CLIVE LAYTON COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD AND TALKS HIS WAY INTO THE SEMI-FINALS - 09/12/2006

Clive Layton produced a fantastic comeback to secure his seat in the PartyPoker.com European Open III.   

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The second hand of the game produced some fireworks.  Andrew Papageorgiou raised with Ac, 8h, Dalton looked down and saw A, J suited and re-raised.  Layton and Kovacs passed and Robin Keston saw the cowboys, he decided to flat call.  Papageorgiou folded and the flop came down Qh, 2s, 3s.  Keston checked, Theo bet.  Keston went all in and Theo called.  The turn came down a 4c giving Theo outs.  Any ace, any spade, any 5 for the wheel.  The river came down a 6h, and Theo was left with a mere couple thousand. 

It was all over for the UK Open runner-up when his pocket threes failed to hold up against Papageorgiou’s J, Q when a J hit on the flop.  

Keston was flying and his battle with Layton was exhilarating, not just the poker but the verbal confrontation too.  

Simon Craig was dying to see a decent hand, a picture card in fact, but it was all over for him when Layton was all in with Ad, 2c, Simon called with Kd, 2d.  The flop showed Qs, 9s, 4d, Simon would need running diamonds to stay in or a couple of Kings, he didn’t hit and he was out. 

Keston started to loose his lead and Layton was taking it away from him.  He now had $253,000 chips.  Next to go out was Papageorgiou.  His 8c, 10s failed to beat Keston’s 5d, 9d, on a board of 9h, Ad, Ah, Kc, As.  Keston completing his full house on the river.   

PartyPoker qualifier Imre Kovacs was a rock, but he was knocked out when Layton hit the 8 he required to beat Kovacs’ pocket fours.   

Heads up and Layton started to chip away at Keston’s stack.  What a final hand, Keston goes all in pre flop with As, Kc, Layton called immediately with Qc, 10h.  The flop came down 3d, Qs, Jd, putting Layton ahead.  The turn came down an Ace, putting Keston back in the lead.  Layton needed a K to make the Broadway straight or a Queen for a set.  The river came down a K giving the straight to Layton and putting another bad beat on Keston.  “I’m getting use to it” said Keston after Layton apologised.  Layton joins Dave Gregory, Nick Persaud, Scott Fenton and John Magill, in the 1st Semi – Final.