Risk reaps rewards at UKIPT Edinburgh
Monday, 23 August 2010
A total of 401 players bought in for the latest leg of the PokerStars UK and Ireland Poker Tour. There were plenty of big names amongst that throng including the likes of Neil Channing, Julian Thew, Vicky Coren and Liv Boeree but none could match Nick Abou Risk.
The Dublin based Canadian Nick Abou Risk pocketed the £50,000 first prize as well as a seat in the end of season grand final worth a further £5,000. Risk got off to a great start on Day 1B and was at the top of the chip counts at the close of his opening day. “I had a good feeling on that first day and was talking through a lot of hands with Liv Boeree. Realising that she had some respect for my game gave me a lot of confidence and I started stealing a lot more blinds.”
He kept that confident form going throughout the rest of the tournament, eventually overcoming a final table that included Richard Chadwick, UKIPT Manchester winner Joeri Zandvliet and Luke Marsh. The Canadian was left heads up with Lithuanian Mantas Puidokas and after twenty minutes had sealed the win, doing so in style after taking down each one of the last nine hands. When asked how he felt about winning the title he replied “surreal” adding that he'd be using his windfall to take his wife on a luxury holiday.
The final table positions and payouts were as follows:
1. Nick Abou Risk, Canada, £50,000
2. Mantas Puidokas, Lithuania, £27,700
3. Luke Marsh, UK, £17,600
4. Joeri Zandvliet, Netherlands, £13,100
5. Richard Chadwick, UK, £10,300
6. Max Silver, UK, £8,200
7. Suzanne Pyefinch, UK, £6,300
8. Mary Martin, UK, £4,800
With just two UKIPT events remaining Marius Liutuvninkas sits at the top of the series Leader Board but the likes of Joeri Zandvliet, Mike Hill and Irishman Owen Robinson are all still in contention for the top prize that includes buy-ins and hotel packages for all of next season's UKIPT events.
The UKIPT caravan heads over the Irish Sea for its next stop in Dublin. The Burlington Hotel will be the venue for the €560 UKIPT Dublin from 9th to 12th September with a guaranteed prize pool of a whopping €250,000. Qualifiers are running now on PokerStars.com for as little as €8.80 or 250FPPs.
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Image courtesy of Mickey May Pokerstars.