Let me set the scene. Going into the final game of the season last Sunday, about 12 weeks, you might be forgiven for thinking that numbers and interest would be low as all key issues would have been decided, but oh no, not down at The Admiral Macbride. We had (forgive the football analogy) a title shoot out between Rob Knox and Joseph Alexander, 19 points seperated them with Rob holding the lead. We also had a champions league decider, Rob and Jo had already garunteed themselves a place in Bristol but the other two places were up for grabs and there were four going for it; Leigh Acton (current regional champion) in 3rd, Dave Nicholls two points behind in 4th; Edd Butters a further 7 points behind in 5th and an outside chance for Paul Wonnacot, who only joined 5/6 weeks ago but if he won the tournament, there was a slim chance he could still make the regional final.
So, play started with 10 players, early chip leads were shared about; Leigh Acton picked up a few early pots, but Edd Butters gained a substantial chip lead before the end of the 3rd level re-buy. The atmosphere was quite tense, a bit of banter ensued and the game continued, this time, everybody knowing that every move they made would be crucial.
Rob Knox, chasing any finishing place above Jo Alexander to take the title was not having the best night, not catching many hands, although on an all-in flopped quad-6s against Jo’s Ace to take a nice pot. However, that proved to be of little help as Rob still failed to catch a decent hand and was blinded away until he had no choice to push A7 under the gun and got called by Ben Hoyal with AQ of spades. Unfortunately for Rob the board came with two 9s and an Ace and was out-kicked and dead. His title chances were still alive, if Jo finished 9th or 8th then he would still pick up the title although obviously disappointed with his position. It was not to be however, as Jo started to make his moves and before we knew it, we were down to 6 and Jo had already claimed the title.
 Paul Wonnacot fell in 6th place, happy with his efforts over recent weeks saying, “I was always looking at next season anyway” and if he carries on playing the way he has been, there will be another contender for the crown next season. So down to five, Jo, Leigh, Edd, Dave all still in the shake up along with Ben Hoyal who has recently moved from Bridgwater’s The Great Escape. Ben busted out in 5th place leaving the other four to play it out and the battle for Bristol was on.
Leigh Acton played a few hands aggressively and won some nice pots through pushing all-in, Edd Butters and Jo had a chip lead shared between them, so inevitably it was between Dave and Leigh to go out next. Leigh raised the pot big pre-flop, Dave re-raised, Leigh went all in, Dave called and the cards were turned over. Leigh showed KQ clubs whilst Dave turned over one Ace, followed by another. The flop came with A,10,3; Dave had hit trips, there were no clubs to help Leigh, he needed a Jack to take it but it never came and was left with about 1000 chips whilst Dave took an impresive pot to rival Edd or Jo. Leigh fell after he was all-in on the big blind with 9,3 and no help lead to him being eliminated in 5th place and now the current South West champion waits to see if he gets given a wild card entry to Bristol. With everything settled, play moved quickly, Edd Butters picked up 3rd place on the night, 4th overall and Jo Alexander beat Dave Nicholls heads up to take the crown in style whilst Dave finished 3rd overall.
After a season of high quality tight poker, these four guys are sure to cause waves at Bristol. Next season will be very interesting!