Author: Paul Seaton

That’s all from Old Trafford, where Dan McNairney has taken down the Grand Prix Poker Tour Manchester leg for a whopping £35,000!

From all of us on the live reporting team, William Powell, David Blacklaw, Rich Prew and myself, Paul Seaton, a huge thank you for your interactions across social media and of course here, where we’ve enjoyed an incredible 3,646 entries have a great time during a magical weekend at the Theatre of Dreams!

Join us in Newcastle on February 20th-21st by qualifying for a Day 1 seat via partypoker.com and by following all the news right here at gppt.poker!

Philip Toon was always going to shove soon, and over-the-top of Dan McNairney’s 2m opening bet, Toon got it all-in with . McNairney had but couldn’t catch up to bust Toon when the board fell .

McNairney has the bulk of the chips with around 30m but O’Conner and Toon each have over 16m. This could go any way.

If you hear people waking up in the night in Manchester screaming ‘Go On the Toooooooon!’ then don’t be surprised. Philip Toon has some phenomenal support at this final table, but then so does Brian O’Connor. The young player has four dedicated fans of his own, all of him want him to take down this Grand Prix Poker Tour desperately.

O’Connor raised to 2m with and was shoved on by Toon with around 17m and . An easy call for O’Connor, and he hits a king on the flop of before the turn of and river seal the deal. O’Connor doubles to 16m, while Toon drops to just 9m.

Philip Toon doubled through Brian O’Connor when he shoved all-in for 6.2m and was called by the big stack of O’Connor.

Toon held and O’Connor had , but the flop of quietened O’Connor rail cheering for a ‘two’. The turn and river ended all hope for a bust-out and Toon doubled up.

New chip-counts:

Brian O’Connor 21.4 million

Dan McNairney 19.8m

Philip Toon 13.1m

Michael Michael 10.2m

We have lost two players in two hands here as the final table of the Grand Prix Poker Tour Old Trafford leg has finally caught fire!

So far at this final table, we’ve lost Lukasz Podyma in 9th for £2,940, Paul Clarke in 8th for £3,740 and Roy Hamilton just left us in 7th for £4,790. The action has never been quicker in this tournament as with the blinds catching players up and the leg itself just over two hours from an enforced ending, the players have decided to go for the win!

Wes Hutchison busted when he shoved all-in from Seat 1 with for 1.4m and was called by Brian O’Connor in Seat 4 with . Interestingly, Joseph Donelon looked tempted to call, and had just 250,000 to his name, but decided to fold in the hope that Hutchison would bust the hand, which he did through the board. Hutchison busts in 6th for £6,320, then.

In the next hand, Donelon was forced to go all-in for half an ante, and his Q-3 was taken down by Dan McNairney’s ‘Back to the Future’ (Ten-Four, Marty!) , meaning Donelon cashes for an impressive £8,440…..not such a bad fold in the previous hand, really!

 

With just seven players remaining, let’s take a look at the incredibly varied chip-stacks….

Seat 1 - Wes Hutchison 7,000,000
Seat 4 - Brian O’Conner 4,800,000
Seat 5 - Roy Hamilton 750,000
Seat 6 - Michael Michael 12,000,000
Seat 7 - Joseph Donelon 1,800,000
Seat 8 - Daniel McNairney - 16,500,000
Seat 9 - Phillip Toon 26,300,000

Roy Hamilton made it all the way from Bridgenorth (OK it’s not that far) to Old Trafford this weekend, and is supported by the Midlands Magician himself, ‘Mad’ Marty Wilson. He’s gone from having almost no chips to being back in with a slim chance after two double-ups here.

First, Roy shoved with aces and was called by Dan McNairney, with . The board came a very sweaty , but Hamilton survived. He doubled again when his pocket threes did the business against Philip Toon’s , so is back up to 12 big blinds now. That’s not a great amount behind the average!

With our nine players at the final table, we have an average stack of 7.2 million chips. Sounds a lot doesn’t it? But with the blinds at 200k/400k/50k , that’s an average stack of just eighteen big blinds.

A reminder that play MUST cease at 2am when the gambling licence runs out, so at that point if there is more than one player left, then there will be an enforced ICM payout.

We spoke to the man behind the Ski-Mask on the break, Dan McNairney. He explained to us why he’s wearing his incredible get-up of a Manchester United shirt & scarf combo aligned with a full ski-mask.

“I’m a United supporter, so that’s the shirt, but I couldn’t find my sunglasses so the ski-mask is because I don’t want to give away tells - either via my eyes or eyebrows, which some people forget.’

They’re unlikely to after this weekend.

‘The scarf covers other facial tells, and the ski-mask’s visor is quite bright, brighter than sunglasses, anyway!’

We can’t argue with that. Mainly because we’re blinded by them.

Ryan Brodsky (pictured above), many would say! It’s a question many a player and staff member know the answer to, with the popular Dusk Till Dawn legend and the team working the floor all weekend here at Old Trafford as the Grand Prix Poker Tour has played out its biggest ever live event, passing Stamford Bridge’s total by far.

As the remaining 15 players have a break, the dealers and tournament staff are racing around making sure everything is perfect for their return. We just thought we’d give them a shout out!