Hungarian Grand Prix: Can Vettel hold off the Brits?

Formula One / James Frankland / 30 July 2011 / Leave a Comment

The front three for Sunday's Grand Prix

"Vettel was top of Saturday’s practice session by three tenths of a second, and secured an eighth pole position of the season later in the day."

The world champion is in pole position but, with the two McLarens directly behind him, does James Frankland believe we might see a consecutive British victory?

Red Bull always seem to find time when they need it most. Having finished behind Lewis Hamilton in both of Friday's free practice sessions, the Milton Keynes-based team used up the first of their curfew allocations to work deep into the night on Sebastian Vettel's car. The result? Vettel was top of Saturday's practice session by three tenths of a second, and secured an eighth pole position of the season later in the day.

Red Bull needed to up their game in the face of a determined push from McLaren, who qualified second and third in Hungary, Hamilton shading Jenson Button by less than half a tenth. The Ferrari duo occupy fourth and fifth places, Felipe Massa - returning to the track at which he suffered a fractured skull in 2009 - ahead of Fernando Alonso, who has rather better memories of this venue: it was where he scored his debut Grand Prix victory back in 2003. Last year's winner, Mark Webber, is in sixth and has an uphill task ahead of him to repeat his 2010 triumph.

Hungary is a track that does not breed overtaking, although the placement of the DRS zone, which can be used for the full length of the start/finish straight, should aid efforts this year. As ever the onus will be on whoever leads into the first corner to generate themselves at least a one second gap straight away, else they risk falling into the clutches of those behind.

At last year's race, Red Bull had a massive margin over the rest, for the circuit accentuates what makes the blue car so good - its efficient use of the downforce it generates and its grip through medium and high-speed corners. Vettel only failed to win here last year by making an uncharacteristic mistake under a safety car period and I expect he'll remember that tomorrow. His error allowed Webber to build momentum in his own championship challenge and he won't want to give Hamilton, or any of the chasing pack, the same confidence boost ahead of the four-week summer break.

Tyre strategy for cars further down the order has been key to picking up points and in Hungary, Williams have had a go at trying to give their season a boost, deliberately not running Pastor Maldonado in the second qualifying session so the rookie can start with one more fresh set of tyres. The team have suffered a difficult season with a car that is not really suited to high downforce tracks, but Maldonado knows the track well from his GP2 days and could be a good outside bet for a points finish at [5.5]. Slightly shorter odds can be found on Kamui Kobayashi [1.82] starting 13th, and the [2.82] for Paul di Resta, who starts only one place out of the points in 11th, is also worth considering.

Finally, if you fancy that come race day, Mark Webber can match his teammate's pace and join him on the Hungarian Grand Prix podium, then his odds of [3.65] are worth a look. He may need some strategic help from his pit wall colleagues to achieve that, mind.

Recommended Bets
Sebastian Vettel to win @ [2.58]
Mark Webber to finish on the podium @ [3.65]
Paul di Resta to score points @ [2.82]

He may have messed up in Germany but the World Champion has proved that he can put his rare mistakes behind him. Ralph Ellis expects Sebastian Vettel to return to winning ways this weekend....

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Two More Brits Make WSOP Final Tables

World Series of Poker 2011 / Matthew Pitt / 25 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

The 2010 World Series of Poker was labelled the Year of the Brit after our boys and girls played out of their skins and ensured British players had their best WSOP on record. That year Brits won five bracelets, 23 final tables, 275 cashes and winnings of $8,679,918 but with 19 events and the Main Event still left to play at this year's series British players look set to smash that record.

At time of writing up to Event #38 has been completed and Brits are still running hot and playing even better. So far Jake Cody, Matthew Perrins and Darren Woods have won a bracelet and there have been a total of 18 final table appearances and a massive 136 cashes, for winnings of around $5,100,000! An amazing achievement and long may it continue.

