the players started to pour in. There was a great representation from Country Victoria as well as local players. The atmosphere was electric with all the players greatly anticipating the kick off. The time had come and just before 11:30 the players entered the poker room. The poker room looked great and was decked out with Wild Turkey and green and gold balloons. There were 191 runners who would fight it out for the 6 APL Tournament of Champions seats on offer as well as a dozen seats the APL Pro Open.
The day started off slow, with a relaxed blind structure and a 5K starting bank, players took their time. No-one wanted to go out early. It wasn't too long however before players started to clash. Straights were beaten by flushes; flushes were busted by full houses on the river and the occasional 4 of a kind would send the full book's packing. The emotions were running hot.
After the well earned lunch break there were just over 150 players remaining. Over the next 3 hours the player numbers dropped but the crowd kept growing Until there were only 8 remaining.
The final table consisted of the following players:
Danielle Mitchell
Jamie McLachlan-Troup
Malcolm Gifford
Mark Thomas
Lance Patison
Chris Davie
Maria Bilton
Ian Richardson
Although the remaining 8 players did extremely well to get as far as they did it was not over yet as only 6 would get the much sought after WTTOC seats.
A couple hands in Danielle went all in and was called by Jamie. Danielle turned over a K followed by another K! Jamie had an A5 so Danielle had to avoid the 3 other aces still in the deck. Unfortunately for Danielle an A came out on the flop and she had finished in 8th place.
Action then slowed down significantly. The players were seemingly waiting for someone else to get knocked out. As the blinds went up it was always going to be hard on the short stacks and it wasn't long before Jamie was all in on the small blind with a K3. The big blind turned over 97. A 9 came down on the flop and a roar went up amongst the remaining players who now realized they had won a seat.
The final table then played on for bragging rights with Ian Richardson ending up taking it out beating Maria Bilton heads up!
The day was a huge success with everyone having a great time. Well done to all the players that managed to qualify for this great event and we look forward to seeing you at the next state champs!
The State Finals took place at Clayton RSL on the 20th January, 2008. The doors opened at 10am and the players started to pour in. There was a great representation from Country Victoria as well as local players. The atmosphere was electric with all the players greatly anticipating the kick off. The time had come and just before 11:30 the players entered the poker room. The poker room looked great and was decked out with Wild Turkey and green and gold balloons. There were 191 runners who would fight it out for the 6 APL Tournament of Champions seats on offer as well as a dozen seats the APL Pro Open.
