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NPPL National Final - Season 9 - Salisbury Hotel, Adelaide, South Australia
Warm Up Event
The National Final weekend kicked off on Saturday Night 21st March at The Salisbury Hotel in Adelaide.
Michelle and her team had the venue looking fantastic, with balloons & oversized poker cards decorating the room, and night-club style lighting creating a fantastic atmosphere. As the music kicked in, so did the players - all eager to secure first or second place with a Special Pas straight into the National Final up for grabs. Early arrivers from Queensland and Victoria came along to hone in their skills in preparation for Sundays big game.
Around 120 players were seated as the 6pm start time ticked over - and it was game on....
Run like a normal nightly event, this was a bit of fun before the seriousness lifted for the National. Drinks flowed fast, and players departed quickly as big hands were smashed by bigger hands, and the biggest hands thumped by amazing bad beats. By 10.30pm we found our final 8 players ready to arm-wrestle to the top. Of the 8 players there were 5 without a National Final birth, so everything was put on the line.
First out was a local, Lisa Smith, and as first out without achieving a National seat, was awarded a Race Day pass to The Clipsal 500 here in Adelaide on the Sunday. When a few more dropped and the dusted settled we were down to three - Raynor & Johan (Foxy) from SA and Damian from Vic, Damian was the only player who already had a seat in the big one.
As fate had it, Damian was first out(taking home $80 for his third place finish), leaving the two locals - both without a seat before they started - now entered into the NPPL National Final.
Foxy out foxed Raynor to pick up the $500 Custom Poker Table and $100 cash. Raynor was still happy, winning $90 and a seat through to Sundays game.
National Final
As Sunday arrived the cleaners had worked wonders in the Salisbury Hotels' Cougar Bar - the decorations were re-done, and more sparkle added. Finally we were ready for the first National Final of 2009-03-23. Players lined up from 10am, taking advantage of the breakfast sausage sizzle. Anticipation was high, and the nerves building. A few soothing beverages did the trick, even before 11 in the morning!!
By the 11.30am start time, a field of 137 players anxiously awaited the "shuffle up and deal" signal...... we were off!!
The very first hand saw three players exit the tournament, with KK smashed by AA - the first of three times during the first blind level...
By the time we reached the first break, the previous SA National Final winner - Stan "the man" Reed - was chip leader
The bad beats showed up everywhere, some great pots being stolen with bluffs, and some good old fashion poker plays were all seen around the room. The field thinned down and the chip lead changed many times.
At 5.45pm we burst the bubble, and found ourselves with the 8 finest players on the day...
ALL 8 were South Australians.....
- Jason Stewart was first out - $500
- Anthony Tucker in 7th - $500
- Michael Boyle out in 6th - $500
- Jason Daniel was the last of the $500 winners
- Arthur Stefanopoulos finished 4th - $750
This left us with the Top 3....... Sarah Berry, Andrew Robbins and Sean Gourlay.
Andy had more than his fair share of luck on the final table (we all remember the 2,5 win) but his luck ran out as he exited in third position
Well played Andy - picking up $1,000.
This left Sarah and Sean to fight it out - although the fight was short lived. The very first hand heads up - short stacked Sarah pushed "all in" to be immediately called by Sean - with Sean's KJ held against Sarah's QJ and the title was decided.
Sarah Berry finished second with $1,500.
The NPPL National Final Champion was ................SEAN GOURLAY and claimed the $15,000 top prize!!!
This was Sean's' second appearance in an NPPL National final, where last time in Melbourne he finished in 2nd place!! - One better this time.
Sean is the first player to ever be "heads up" in two NPPL National Finals, and there is no coincidence that Sean is the Number One ranked player on the NPPL National Leader board.
Congratulations to Sean and Sarah, as well as every other player who participated and won their way through to NPPL National Final - Season 9
Look forward to seeing you all back in Melbourne at the Season 10 Nationals
Eat, Drink, Play...
Darren Shaw
NPPL SA Manager
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