My seating draw and table
I was drawn in seat 8, Table 4. Being a low number table I knew that even if I made the last 40 I would never have to move so I made myself comfortable! I looked at the players on my table to see what I was up against. I only recognised 2 of the 9 opponents which was both a bonus and not so. It would have been nice to have a Devilfish etc at my table but then again they are great players so I guess not! One of the two I recognised was due to his
Ladbrokes profile not because he is outwardly famous. His alias was The_Pro, he is from Israel and I know he has won big tournies winning hundreds of thousands of pounds so I would do well to watch out for him during the next hours. As a side note I met him a bunch of times around the ship afterwards and he was a really nice guy as well.
The second player I recognised was in seat 1 and was Tony Jones aka Spider99 aka 2005
Ladbrokes Poker Million champion. You may remember him winning a million dollars in the surprise heads up match against Helen Chamberlain televised on Sky Sports (A surprise due the quality of players in the field). I classed him obviously as a decent player but nothing to be worried about as he seemed to have a lot of luck in the poker million and I knew he wasn’t a pro. It was fun for him to be there though as I had watched him play on television and cheered him on as the unknown outsider back in the summer.
The other players consisted of 4 unknown Brits but all middle aged so no need to worry about any hotshots there! The other 3 were bloody young gun Scandinavians though. Scandies by nature are loose and aggressive and tough players as a rule. All 3 looked like they fancied themselves immensely with their spiky gelled blond haircuts, medallions and ripped clothing! Shuffle up and deal!