State of Origin 888pl Grand Final Weekend Day 1.

[Brett Kay]

Rough Draft haven't had a chance to edit it.

The Friday Night Frenzy Rebuy – This last chance Qualifer saw 165 Players take to the felt and after the rebuy period 15 seats into the grand final were awarded.

Dream Team Presentation – The presentation of the Dream Team saw some of Semi Final winners be inducted into the Dream Team, as well as the top 5 from our $20 000 Dream Team Leaderboard Inductees. Congratulations to Patrick Dillon (Vic Foundation Semi Final Winner), Duncan Robertson (Tas Foundation Semi Final Winner), Mark Kroehn (SA Foundation Semi Final Winner, and from the Dream Team Leaderboard Overall Winner for Seasons 2 2009 Jo McDonald and placegetters Chris Trudgeon, Carmine De Scioso, S.M Chu, and Samantha Dodd. Brad Jew and Nathan Lewis also received the coveted membership.


State of Origin
The players welcome party Kicked off in style. Players were greeted to a sight, a boxing ring had been set up inside the West Adelaide Football Club, and in that boxing ring 8 players were going to square off against Jeff Fenech and see which State would lay claim to hosting the first Grand Final in 2011. After qualifying by winning an event in the first 4 weeks of the season, the players squared off in an online final on 888.com.

For the “Big V”, Victoria and Tasmania, the 4 players that survived the gruelling final were Lee Doggett, Michael Morton, Tane Quarrell and Lynnette Mathews. The Pride of South Australia was represented by Gary Bailey, Daniel Shannon, Aldo Raponi, and Haylee Allen. For these 8 players an extra obstacle was put in the way. Australian Boxing Legend, Jeff Fenech also took to the felt. With points being awarded for the finishing positions, and the right to host the 888pl Grand Final, There was a lot on the line in this State of Origin Bout.

Round 1 had a lot of sparring, with Victoria putting in the first few punches, Aldo was roughed up a bit by Lynnette. Jeff trying to keep the fight on an evil keel, Jumped in for SA and helped take down a few extra pots to keep the Vics off balance. Round 2 saw our first Knockout, Gary Bailey was taken out by Jeff Fenech in a knockout blow with Jeff’s Kings being too good for Garys Queens.

Round 3 saw a slower paced round with a lot of jab and counters being thrown trying to find an opening in which they could land a knockout blow. Haylee started to get the better of some of the Vics and took the aggression into Round 4, Jeff Fenech felt that the Vics were starting to wilt under Haylees constant barrage, he took a stand but even he couldn’t cope with his AJ not being good against Haylees Queens. Fatigue sets in for Jeff and he loses another battle against the SA with Daniel Shannon getting involved and taking some chips away from Jeff with Daniels AJ being good enough to hold against Jeffs A7

Round 5 saw a few of the SA players get their wind back and pressed their advantage against Victoria. Aldo took down a few big pots and in a multiway pot we saw a huge knockout. Jeff Fenech went all in Under the Gun for his last 600 in chips, he was called by Lee Doggett, Aldo Raponi, Michael Morton and Haylee Lewis. On the flop of Jc Jh 5d, Aldo pushes all in and the other players all folded. Jeff reveals Ks3d vs Aldos Qh 5h. The board bricked out for Jeff and Aldo eliminates Jeff and also takes home $1000 for knocking out the Boxing Champion.

Round 6 saw a few more players get Knocked Out. Tane Quarrell had a rush of blood and started picking his spots against all comers. Michael Morton his own teammate fell under the barrage of bets and raises, Daniel Shannon also fell to Tanes aggressive tactics. Lynette Matthews also fell to Tanes with her 8’s not being good enough to Tanes’ AJ. The Score at the end of the round stood at Vic 9 SA 6 with two players from each team still remaining in the tournament. The title was still up for grabs and the fight was too close to call.

Round 7 saw Haylee throw her first Haymaker and it connected solidly against Tane, her pair of 6’s setting up on the river after being behind to the A3 of Tane. Aldo threw a solid punch with his Q’s but was countered by Tanes 59 straighting up on the turn to eliminate Aldo in Fourth, the score was now 13 – 9 With Vic controlling the fight.

Round 8 saw the ladies throw a flurry of punches against each other. Lee though her stunning hook was enough to take down Haylee however the counter punch put Lee down with Haylees Q9 managing to beat Lees A8. Going into Heads Up the score was 18 – 13, Vic had clinched on points and now they were battling it out for pride and the mantle of State of Origin Champion.

The first hand of heads up took Hayley to the canvas, she landed the first punch with KQ against Tanes K 10. However the flop stunned Hayley bringing two pair to Tane and top pair for Haylee. The turn and river bricked out. Haylee was struggling to get back up. Round 9 commenced and their was that look of determination in her eyes. She doubled up with A10 against Tanes J6. A few more punches were landed by Haylee and the home crowd was starting to cheer louder for their representative.

Round 9 saw the final knockout of the night. The cards were revealed AQ vs J8, the board was no help to either player. Tane Quarrell was the champ. Victoria and Tasmania had prevailed against the dominant South Australians. The final score for the night was 33 to 24. Victoria will be hosting the first 888pl Grand final of 2011. Tane Quarell also walks away $2000 richer for winning the State of Origin Sit N Go.