Last night two more Brits came close to bringing home the bacon but fell just short after terrific runs. The first was Tom Middleton, a young online pro from Leeds who is currently ranked 62nd in the world for online poker tournaments. Online he has won more than $2,700,000. Before reaching the final table of Event #35, the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em event, Middleton's best cash was for £22,150, which he was awarded for winning the 2008 Gala Casinos Poker Tour final in Bristol. Now he has smashed that amount by winning $305,015 after finishing third this event.

He played superbly throughout the tournament and was unlucky to lose a vital coinflip to eliminate him, if he had won this particular hand there is no doubt he would have been brining home a bracelet. In the hand in question he got into a raising war preflop with eventual winner Mikhail Lakhitov that resulted in Middleton being all-in and at risk of elimination. His ThTd were in front of the AsKd of his Russian opponent but fell way behind as the flop came down 5d-Ks-9s. The Js gave Middleton extra outs to a gustshot straight but the 5s was not one of them and the Brit was sent to the rail where he was met by an army of drunken, boisterous supporters.

The second British player to make a WSOP final table last night was Paul Nash, better known as brummieboy when he is plying his trade as an online poker professional. Nash's biggest score of his career came in 2009 when he finished second in the PokerStars Sunday Million, a result that netted him $165,555. Despite winning close to $880,000 from online tournaments, Nash had not been able to reproduce the same form in the live arena, though he did have four cashes in UKIPT events prior to this result, his best being a sixth place finish in Manchester that scooped him £12,600.

Nash entered Event #38, the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em tournament, along with 2,191 others and after three long days and nights of poker found himself on the final table of nine, albeit seventh in chips. Unfortunately for Nash, and his legion of railbirds, he could not gain the momentum he needed to bring home a bracelet and was eliminated in fifth place. The final hand saw the flop come down 7s-3s-8h and with 250,000 already in the pot Nash bet 160,000. Arkadiy Tsinis raised to 365,000 and after a brief pause Nash moved all in for 970,000. Getting close to three-to-one pot odds Tsinis shrugged his shoulders and made the call, turning over Ac8d. Tsinis' pair of eights were the best hand as Nash revealed AdJs and in desperate need of help. The Qs on the turn gave him extra outs to the spade flush but they failed to materialise as the river was the Ah, sending the popular Brit to the rail disappointed to not win a bracelet but with $123,028 to console himself with.

By the time the weekend is done and dusted we could have a few more Brits on final tables and winning bracelets. The $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Six-handed event is down to the last 20 and both Jude Ainsworth (From the Republic of Ireland but we'll steal him) and Martins Adeniya are both still in with a shot at glory. Good luck ladies and gents!

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Rule, Britannia! Brits Taking Over WSOP (Again)

Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 10 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

2010 was no fluke, it appears. After claiming five bracelets at last year's World Series of Poker -- the most by any country other than the United States -- U.K. players are proving themselves once more through the first 10 days of play at this year's WSOP. With just a dozen events completed, the Brits have already grabbed two bracelets, seats at nearly every final table thus far, and the increasing awe of many opponents and observers.

"Poker is too easy for the Brits," announcer Nick Wealthall tweeted earlier this morning. "They should make us play with one hole card."

Talk of a "British invasion" was a constant theme at last summer's WSOP. Claiming bracelets for the U.K. at the Rio in 2010 were Praz Bansi ($1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, Event No. 5), James Dempsey ($1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em, Event No. 9), Richard Ashby ($1,500 Seven-Card Stud, Event No. 21), Mike Ellis ($1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, Event No. 30), and Steve Jelinek ($1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha/8, Event No. 41). And this year's fast start by the Brits has everyone sounding a similar theme.

Jake Cody and Matt Perrins have claimed bracelets thus far for the U.K. Cody secured his win in the $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship (Event No. 2). As Matthew Pitt reports, Cody had to negotiate a virtual murderer's row of opponents to take the title, defeating (in order) Brandon Adams, Frank Kassela, Dani Stern, Jonathan Jaffe, Anthony Guetti, Gus Hansen, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko to win the $851,192 first prize.

