It took more than 12 hours to do it, but the final table was determined at the Dusk ‘til Dawn Casino for the World Poker Tour’s stop in Nottingham, the United Kingdom. When the six players come to that patch of felt today, Nabil Cardoso will head the pack of contenders.
61 players came back on Saturday with two arduous tasks facing them and Marc MacDonnell in the lead. First would be determining the 54 people who would take home the minimum £4500 payday for their three days of work. It would take slightly more than an hour to achieve this feat, but it came in a dramatic race when overall Day 1 chip leader Sadman Shefan knocked off Robin Fisher when Shefan’s A-Q flopped a Broadway straight against Fisher’s pocket sevens and dodged Fisher’s chances at a boat after the board paired Jacks on the turn but blanked on the river.
With everyone now guaranteed a return on their original investment, the line to the cash out cage became a long one. Niall Farrell, Javier Gomez and defending WPT Player of the Year Mike Sharioti were all knocked off in quick order, but perhaps the most painful beat was to veteran poker professional Padraig Parkinson. After Alex Zeligman opened from the hijack position, Seamus Cahill called but Patrick Leonard moved all-in over Zeligman’s bet. Parkinson wasn’t getting out of the way, however, moving all-in over the top of Leonard’s action.
Everyone cleared the way for the Leonard/Parkinson battle, but it was over quick for the Irish legend. “I caught an Ace on the flop,” Parkinson informed the WPT Updates team, “but there was also a Jack and he (Leonard) had pocket Jacks.” Although that hand didn’t take down the affable Irishman, he would be eliminated on the next hand following losing the race.
MacDonnell also would be vanquished by the “Specter of Elimination.” After seeing his trip Kings fall to Luke Haward’s flopped nut flush, MacDonnell would still have about 500K in chips to do battle. The fortune that MacDonnell had on Friday didn’t roll over into Saturday, however, as that stack gradually dwindled away as MacDonnell was eliminated before the final two tables were determined.
After a dinner break, the remaining 16 players would come back to determine the six-handed WPT final table. The final online qualifier from the partypoker rolls, Lukasz Jankowski, was upended by Cahill in a race, Jankowski’s suited A-Q against Cahill’s pocket sixes. A Jack-high board didn’t do anything for Jankowski as he earned a £14000 payday for his online entry. That resulting hand was enough for Cahill to take over the lead and cruise into the final table.
Cahill continued his hot streak through the early part of the unofficial final table, knocking off Charles Akadiri, Chen Wen Bin and Andreas Olympios in twelfth, eleventh and ninth places, respectively. The streak would come to a halt, however, in a clash with Cardoso. With Cardoso all in and holding Big Slick, Cahill was looking good with his pocket sixes until an Ace came on the flop. The situation became more bleak for Cahill when another Ace came on the turn. Looking for one of two outs, a blank Jack on the river sealed the double for Cardoso and pushed him into the lead as Cahill slipped to around two million chips.
As those two men took a deep breath after their clash, the official final table was determined. Haward and Chris Yong would see a flop and turn of 7-4-K-K and Haward pushed his chips to the center, which Yong considered for a moment before making the call. Haward showed pocket Queens for Kings up, but Yong had the goods (and you had to wonder what his pause was for before calling) with a suited K-J for trips. Needing a Queen, Haward saw an eight peel off on the river, sealing his fate in seventh place and ending the action for the night.
Seat 1: Luis Rodriguez Cruz, 1.64 million
Seat 2: Alex Lindop, 755,000
Seat 3: Seamus Cahill, 1.93 million
Seat 4: Nabil Cardoso, 4.965 million
Seat 5: Maxime Swennen, 2.345 million
Seat 6: Christopher Yong, 3.875 million
The final table is currently being streamed at WPT.com, with the champion being crowned tonight. The victor will walk away with their name on the WPT Champions’ Cup and a £200,000 payday.