Spaniard Luis Rodriguez Cruz has become the latest player to join the elite WPT Champions Club. Last night, he bested a field of 522 entries to win the partypoker WPT UK £2,200 Main Event for a first-place prize of £200,000 and to have his name engraved on the Champions Cup, which contains the name of every single Main Tour Champion over the tour’s fifteen-year history.
The event’s official six-handed final table was played on Sunday, kicking off with Nabil Cardoso as the chip leader and Cruz being among the shortest stacks. The six remaining survivors did not waste time at all. The first elimination occurred only six hands after cards had been thrown in the air. It then took 39 more hands for the names of the two heads-up opponents to become clear. Cruz had to face Christopher Yong in a final two-handed battle.
The match commenced with Yong holding a 2 to 1 chip advantage over his last remaining opponent. Although the player seemed to be determined to maintain his lead and to eventually capture the title, it did not take long before Cruz recovered from his somewhat uncomfortable position and started attacking his opponent with excellent plays. Yong, on the other hand, changed his stance from a player who had been in control to one who was struggling to survive through his opponent’s blows.
The two-handed duel lasted for 41 hands, all of which played in a manner that showed both players’ skills and expertize. Hand #86 was the one to conclude the tournament. Cruz had crippled his opponent on the previous hand to just 540,000, good for no more than four big blinds. Yong moved his remaining chips in pre-flop with [Ad][6h] to see Cruz calling with [Kd][2c]. The board ran out [Qh][7d][4s][5s][2h], giving Cruz a bottom pair that was more than enough to secure him with the tournament title. Yong left in 2nd place for a consolation prize of £135,000.
Start-of-the-day chip leader Nabil Cardoso finished 3rd for £90,000. Maxime Swennen took 4th place, good for £67,080. Seamus Cahill collected £50,000 for his fifth-place finish in the tournament. Alex Lindop took 6th place, good for £40,000 in prize money.
The partypoker WPT UK £2,200 Main Event took place at Dusk Till Dawn Poker & Casino Nottingham from November 2-6. The tournament attracted a field of 522, who generated an overall prize pool of £1,044,000, slightly overpassing the initially announced guaranteed prize pool of £1 million.