Meanwhile, Perrins' victory came in the $1,500 Deuce-to-Seven Lowball Draw (No-Limit) event (Event No. 9), a game Perrins reportedly only learned hours before entering the tourney, his tutelage primarily consisting of a quick review of a YouTube video. "My friends talked me into it," Perrins told Arthur Crowson of PokerListings. "They said it was fun. So, I decided to give it a try. I guess that kind of went well." Perrins bested a field of 275 to claim the bracelet and a cool payday of $102,105. Click here for more on Perrins' win.

Interestingly, both Cody and Perrins hail from Rochdale of Greater Manchester, a market town with a population of less than 100,000. As Adam "Snoopy" Goulding reports over on the Black Belt Poker blog, the pair have been friends since they were kids, having grown up together.

Snoopy spoke with Londoner Nik Persaud about the pair, and he sheds some light on the two bracelet winners' relationship and how it has helped both improve their games. "I think that the fun bit of the story is that Jake will say that Matt is the biggest influence on his poker career and the person who he has learned the most from," Persaud told Snoopy. Meanwhile, "when Jake wins a title, a little bit of that is Matt," too.

"The level of respect for British players is currently sky high," adds Snoopy. "No longer is it considered an upset if we take down a big tournament." Indeed, in addition to the wins by Cody and Perrins, there have been a number of near-misses for U.K. players already this year, with some representation at all but a few final tables thus far.

Jonathan Spinks of Exeter finished 4th in Event No. 5, the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event. Stephen Chidwick of Deal also took fourth in Event No. 7, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship. Sadan Turker of West Kensington came up just short of a bracelet in Event No. 8, a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event, finishing runner-up to Sean Getzwiller.

The last few days have seen more Brits at final tables. Scottish player David Vamplew of Fife took fourth in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Short-Handed event (Event No. 10). Watford's Richard Ashby nearly claimed himself another bracelet, taking fourth in the $10,000 Omaha/8 Championship (Event No. 11). And Richard Trigg of Sheffield took sixth last night in the $1,500 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em event (Event No. 12).

(Incidentally, the WSOP.com site lists a couple of other 2011 final tablists as U.K. players who may or may not rightly be included in the tallying of Brit successes. French-born Nicolas Levi finished sixth in Event No. 7, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship, and Chris Bjorin of Sweden took second in the 2-7 No-Limit Draw event won by Perrin. Both currently live in London, and thus the British flag flies by their names in the results.)

How, then, to explain the Brits' success? Poker writer and commentator Jesse May -- interviewed here not long ago (Part 1, Part 2) -- is at the WSOP this summer and has been sharing some stellar commentary over on The Poker Farm website. In a recent piece, "Brits in Flow," May reflects on the camaraderie between the British players and what sounds like an unceasingly positive vibe surrounding them as perhaps contributing significantly to their success.

"It's not about the money, and it's not about showing up the Yanks," writes May. "It's unbridled joy, a love for the game." He goes on to discuss a special "spirit" -- occasionally fueled, perhaps, by the imbibing of spirits -- that has distinguished the British players during the first couple of weeks at the WSOP.

"It is this spirit that is in dark contrast to the hollow eyes and pained expressions of the zombies walking the halls," explains May. "It may look like a bunch of boys on the pis, but then you don't really understand. The attitude backs up the play, and the poker backs up the fun. And against this combo, how do the zombies with the straight lipped faces have any chance at all?"

Amid what has been an admittedly dark last couple of months for poker in America, May is clearly enjoying being able to bask in the mutually-supportive, optimistic light currently shining from the Brits. And he may well be on to something there, having identified the upbeat mindset of the U.K. players as possibly having produced a positive effect on their performance.

It will be interesting to see if the U.K. players continue to build on their fast start. Unless the WSOP takes up Wealthall on his suggestion to start handicapping the British players, it appears more likely than not we'll see the Brits continuing to rule.

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Lehavot Wins But Brits Still Shine

World Series of Poker 2011 / Matthew Pitt / 06 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

The first $10,000 Championship of the 2011 World Series of Poker is done and dusted and it is Amir Lehavot who has emerged victorious to win his first bracelet and $573,456 but the tournament will also be remembered for the fact another three British players went deep and another bracelet for one of our boys cannot be far away.

