Pub poker specialists the Masters Poker League, Grand Final a big success
The Masters Poker League held their first grand final on the 14 June, which consisted of three seasons and three quarterly finals. All the top qualifying league players from around the country were invited to take part in this event, which was hosted at the Castle Gate Casino in Dudley.
Registration began at 11:30am; it wasn’t long before all the players had arrived, hoping for a good day, and the opportunity to walk away with the Grand Prize of a trip to Las Vegas worth around £6000.
The seventy hopefuls were asked to take their seats. Play began slowly, however, after about 45 minutes the first casualty fell, and the whole room breathed a sigh of relief. Play then began to gain pace, more risks were being taken, and more players began to fall. About mid way through, chip stacks were relatively even, as more players departed from the tournament. After about a further three hours of intense play the final table emerged.
The final table consisted of, in knock out order, Joe Foley from Perfection Snooker Club (known well for his ability to reach final tables), Mark Mellor from The Crown & Anchor (Reached the final table at the last Quarter Final), Deepak Rai from Hot Shots Snooker Club, Matt Jones from The Windmill, Andrew Gwynne from The Fosters Arms (Previous Quarter Final winner), Adam Handley and Phill Pearsall, both from The Crosswells Inn and the eventual winner Oliver Jones from The Perry Hill Tavern.
The tournament eventually came down to Phill and Ollie on the heads-up. With so much cash at stake the atmosphere was growing tense. Phill turned down Ollie’s offer of 1/4 the cash prize in favour of a chance for the £6000 package to Las Vegas…
“The game lasted 2 hands after I rejected the offer, first hand I had T7 in SB that I went all in with and Ollie folds. Next hand Ollie raised twice the blind to 90,000, I looked at my hand K6, I had to gamble sometime to get the double up and this hand would have had an extra 60,000 than the next one. I went for it, Ollie turned his cards saying I was in front but I was in very bad shape being dominated by his KT. The tournament was over I had finished 2nd and I believed I had won nothing but was awarded with a nice 26” LCD TV for being the best loser, which was a nice surprise.” – Phill Pearsall (Runner-up)
Congragulations to Oliver Jones on becoming the 1st “Masters UK Pub Poker Champion”! Later on the next day Ollie turned down the WSOP Package in favour of the £5000 cash.
On the same day the MPL also held an “Open” tournament for the public to get a taste of things to come in the future. The tournament attracted over 40 players and was won by Nigel Kilby, an MPL player from Sandy Lane in Mansfield. The MPL have plans to expand the “Masters Poker Open” to a larger audience with bigger prizes next year…
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