Raul Mestre takes down The Table

Poker added another tournament to its already packed schedule this weekend when The Table, a shinny new World Championship from the International Federation of Poker  (IFP), welcomed 135 of the game’s best players to London for a $250k freeroll.

With big names like Gus Hansen, Sam Trickett, Jake Cody and new WSOP champ Pius Heinz taking their seats, The Table’s inaugural event wasn’t short of star power. And the UK’s very own Vicky Coren almost trumped them all when she went into heads-up with Mestre trailing by a few big blinds.

But in a pivotal hand, Coren’s A-J couldn’t outdraw Mestre’s pocket fives, leaving the popular broadcaster and writer with slightly less than 180K in chips against Mestre’s 1.17 million.

Despite a small comeback, Coren eventually conceded victory when her A-3 was dominated by Mestre’s A-5 on the final hand, the Spaniard wrapping things up with an unnecessary five on the flop.

The two-day event held at London’s prestigious County Hall capped off a busy week for the IFP, which also hosted the first ever Duplicate Poker tournament prior to The Table on the London Eye. Germany won the Duplicate tournament, but it was Spain’s Mestre who prevailed when the money was really on the line.

For more on The Table and Duplicate Poker, check out our feature in January’s issue of PokerPlayer.

Here’s how The Table finished up:

1. Raul Mestre (Spain), $250,000
2. Victoria Coren (United Kingdom), $100,000
3. Igor Trafane (Brazil), $50,000
4. Slavko Tomic (Serbia), $25,000
5. Marsha Waggoner (Australia), $20,000
6. Sandra Naujoks (Germany), $17,500
7. Takuo Serita (Japan), $15,000
8. Tim Reese (Germany), $12,500
9. Kinichi Nakata (Japan), $10,000