The Las Vegas Team Challenge live final was the culmination of 16 weeks of hard fought online battle. When the dust had settled we had 190 people descending on Birmingham to fight it out for $36,000 worth of Vegas Packages and a host of added cash prizes.

My own team “The Ivey League” featured the tallest man in England, the Wine Connoisseur and handbag degen Miss Amy T, the Super Chattha Bros Sunny & Chaz and the winner of the final online game Lord Jeffrey of Kimber. Some had us down as pre match favourites. What good judges they proved to be….

The highlight of the day (and the highlight of my year so far) came when Paul “ActionJack” Jackson was moved to my table. The banter was flowing and Paul had already said that we would both be getting our considerable stacks in most probably with 9 high versus 10 high. Fortunately I regularly review his hand against Phil Ivey on youtube and so I had a good handle on how he might play. I was disappointed though that he no longer wears those fetching shades

In Paul’s exit hand I raised from early position and he called on the button. Given this action he should be most likely putting me on aces or kings. The fact I had A9o is being very results based. Headsup to the flop of AT9 with a flush draw. I bet and Paul quite quickly called. The turn was an offsuit 4. I checked and Paul bet a little more than my flop bet. I thought for a while (I assumed he probably had 65o). Whilst I was thinking Paul called the clock on me twice. I eventually check raised (trying to represent Q8hh) and immediately called the clock on him. After a short while in the tank Paul moved all in and I called. Paul’s AJ failed to improve on the river and he was off to the cash games with his tail between his legs. Some people just can’t fold a pair…

By 8pm I was the sole Ivey League player remaining, and whilst team glory was out of sight I was still fighting on for the £1,500 added prize for the winner of the tournament. I decided the best plan of action was to run like God and by close of play on Day 1 The Ivey League had more chips than any other remaining team, despite having only 1 survivor.

3 tables came back for day 2 and there were still 3 or 4 teams still in with a realistic shot at team glory. I kindly donated my big stack to one of them and fell shortly before the final table was formed. By this time team PPP Top Bombers had secured the team prize and each of them had won a trip to Vegas worth $6,000. I can’t think of many better ways to spend the summer than in the best city in the world with 5 of your best mates. I look forward to seeing them in Vegas and hope that they can return with a tidy sum for their efforts

This whole event was some of the most fun I’ve had whilst playing poker. Lots has been said about team poker events but for me the added strategy elements, the camaraderie and the team banter create an event that the normally individual pursuit of poker doesn’t provide. After lots of positive feedback and the envy we all have for the PPP Top Bombers, we’ve decided to do it all again. We’re going to send another team of friends to Vegas this summer but of course as with any sequel it has to be bigger and it has to be better.

We’ve grown the prize fund to over $50k. There’s now a team prize for 2^nd place, a Vegas Package for the best overall individual player and even more cash prizes added the final

For all the details, and to register your team please check out our new site www.lasvegasteamchallenge.com. Event 1 kicks off on Monday with a $1k added freeroll.

Karl