£1,500 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout

I narrowly missed out on playing this event myself, finishing 6th in a satellite that offered three seats since I didn’t manage to play the event I covered it instead. Here is some shortened coverage.

Marylin and Elvis were here to spice things up.

Final preparations for day 1A

Annette Obrestad (better known online as Annette_15) won last year’s event. Her 20th birthday was a few days before the start of the event and her sponsor, Betfair (also the festival sponsor) gave her 20 birthday cakes.

Shuffle up and deal, bitches!

OK he didn’t say bitches.

Some fellow players from the now defunct Gutshot Card Club were playing day 1a.

Ghandi

Ed Roger. Ed eliminated me from the GSOP main event a few months ago. From Luckyjimm’s commentary:
“And James Bardolph’s out! His resteal with 56 sooted got looked up by Ed Roger’s pocket 6s and didn’t find a miracle.”

Nik Persaud. Nik has been looking for his seat for around 10 minutes. He eventually finds his seat on Ghandi’s right.

If you saw the Pokerstars WCOOP advert, Daniel Negreanu’s expressions on the table are exactly the same as the look he has when he throws the chips in.

Liv Boeree and Neil Channing in the house

Not everyone had turned up yet. Late Hellmuth entrance anyone?

This guy had a unique haircut

And a unique charm

John Juanda. I swear this man has zero tells.

We fiendishly started eating Annette’s cakes in the media room. Let’s hope she doesn’t find out.

Tables have been broken as players are eliminated.

Some hands

Walking over to Nik P’s / Ghandi’s table and and Nik (BB) is in the middle of a hand with the SB.

Flop:

SB bets 250, Nik calls

Turn:

SB bets 750. Nik thinks for around 10 secs then decides to call.

River:

SB bets 2,100. Nik calls.

Bettor shows A-6 for the runner-runner full house! Nik later revealed he had K-8.

On a board of , with 5,450 in the pot, facing a bet of 2,500 Liv has a serious decision to make.

She folds. The winner shows the ace of hearts.

Blinds are currently 100-200, with a 25 ante.Daniel Negreanu has accumulated a lot of chips thus far.

After each level there is a 20 minute break. The dealers check all the cards during each break to make sure they are all present and there are no marks or irregularities which could help a player identify a card that is lying face-down.

Ghandi shoves it

A short stacked Ghandi gets and shoves pre-flop for 2,625. Small blind goes all-in, granite player who limped folds JJ face-up. Small blind shows

Flop:

Turn:

River:

Ship it!!!

Some guy is getting a finger massage…

Ghandi’s table decide now is a good time to look at the hand rankings in Texas Hold ‘Em. Curly hair man deems it fit to read the card upside-down.

Juanda doing well

A short stack moves in on Seidel’s big blind. Seidel is like ARGH and calls with .

The all-in guy actually raised blind and turns over .

Flop:

Turn:

River:

Double up for the all-in guy!

The green ’25′ chips  have been coloured up. The blinds are now 400-800 with a 100 running ante.

Later on Seidel finds himself short stacked.

Play has ended for day 1 of the £1,500 NLH WSOPE tournament. Someone doubled up with Aces vs Kings on the last hand.

Time to put down your name, how many chips you have left, bag ‘em up and get some sleep.

Not before I snag some more of Annette’s birthday cake(s), though. They were just sitting there OK, it’s not my fault!

Day 1B

Day 2

Geeky stuff: Canon EOS 20D, 24-70 f2.8L lens.

Highlights from Anonymous’ protest against the Church of Scientology, March 15th 2008. I was shooting in B&W with my film camera which explains the silly mix of B&W and colour images. Forgive me.

Following on from the festivities at the February 10th protest, Anonymous are back to ‘celebrate’ L. Ron. Hubbard’s birthday, which was Thursday March 13th.

Queen Victoria Street

Two Anonymous have arrived 90 minutes early; this appears to be the physical equivalent of “First comment!”

While waiting for arrivals by Blackfriars Station I noticed these.

Cropped version

Anonymous arrive.

Nice City Policeman greets Anonymous outside Blackfriars Station to explain what the City Police are here to do and what they are not here to do.

Anonymous responds with an offering of Fox’s .

City Policeman is hypnotised by the gift and accepts. How could he refuse?

Cake for everyone.

Mr Doublecakeanonymous here has a weighted companion cube cake. THE CAKE IS REAL!

Miss Anonymous notices a strange reflection.

Today’s turnout walked all over previous figures. I couldn’t fit everyone in one shot.

This is the first floor of the Church of Scientology’s building. Anonymous gave them a wave and a cheer.

Anonymous placards

Tottenham Court Road

Tottenham Court Road is where things got really interesting. The road is a lot narrower than Queen Victoria Street, there is a huge amount of footfall (public passers-by) and Anonymous are concentrated into a much smaller area.

Click here to view the embedded video.

More Anonymous placards.

The memes were out in full force.

Two doors to the right of Scientology’s branch is a branch of KFC. One of the most amusing chants had everyone pointing and went: “THAT IS A CHICKEN! THAT IS A CULT! THAT IS A CHICKEN! THAT IS A CULT!”

Quite fond of stickers is this one.

Cake had successfully made it to Tottenham Court Road. “It’s so moist and delicious”, said one Anonymous while offering cake to me.

Anonymous came, Anonymous protested, Anonymous remained anonymous.

Response

In order to provide a more balanced report on the day’s events this time round, I asked a Policeman if I could enter the building to ask the staff if the organisation had an official response to Anonymous’ protests. The policeman rejected my request however he did go in on my behalf.

A Scientology volunteer came out (to boos) and provided me with an email contact whom I could pose my questions to. Scientology’s statement follows.

Dear James,

Following is our response. I also recommend you go to www.anonymous-exposed.org for more specifics.

ANONYMOUS – HATE CRIMES AND
TERRORISM DIRECTED AT SCIENTOLOGY

Since January 17, 2008, “Anonymous”, a group of cyber-terrorists hiding
their identities behind masks and computer anonymity, has targeted the
Scientology religion, its Churches, leaders and parishioners with hate
speech and hate crimes.

To inform “Anonymous” members who may be unaware of the criminal acts
committed by their leaders, and to prevent others from being misled by
“Anonymous’” propaganda, a video has been produced to provide the facts.
The video reveals “Anonymous’” repeated incitements to hate and violence.

The Church has not interacted with these “Anonymous” individuals nor does
it desire to. However, death threats and threats to plant nitroglycerin
bombs in Churches have made it necessary to take security precautions and
identify members of this group responsible for these crimes.

A copy of our documentary can be seen at www.anonymous-exposed.org.

If you have any further questions, please let me know.

Aftermath

Another peaceful protest from Anonymous. I’m glad I asked for and received a response from Scientology this time round so both sides were able to voice their opinion. Anonymous distributed cake and leaflets to the general public. They made themselves heard. As I approached Tottenham Court Road I saw the general public walking away from the protest clutching Anonymous leaflets, reading them out loud and discussing Anonymous’ beef with Scientology. Anonymous’ message is certainly getting out there.

Looking at Scientology’s response and their claims of threats against them including Nitroglycerin bombs – if you consider their history then I think it is fair to say they suffer from ‘boy who cried wolf’ syndrome. Because of past failures, what they say must be taken with a pinch of salt. It’s hard to trust the words of an organisation that has previously conducted such exercises as ‘Operation Snow White‘ and ‘Operation Freakout‘.

Is Anonymous a collective of Nitroglycerin bomb-threatening eTerrorists? You decide.

Click here to view the embedded video.