This year's $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship attracted 249 players, slightly down on the 268 of last year but still enough to create a prizepool of $2,340,600. Of the 249 who started Day 1 with high hopes only 129 survived the day with their chip stacks intact and they returned to the felt on Sunday and were whittled down to the final 27 players, which incidentally is how many players were paid out.

The final 27 was a star-studded affair with the likes of Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, Owen Crowe, Nenad Medic, McLean Karr and Steve "gboro780" Gross. However, as in the $25,000 Heads Up event that Jake Cody won a huge crowd gathered on the rail once word spread that Toby Lewis, Chris Moorman and Stephen Chidwick had made it into the money and were in with a real chance of winning a coveted gold bracelet.

Moorman was the first British player to be sent to the rail, his 18th place finish worth $25,348 and then five and a half hours after the tournament started Lewis' luck ran out. The EPT Vilamoura winner opened to 43,000 from the button, Lehavot made it 110,000 to play from the big blind and then called when Lewis re-raised all in. The Brit's JhJc was narrowly ahead of his opponent's AdQd but he was soon a massive underdog as the flop came down 4d-9d-2d giving Lehavot the nut flush. The 6c on the turn ended Lewis' tournament and when the meaningless 3c arrived on the river Lewis was eliminated in 11th place, worth $40,890.

This left Chidwick as the lone British player left in the tournament and when Michael Benvenuti, Karr and Eric Cloutier all busted out with 15 minutes of each other, Chidwick only had five more players to outlast to scoop the title. Those five became four as Nicolas Levi, a Frenchman who resides in the UK exited in sixth place when his 7d7h was beaten by the AsQd of Lehavot and just five minutes later Tommy Vinas ran into a real cooler of a hand to see him eliminated in fifth place. Vinas got into a raising war with Jarred Solomon on a 9s-Qs-7s flop which resulted in the former being all in at risk. He proudly turned over 7c7d for bottom set but was devastated when Solomon turned over 9c9d for a higher set. The turn and river were the 8h and 8c respectively and play was now four-handed.

The support for Chidwick was second to none but it was not enough as the man known as "Stevie444" in online circles was eliminated in fourth place> He managed to get his money in good with Ah9c against the KcJh of Lehavot but Lehavot was running hotter than the sun that even when the flop came down 9d-Ac-Ts the rail knew a suckout could be on the cards. The turn was the 8h, which kept Chidwick in front but gave Lehavot an open-ended straight draw, and that was completed when the Qs landed on the river. A valiant performance from Chidwick who took away $198,927 for his efforts over the three days, nice work if you can get it.

Five minutes later and the tournament reached the heads up stages as Sam Stein ran his As6d straight down the throat of the AcKs of, yes you guessed it, Lehavot. Neither player made a pair but Lehavot's king-kicker came into play and it was time for a one-on-one encounter to decide the title. Lehavot lead Solomon by 5,415,000 to 2,160,000 and it did not take him long to reduce his opponent to just a few hundred thousand chips. Then about an hour and 20 minutes into the encounter the final hand took place.

With blinds now 25,000/50,000 (there are no antes in pot limit games) Solomon made it 100,000 to play. Lehavot re-popped the action to 265,000 then quickly called as Solomon put in the rest of his stack. Solomon's AhJs would usuall be a very strong hand in heads up but not when his opponent held AsQh! The Qs-Qd-Tc flop gave Lehavot trip queens but also gave Solomon an open-ended straight but any hopes of hitting that were soon made redundant as the Td on the turn improved Lehavot to an unbeatable full house, so when the meaningless 2d hit the river it was already game over, Lehavot had become the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship winner.

This is the second large cash in just a few months for Lehavot as he finished fourth in the recent WPT LA Poker Classic for a cool $421,680, meaning this latest score has made him a poker millionaire!

Final table payouts

1st: Amir Lehavot: $573,456
2nd: Jarred Solomon: $354,460
3rd: Sam Stein: $264,651
4th: Stephen Chidwick: $198,927
5th: Tommy Vinas: $150,453
6th: Nicolas Levi: $114,525

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