Noel and Huddy looked stunned at that decision, and Noel says he is going for a lie down before we continue. He says we haven't had this position for quite a while and Mark is either very astute or incredibly dumb!

Noel calls a break..

OMG

OUCH

We're back

Noel knew we would be back and says it is amazing how Mark has come with a very analytical approach to the game, but Noel thinks the Banker has played an equally good game with Mark.

Round 4 - Proveout round

18 - 50p Shahid

It would have been almost the perfect start says Noel

10 - £1 Caine

Look at that says Noel!

15 - £75,000 Andy

Banker time

Think this will one be a stick...maybe...

not good enough

That won't be enough says Noel. The Banker says he salutes Mark's decision

Banker's offer would've been:

£24,000

Round 5 - Proveout round

1 - £5 Stacie

That would have been a lovely one says Noel

20 - £50 Chris

8 - £15,000 Sonia

Banker time

Yep, he did go too soon!

I hate it when they bottle it so early!

silly billy mark

You have £10,000 and the players dream at 5-box says Noel. The Banker says that this really is a disaster for Mark. Noel says Mark won't like this.

Banker's offer would've been:

£46,000

Round 6 - Proveout round

22 - £250,000 Andrew

17 - £100,000 Roopa

6 - 10p Barbara


Banker time with £750 and £10,000 remaining

phewww, still tooo early tho butt !!

Noel opens box 2 and reveals £750

Box 21 with Brad contains the £10,000

Mark says he never wanted to lose sight of what the £18,000 could do for him and that money will really do a lot for him.

Well at least it wasn't a perfect dream scenario at the end

But he should've shaken off Michael's game and gone on a lot further

Right. Self-proclaimed ambitious player with a lucky charm. Let's see if he really does throw caution to the wind.

Decent start, you should expect to hit one Power 5 in the round and he's hit the second-lowest with two oranges and two high blues. O-HO, Noel gets his facts wrong! (Again.) And it's a daytime Channel 4 appearance for Robbie Williams! Shouldn't you be plugging your Sport Relief charity single? It's not a bad song and all... anyway, offer is not inconsistent with recent trends, perhaps a little on the low side of them.

Ooh, nasty gap. But while those three are important, the three below them are moreso. Does it really matter that the blues he's hit are high? Not much, I say! And sure enough, the one tiddler he hits in the next round is the penny, and I'm more than happy to accept six low-skewing blues at halfway when the five reds are the top three and two other five-figure amounts. Certainly, I'd rather have this board than the reverse by a long way, which means this is a very good board.

Crumbs, eighteen grand is worthy of consideration though - if only because it's hard to see the offer going much above twenty unless you keep all three to eight-box, which you're unlikely to do. As such, if you're not willing to take a slow-motion trainwreck you should be gone here - I'd play on myself, but dealing here is a courageous decision, especially as the less-than-aggressive Huddy advocated playing on to the ADP. Given the uncertainty he faced, with the likely implications for the eight-box offer, it was absolutely the right call for him no matter what this proveout throws up.

OK, one of the three went, offer went up a little further past twenty than I'd have expected - not an unrealistic offer, but more than I might have expected, and one I would have taken. Ditto the five-box, although this one really did have to go a long way up; just as Noel builds up a head of steam, £250k, £100k, bam. Better too soon than too late, as I'm sure was Mark's thinking at the time.

Yay we finally get another 3rd offer dealer! Not that I'd have dealt there myself, but it was starting to get a bit boring with everyone going onto 8-box regardless; the last 11-box deal was Ronnie back in November 2009! Yeah, he could've had more, but if someone came up to me and offered me 18k, I'd snap their hand off! Also, Noel once again proves his rubbish memory by saying the 100k hasn't been there for months and months; Linda's game, anyone?

Andy's also becoming something of a terminator. In five games, he'd had 50k and 75k twice each!

Clear to see yesterday's game pushing Mark more towards a deal...even though £18,000 was good on that board. Even £24,000 was great with only the top two left in terms of mega money...

Don't blame him one bit actually, £18k was quite a few thousand more then I expected on that board, and good on him for thinking he didn't have to just go to 8-box for the sake of it!

Noel always pontificates about third-round deals are hardly ever the right decision, but also they hardly ever fail to make a profit on the box! (i.e. they lose out through high proveout offers rather than there being life-changing money on the table). I just wish he'd picked Andrew a few boxes earlier.