With 275 players battling it out for a $5,000 prize pool, last Sunday’s Depositors’ Freeroll was deemed a roaring success, especially from those who profited from the lucrative bounties on offer.
Those with happy faces included:
Jake ‘prib’ Przybysz (busted Blue Belt Eoin Kennedy)
Paul ‘1080sniper’ Storey-Smith (snipered down Brown Belt Jerome Bradpiece)
Neil Channing (joyfully disposed of eighth place finisher Nik Persaud)
However, there was one face that gleamed more than most, as eventual winner Garry ‘GazAJKO’ Cargill snapped up not one, not two, but three (times a lady?) bounties in the shape of Hugh ‘DianaVickers’ Kirton, Adam ‘trojandonkey’ Latimer and, at the final hurdle, Sensei Channing. As a result, not only did he scoop up the $1,000 first prize and the envy of the fallen field, but also a whopping $400 in bounties. If anyone had been practicing at the shooting range beforehand, it was Garry.
Considering the style in which he triumphed, we thought we’d take the opportunity to first congratulate Garry for his impressive victory, and secondly ambush his with an assortment of questions to find out a little bit more about this week’s big winner.
Snoopy: First off, Garry, where does that nickname GazAJKO mean?
Garry Cargill: The AJKO is the initial of kids. It doesn’t have a relevance to poker.
Snoopy: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into poker?
GC: I have a full-time job and two young kids so that doesn’t leave a great deal of time for poker. I started playing with lads from work and soon realised I was taking all their money so I began visiting the local casino and playing online. I got my first big win when I took down a $10 rebuy MTT and I’ve never looked back, earning a tidy second living ever since.
Snoopy: What sort of games do you play?
GC: I play low to mid stakes MTTs on Stars, Tilt, etc and the usual Sunday tournaments. I also played two main events on the GUKPT last year finishing in 20th place at Luton and taking a shattering bad beat (A-A vs. A-K) at Blackpool in a pot for the chip lead. I remain convinced that if I’d won that hand then I’d have gone on to at least make the final table, but I guess that’s poker.
Snoopy: Any familiar names on your starting table?
GC: There were no familiar names at my opening table but I quickly ended up to the left of Neil Channing but didn’t get involved with him at all, smart move!
Snoopy: Was it plain sailing all the way?
GC: No tournament is ever plain sailing but I don’t think I was ever in any serious trouble until we were down to three and I got it all in with A-Q against the pocket kings of trojandonkey. I sickly hit running queens on fourth and fifth street.
Snoopy: What was the best hand you played?
GC: The best hand I played was what I think was a very good laydown against Neil with four players left. I had K-J and the board was king high but to cut a long story short I’m pretty sure I was beat and saved my last 100,000 in chips for a better spot.
Snoopy: How did you eliminate those bounties?
CG: I picked up three pro bounties in the end: DianaVickers (A-K vs. K-9), trojandonkey (A-Q vs. K-K) and the prize scalp of Neil Channing (A-8 vs. Q-J).
Snoopy: What was more important, winning the event or beating Neil?
CG: The money is always the most important thing but playing Neil heads-up for the win was always going to be tough and it was very rewarding to come out on top. When we were heads-up Neil took down the opening exchanges without much resistance but I then picked up a couple of hands and made a couple of well timed moves and soon found things swinging my way. I was happy to see Neil then begin to shove or fold every hand and patiently waited for what I felt was a good spot. I got it in with an ace and it held up.
It’s definitely a massive boost to come through a very strong field and to get the better of one of Britain’s top players heads-up from an almost even start is hugely satisfying. I’ve had some excellent results recently and this has given me huge belief to take my game forward and hopefully get back into some more big live events.
If you would like to ask Garry a question regarding his win, then please feel to check out his profile page.