Cat O'Neill Archives

A huge deal was made of the final table. There was a large set assembled late that afternoon, complete with lights and at least four or five cameras. Things were a fair bit behind schedule with the field scraping by a lot longer than expected. We'd had a rushed dinner break with about 15 left, which involved us all eating whilst at the table playing. We then managed a quick 10-minute break before starting the final table.

I got a rough enough table draw for Day 2, with the overnight chip leader (Rupinder Bedi) sitting two seats to my right, his button my big blind, this was going to go very right or very wrong, very quickly!

I had never actually got to play the IPO before. Last year we were in England as Rob was playing a GUKPT event and we only got back in time to play some cash. My brief taste of the atmosphere though, was enough to make me want to play it this year, so I arranged the time off work and made sure I registered in advance as recommended by the tourney organisers.