The first-ever British Poker Open ended this week at Aspers Casino in London this week. The whirlwind schedule of 10 high-stakes poker tournaments played out in less than two weeks.
Poker Central, originators of the US Poker Open that takes place in Las Vegas, introduced the British Poker Open this month. In partnership with PartyPoker LIVE, the series offered buy-ins of £10K to £100K – all with reentries available – for high rollers.
Action started on September 2, and the first five events produced these results:
--Event 1: £10K NLHE winner Luc Greenwood (£119,600) out of 26 entries--Event 2: £10K PLO winner George Wolff (£120,000) out of 30 entries--Event 3: £10K NLHE winner Paul Newey (£156,400) out of 46 entries--Event 4: £10K Short Deck Hold’em winner Sam Greenwood (£110,400) out of 24 entries--Event 5: £25K NLHE winner Sam Soverel (£322,000) out of 28 entries
The tournaments continued with even bigger buy-ins for the remainder of the series. And this is how they played out over the past week:
Event 6: £25K NLHE
The second tournament at this buy-in level drew the fewest number of entries thus far with only 22 but that still created a prize pool of £550K. The top four players were to be paid.
Only five players made it to Day 2. Though Ali Imsirovic was second in chips to start, he was the bubble player after more than three hours of play. He departed in fifth place.
The remaining four didn’t take long to finish the tournament, though. Sergi Reixach quickly eliminated the first two players and won the tournament in short order.
1st place: Sergi Reixach (£253,000)2nd place: Timothy Adams (£154,000)3rd place: Elio Fox (£88,000)4th place: Michael Zhang (£55,000)
The high-stakes Omaha event brought in only 15 total entries, putting the prize pool at £375K and paying only three players with that money.
Four players went into Day 2, and Ben Tollerene was the first to go on the money bubble. Soverel was the original chip leader but departed in third, and after a long heads-up battle, Stephen Chidwick emerged victorious.
1st place: Stephen Chidwick (£202,500)2nd place: George Wolff (£112,500)3rd place: Sam Soverel (£60,000)
Event 8: £25K NLHE
There were only 13 entries into this tournament, the prize pool was set at £325K. Only the top two finishers would be paid.
It all played out in one day with so few players. Ben Tollerene bubbled the event. And when it was said and done, the man who had already been atop the leaderboard for the series thus far took first place for the second time in less than a week.
1st place: Sam Soverel (£227,500)2nd place: Steve O’Dwyer (£97,500)
Event 9: £50K NLHE
With 18 total entries, this event created a £900K prize pool for the guys. Three would be paid.
The tournament played out in a single day with everything changing late in the action. Sam Greenwood bubbled, and David Peters was the chip leader with three left. But he lost all of his chips in just two hands, and Mikita Badziakouski dominated until the end.
1st place: Mikita Badziakouski (£486,000)2nd place: Christoph Vogelsang (£270,000)3rd place: David Peters (£144,000)
Event 10: £100K NLHE
The final event of the series brought in 12 entries. The resulting prize pool was £1.2 million.
With only two players being paid, Mikita Badziakouski did the honors of exiting in third place, and Ben Tollerene remained to battle Cary Katz – founder of Poker Central – for the win.
1st place: Ben Tollerene (£840,000)2nd place: Cary Katz (£360,000)
One player had the overall points in the series locked up days before the British Poker Open ended.
Sam Soverel was at the top of the points leaderboard halfway through the series by a serious margin. His 480 points was followed by Sam Greenwood with 260 points.
The next five events shook things up a bit but not for Soverel, who never gave up the lead. He finished with 780 points without much worry that other players would catch him. For the victory, he won a trophy and honors.
“It was a great series for me,” Soverel said to the Poker Central reporter. “I’m not really a trophy guy, but because everyone else wanted it so much, and I got to keep it, it was pretty sweet winning it!”
In all, Soverel claimed two victories in the series, two runner-up finishes, and a third place. His winnings for the series totaled $966,462.
The final points standings were as follows:
1st place: Sam Soverel (780 points)2nd place: Stephen Chidwick (420 points)3rd place: Cary Katz (365 points)4th place: Ben Tollerene (350 points)5th place: George Wolff (340 points)
[caption id="attachment_19236" align="aligncenter" width="491"]Sam Soverel - British Poker Open Champion (photo courtesy of Poker Central)[/caption]
