Ladbrokes Easter Rendezvous

141 runners took part in the Main Event in sunny Brighton where not only was there a £70,500 prize pool up for grabs but also 5 Ladbrokes Vegas Dream packages were added to the top 5 finishers! Ladbrokes also gave players 3 chances of winning a Ladbrokes Irish Festival package during the festival - so lots of added value to a great week of poker!

Congratulations goes to Dave 'discodave' Welch for taking first place and pocketing £14,265 plus his very own seat to Vegas with Ladbrokes this summer - not bad for 2 days work!

If you missed out on this great event, don't worry! Read on for a full write up by Laddies own 's7eve'.

Brighton Rocks... Travels of an Interested Amateur

Friday

My destination for the weekend - Brighton, to play in the Ladbrokes Easter Festival at the Rendezvous Casino. The Main Event that kicks off on Sunday will see me playing some serious poker with a £500 buy in and 5 Ladbrokes Vegas packages to be won on top of the prize pool.

I am sharing a room at "The Seattle" with my great friend David Bennett (dmblondon) who has just returned from Oz after a few months backpacking and am looking forward to some stories and a jar or 3. With the charabanc all valeted, I poodled down to Brighton in the company of dmb. The traffic was kind and we were 2 hours door to bar, hic, so usual start.

The Hotel and Casino are a few hundred yards apart and both situated inside the marina complex. After registering at the hotel I popped down to the casino to see what the numbers were like for the tournament and was told so far 70 players had registered but local interest should bump the numbers up to 150.

After a lovely dinner with some friends at one of the marinas many restaurants, we returned to the hotel for a nightcap and a mingle with a few "boat people" from the marina. They were staying on daddy’s yacht and did say "Yah". Poker players are a hardy breed, amazingly after a 4.30am ish finish all returned for breakfast at 10am.

Saturday

The breakfast room at the Seattle overlooks the marina and I can recommend the Eggs Benedict while watching the "boat people" go about their business...I know your feeling sorry for me, but sadly its too cold to dine on the outdoor 2nd floor deck. After a leisurely breakfast Ladbrokes treated us to a round of golf on an indoor golf simulator and of course it wasn’t long before a few small wagers were placed with side bets on nearest the pin, putts, longest drive and two fly’s walking up the wall. Mickjagger, a Ladbrokes stalwart, cleaned up on the pennies but Marios cleaned up on the comedy ... by using a coin to mark his ball before an important putt.

5pm saw a gathering of the Ladbrokes online qualifiers at the casino for a very pleasant reception party in the Oriel Bar inside the casino. It is situated on the top floor with a gorgeous view over the marina. With an open bar, some yummy nibbles and great company, it’s not hard to enjoy yourself. It was nice to bump into some old Ladbrokes adversaries and of course to meet some new...

I popped back back to the hotel at 10 ish to collect my camera and found BottleBlonde (my wife Denise) playing the 35k online, at home and lying 25/50 from 1600 runners.  I had to sit and rail and was delighted for her with her 4th place... So delighted in fact that a group of us sat on the hotels marina view balcony and toasted her with champagne into the very wee hours.

Sunday

A late start for me, sleeping through both breakfast and lunch, but I arrive at the casino refreshed and raring to go. At 4pm, 141 players take their seats to do battle. The surroundings at the Rendezvous are pleasant and the staff were good. The card room is well run and the waitresses hovered around all day. At the dinner break I overheard one of the local players saying "that’s the best food they have ever served at the break", I wouldn’t be surprised if that was Ladbrokes influence, they seem to know instinctively what the players need.

Sadly for me there was to be no payday, I won't bore you with hand details, but I will say my membership to a certain forum is apt (KrackedKings).. After a while to kick the proverbial cat and a shower to refresh, the disappointment of going out of the main event was dispelled by the fact I had beaten nearly a 100 of the field coupled with copious amounts of alcohol. I was joined in the casino bar by various fellow fallers including biglad and skalie who had breezed over to join us after exiting the Irish Open early as well! Obviously a shame they were free to join us but nice to see them all the same. We laughed as Muzza (Paul Murrell) persuaded 2 lovely young ladies to braid his slightly thinning hair, sadly their was nothing they could do for me.

The day’s late casualties slowly joined us at the bar and eventually when play finished, 30 players survived the day.

The diehards got back to the hotel at around 5am.

Monday

With no game to play, you would think I would head home, but with friends in day 2, I had to stay to cheer them on.

30 players left, 14 places paid with over £20k to the winner and Ladbrokes Vegas trips for the top five places. As you can imagine play was fierce.

As the game progressed and players fell by the wayside another side of poker emerged "The Deal". At the business end of a tournament, with blinds now increasing heavily and the play being squeezed from the game some wheeling dealing can be a bit of insurance against a bad beat.

With 18 left a deal was done to see all 18 players rewarded. With 12 players left it was agreed to play a final table of 10 players instead of 9.

With 6 players left it was agreed that all should get a package (5 players paid the equivalent value of a Vegas package to someone that stupidly didn’t want to join Ladbrokes in Las Vegas) and an increase in prize money for places 6 to 4.

And finally with 2 left and blinds massive, a deal that saw the prize pool split and the trophy and title of Ladbrokes Easter Festival Champion awarded to "Disco Dave" Welch from Essex who had the most chips.

Congratulations to all the winners including Ladbrokes regulars Midnight, Sudsy8 and Marky147 who are all off to Vegas along with a very nice payday.

As ever Ladbrokes hospitality was superb and I would like to thank Nigel Blower and Marios Diamandi for their professionalism and attention to detail. Those that have won their Vegas trips will have a fantastic time and I hope I manage to join them.