| Plumber wins 888.com World Poker Crown |
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The inaugural final table of the 888.com World Poker Crown has been staged at the Peralada Castle in Barcelona. It just shows how the professional poker circuit has grown, as another major poker tournament attracted many skilled poker players worldwide. It was 888.com’s biggest poker tournament. Canadian plumber Jack Hinchley - who has been playing poker for over thirty years - kept his cool to take the first ever 888.com World Poker Crown. The World Poker Crown has a unique format that combines online action with offline play. A total of 2,200 players entered to compete online. The field was whittled down to the last eight who qualified for the final table. They then travelled to Barcelona to compete in the televised offline action. The players that made it to Barcelona hailed from Europe and Canada, their chip counts ahead of the final were: Jack Hinchley (349,000), Bjorn Van Bavel (41,000), Mark Castonguay (52,000), Piotr Stanislaw (102,000), Bart Wetsteijn (139,000), Michael Lawson (207,000), Bert van Doesburg (38,000), Mark Roessler (58,000). As you can see, Jack Hinchley had an impressive lead from his online exploits and he was able to continue his form offline in front of the cameras. He dominated the final table, eliminating five of the six players on his way to the heads-up The final heads-up was an all-Canadian affair between Hinchley and 21 year-old Mark Lawson, who has been coached by World Series of Poker winner, Annette Obrestad. Hinchley had a 3:1 chip lead over Lawson at the beginning of their encounter. It seemed a mountainous task for Lawson, however, he kept in the game and managed to reduce Hinchley’s chip lead. Unfortunately for Lawson he played second fiddle to Hinchley throughout the heads-up action. In the final hand, Lawson held a pair of tens in the hole and Hinchley had an offsuit KQ. The flop was K-J-6 all hearts and Lawson went all in with his pair which contained a ten-high flush draw. Hinchley called with top pair and hit another king on the river after a blank turn to secure his victory. As well as the prestige of the title and the trophy, Hinchley received $ 1 million which is the equivalent of £513,094. Afterwards he said, “This is a lot better than being in a sewage pit! My strategy was to keep the pressure on everybody, I flubbed a few times in the middle but it worked out in the end. They call Michael an Internet pro but I think he’s proved to everybody here that he’s a poker professional, so thank you. Victoria, my granddaughter is off to uni, she might not like the idea yet but this money is going towards that!” Here is a list of the final table positions and the players’ respective payouts: Jack Hinchley $1 million (£513,094) Source:http://www.onlinecasinopress.co.uk/ |
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