Former WPT Dublin Main Event champion David Shallow won last night the Unibet Open London Main Event, collecting the tournament trophy and the amount of £62,000. This has been the player’s third major victory since the beginning of his poker career. In 2012, he topped the field of the WPT Dublin Main Event for a payout of €222,280. In 2014, he won the UKIPT Nottingham High Roller, good for £68,000.
This year’s edition of the Unibet Open London attracted as many as 418 entries. The top 55 finishers received a share of the prize pool, with min-cash worth £825. The event was a four-day one and featured two starting flights and two more days of play.
Day 4 saw nine finalists return to play the final table and determine the eventual winner. Nine-handed action began with Frenchman Julien Rouxel as the chip leader, holding a total of 2,785,000, or 116 big blinds. UK’s David Shallow was third in chips at the start of the day with 2,384,000, good for 99 big blinds.
It took about six hours of play before the name of the winner was announced. Soon after cards were thrown in the air, Chinese player Jin Hui, who was the short stack at that time, was eliminated in 9th place for a payout of £6,300.
Action then slowed down a bit and the next elimination came two hours later. Nicolas Ludwicki from France was the next to go. The player took home the amount of £8,400 for his 8th place. Three more players hit the rail in quick succession. Hungarian Akos Gergerly left the event in 7th place, good for £10,540. Benjamin Lebor from the UK was the next to go. His portion of the prize pool amounted to £12,670. A few hands later, Mate Mecs, the other Hungarian on the final table, was eliminated in 5th place for £15,770.
It did not take long before yet another player hit the rail. Julien Rouxel, who as mentioned above started the day as the chip leader, was busted in 4th place to scoop the amount of £21,005. Shortly after, France’s Nicolas Cardyn was eliminated in 3rd place. The player received the amount of £28,190.
Thus, Shallow had to face Bhavin Khatri heads-up. Two-handed play started with the latter holding the chip lead. Khatri had 7,155,000 against Shallow’s 5,485,000. The duel did not last long as Shallow quickly got hold of the chip lead and finished his opponent within the span of several hands.
On what turned out to be the final hand in play, Khatri raised to 240,000 pre-flop only to see Shallow three-bet to 665,000. The flop came [Ah][Kd][Qh]. Khatri moved all in and Shallow called quickly. Khatri tabled [As][3s] and his opponent showed [Kh][Qd] for two pair. The [4d] ran on the turn and the [10h] appeared on the river, but were both of no help to Khatri. The player eventually received £42,500 for his runner-up finish in the tournament.
