Foxwell wins student crown after dominating final table performance
A huge congratulations to Ben Foxwell on becoming this year’s UK Student Poker Championships champion! Foxwell saw off a field of 469 to take down the £30 buy-in Main Event and was rewarded with £3,450, an impressive trophy, plus a GUKPT Grand Final seat worth £2,000 for his efforts.
Taking place at the Rioch Arena in Coventry, the event attracted the biggest field in its nine-year history and over the two days some of the best poker too. Despite the modest entrance fee, the huge field meant a total prize pool of £14,070 was raised, with the 50 top players splitting the money. The organisers even through in a £100 bar tab for each of the day one chip leaders.
Following two long and mentally draining first day, 98 players returned for the combined second and final day and it wasn’t until almost midnight that this year’s final nine was eventually decided.
Foxwell began the final table in a commanding position with the second largest stack and was one of only two players with over 1 million in chips; the other was Matt Takaro.
Despite all nine players doing their best to stay awake, it was clear the long day had taken its toll on most of them and as a result it ended up being one of the quickest and most one-sided final tables in the tournaments history. Tumbling in quick succession, one after the other, it took Foxwell just under 90 minutes to single-handedly destroy the competition, personally eliminating all seven players leaving only Lucas Durney left standing in his way. The seven scalps meant that Foxwell began the heads-up battle with a 9-to-1 chip advantage and almost guaranteed success.
Like the rest of his opponents, Foxwell showed no mercy towards Durney and combined with some well-timed luck, nothing was going to stop him claiming that trophy. Only a few hands in Durney made his move with Kd-3s and was quickly called by Foxwell with Jc-Th. If Durney’s stronger hand could have held up who knows what might have happened, but a ten on the river sealed his fate and with it Foxwell was declared UK Student Poker Champion 2013.
Here’s how the final table finished up:
1. Ben Foxwell – £3,540
2. Lucas Durney – £2,100
3. Matt Takaro – £1,405
4. Han Zhang – £1,055
5. Sunny Kalcutt – £915
6. Simon Priddis – £775
7. Matt Butcher – £630
8. Arthur Villa – £425
9. Andy Sumeou – £245
