Robin Kayalsum scored big by winning the Concept Poker Club’s first Quarterly Game of the season in Goodwood on Sunday.
While Robbie entered the final table as one of the smaller stacks, he managed to battle his way through an entertaining final 9 to secure the tournament triumph.
His early double-ups played a big part in this journey, which were quite fortunate. He got lucky with Q8 against a K7, hitting the 8. Then hit a flush on the river with A9 diamonds against 4s, which were holding up until the turn.
While Robbie was on the up, newcomer Daylon Morgan was on the down… and lost his sizable stack in two big hands against Chad Hughes.
He was unfortunate that his turned straight was cracked by a rivered full house on the first occasion. Then he pushed his leftover stack with K10 on a K56 flop. Chad bullishly called with 87 for the up and down draw, and spiked the 4 on the turn to end Daylon’s fairytale run in 9th place.
Shortly thereafter, Imraan Khan pushed all in with A10 off. He was called by Chad in the big blind, who showed K7 off. Chad flopped the 7, which was enough to eliminate log leader Immie in 8th.
Charl September was nearly the next one out when his all-in with KJ was called by Steve Clarance’s A5. Luckily, he spiked the king on the river to stay in the game.
Sive Kobe got knocked out next when his AJ was dominated by Charl’s AK. The board ran dry, giving Charl the victory. He outchipped Sive by a single chip.
Jerry Sweetnam (who was making back-to-back Concept final table appearances along with Steve) saw his chip stack blinded down before he pushed all in with J10. He got called by Chad in the big blind, and his K3 hit a low, one-carded straight to send Jerry packing to Thailand in 6th place.
Vicky Moodley was out in 5th – he went all in with A4 with the short stack, and got called by Robbie’s 8s. The pair held up, but it didn’t take the shine away from another good finish for Vicky. Last year’s league runners-up has now made five final tables in eight attempts.
Among the final 4, a big change in chips saw Steve and Robin clash. Robbie raised under the gun before Steve shipped in the big blind. He got snapped called. Steve showed A8… and this was in very bad shape against Robbie’s Aces, which won a monster pot.
Steve got eliminated shortly thereafter with 10 8 off against Charl’s 4s. The window card on the flop was a 10, but a four snuck in to kill Steve’s tournament challenge. The big man can be proud with back-to-back cashes.
Charl got eliminated in third. And Robbie eventually took down the tourney with J7 against Chad in a quick heads-up flip.
Robbie is now one of the league front-runners as his QG victory shoots him up the league, from 40th to third place.
A big plus was the success of the “friendly” big blind ante, which created an enjoyable game. The Concept committee will look to experiment with this structure in the midweek tourneys, in addition to the QGs.
Top 9 at the Concept Quarterly Game:
1 Robin Kayalsum
2 Chad Hughes
3 Charl September
4 Steve Clarence
5 Vicky Moodley
6 Jerry Sweetnam
7 Sive Kobe
8 Imraan Khan
9 Daylon Morgan