1267 players entered the Grosvenor Grand Prix and 216 of these qualified for the final stages in Walsall, which took place between the 25th-28tth October, 2007. The last nine men standing resumed play at 3pm to battle it out for the £90,000 first prize, the trophy and the prestige that goes hand in hand with winning the biggest pot limit Hold’em tournament in Europe. By 8.15pm it was all over and Kidderminster’s Marcus Bebb-Jones had emerged as the winner, after defeating Preston’s Paul Rodgers in a fast and furious heads up battle. In the final hand Marcus held A-Q versus Paul’s A-7 on a Q9A flop. Marcus bet out, Paul raised, Marcus reraised and Paul went all-in. Marcus called in flash and although he feared he was up against a set, he was delighted to see that he had his opponent dominated. The turn and river brought no help for Paul, leaving IT consultant Marcus as the victor after a five-hour final table. He has had a few good wins of late in local festivals in the Midlands, but this performance is by far the most glittering of his poker career.

68 players returned today for the second day of the £300,000 Grosvenor Grand Prix. With the prize money starting to go up from 60th place and upwards, there was a lot to play for today. The chip leader going into the day was Paul Rodgers on 84,000, who qualified for the event at the Grosvenor casino in Salford. Also flying high on just over 80,000 was Preston’s Andy Bradshaw, however he was amongst the first batch of players to be eliminated, scraping into the £400 prize bracket. With the blinds at 500-1,000, not many players were under any real pressure to get busy quickly, nevertheless the usual second day early carnage duly ensued and by the first break, just over two hours into play, there were just 45 players remaining. European number one Ash Hussain had also commanded a big stack going into the day, but he was unable to push on and after losing much of his stack just before the dinner break, he was taken out shortly thereafter.

Another 110 players took their seats on the second day of the Grosvenor Grand Prix, all vying for a shot at the £90,000 prize money. Mickey Wernick, Michael Greco, Dave Clark, Kevin O’Leary and Roberto Romanello were amongst their number. Unlike day 1a there were few casualties in the early stages and by the end of the first two hours of play, just 7 players had bit the felt. However, even these players did not walk away empty handed as every player who takes part in the Grand Prix is guaranteed at least £100 in prize money. Those who make it into the top 60 will receive at least £400 with prizes going up steadily with every table that falls.

Unfortunately for Mickey Wernick, he sis not make it far in the event, suffering a nasty exit at the hands of Yucel ‘Mad Turk’ Eminoglu, who had taken a shot with the monster starting hand that is 7-2. GUKPT winner Michael Greco lasted somewhat longer but he eventually succumbed when getting cute with pocket aces. On day 1a 34 players survived and likewise on the second starting day there were 34 players left by the time play drew to a close. Simple maths tells us that there will be 68 players coming back to recommence battle on the second full day of the tournament. Willie Tann, who won the inaugural Grand Prix event several years ago, is still in, as is Welsh chatterbox Roberto Romanello. Andy Bradshaw finished with the largest stack of the day on 80,600, with localplayer Ved ‘Vince’ Madan also up there on 71,600.

When play resumes the blinds will be 500-1,000 and with a slow and smooth structure for the remainder of the day, there should be a lot of good poker to be played. They will play nine one hour levels or until they reach the final table of nine players. Blue Square will have betting available for the final table first thing on Sunday morning.

In total there were 216 players who qualified for the 2007 Grosvenor Grand Prix in Walsall. This year it has been extended to a 4-day event, with 2 starting days. The blinds structure is very similar to that of a GUKPT event, but as this is a pot limit tournament, there are no running antes. Last year’s winner Zahir ‘Zippy’ Aslam and runner up Matt Cartwright surprisingly found themselves on the same starting table today and within 20-minutes of play they were locked in a big pot together. Zippy won the pot and Matt was one of the first to be eliminated.

Also amongst the players who started on this first day of play were Bambos Xanthos, European Number one Ash Hussain (Zippy’s brother), Paul King, Simon Zach and World Heads Up champion Jeff Kimber. While Bambos, Jeff and Ash made it through the day, there were early exits for both King and Zach. Although Zippy made a good start to the defence of his title, he also did not make it to the end of the day. The casino had also scheduled a £100 tournament for later in the evening so those who did not make it past the dinner break had something else to get there teeth into.

The first prize this year is a whopping £90,000 and everyone who takes part is guaranteed at least £100. From 60th place upwards the money starts increasing. By the end of the day just 34 of the day’s 106 starters were left, with Paul Rodgers holding the chip lead on 84,200. J. Iqbal is lying in second place with 72,300 while Ash Hussain is also not far behind on 70,800. WSOP bracelet winner Lawrence Gosney had held the chip lead for much of the day, commanding a stack of around 100,000 chips at one point, however he lost much of this towards the end of the day and finished up relatively short stacked on 21,700.

Friday is the second starting day with 110 players expected to sit down at 3pm. Mickey Wernick is one of their number and it is the first time in the history of the event that he has managed to qualify. It promises to be another great day of poker.