Jake Cody followed up his title in the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Deauville event in January in a big way. This time, he trumped the pack of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) first ever stop in London and racked up £273,000. His EPT Main Event victory was worth a colossal €847,000.
WPT commentator Mike Sexton, who flanked Jessie May in the broadcast booth for WPT London after Vince Van Patten did not make the trip, commented in a press release distributed by tournament officials, “Jake Cody is an outstanding young player and, mark my words, when you see this action on television, this final table is something very special. I rate it as among the best poker I have seen in nine years commentating for the WPT. This is going to be a real treat when it airs; I can hardly wait.”
Cody’s rail featured Devilfish Poker front man David “Devilfish” Ulliott. On his second major live tournament title, Cody told PartyPoker staff, “This is crazy – I am so happy to win my first WPT title. It’s been an amazing year for me so far and to win a major tournament on U.K. soil is very special. I was totally aware there was huge pressure on Kristoffer because of the extra $1 million bonus. I thought he did well and actually believe he was the best player at the table.”
The “bonus” Cody referred to was a potential $1 million bankroll boost triggered if Swedish PartyPoker qualifier Kristoffer Thorsson took down the title. He would have made an extra $500,000 for himself and $500,000 to share among the qualifiers from the popular online poker site. However, Thorsson ultimately took fourth place, falling just short of what would have been a very memorable WPT title.
On the final hand of the WPT London Main Event, Nichlas Mattsson raised pre-flop with A-Q of diamonds and ultimately ended up getting his chips into the center. Cody made the call after being dealt pocket queens and the board ran out five cards nine or lower. Mattsson collected £177,000 for his runner-up performance.
Bruce Atkinson was the tournament’s third place finisher. In his final hand, Atkinson moved all-in before the flop with K-9 of diamonds. Cody woke up with A-10, but watched in agony as Atkinson flopped a flush draw. The turn gave Atkinson even more outs to a gutshot, but no help was on the way on the river and Atkinson departed £93,000 richer.
Thorsson’s dreams of a $1 million bonus were dashed when he shoved from the small blind with A-7 of clubs. Cody called from the big blind with K-9 offsuit and promptly spiked a king on the turn. While it wasn’t an extra $500,000 for his bank account, Cody, a 21 year-old, walked away with £56,000.
Here’s how the final nine players cashed out in the Main Event of WPT London:
1. Jake Cody – £273,783
2. Nichlas Mattsson – £176,979
3. Bruce Atkinson – £93,316
4. Kristoffer Thorsson – £56,311
5. Giovanni Safina – £42,233
6. Sandiep Khosa – £34,189
7. Fabian Quoss – £26,144
8. Gareth Teatum – £18,100
9. Priyan de Mel – £12,871
Also taking place in London was the WPT’s High Roller event, which saw Full Tilt Poker pro Justin “Boosted J” Smith walk away with the title. Smith pulled down £141,000 after trumping PartyPoker pro Tony G heads-up; the Aussie headed to the cage to collect £84,000. The tournament sported a healthy buy-in of £15,000 and featured 14 entrants. The only other player to make the money was Freddy Deeb, who took home £56,000 for third place.
