Sunny Mistri Wins Grand Prix Poker Tour Stamford Bridge Main Event
The partypoker Grand Prix Poker Tour (GPPT) headed to Stamford Bridge this weekend for the second leg of its debut season, and it marked the first GPPT event held at a football stadium. Players turned out in droves to play in the £250,000 guaranteed Main Event — more than 3,200 in total — as they enjoyed a near £60,000 overlay. The lion's share of the prize pool, £35,000, ended up with Sunny Mistri, the tournament's champion.
2015 Grand Prix Poker Tour Stamford Bridge Results
| Place | player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunny Mistri | £35,000 |
| 2 | Pak Chung | £23,100 |
| 3 | Tony Vu | £15,680 |
| 4 | Tim Rowlands | £11,790 |
| 5 | Dave Mundle | £8,330 |
| 6 | Seelantha Kangaha | £6,230 |
| 7 | Vincent Sanchez | £4,830 |
| 8 | Martyna Valkunas | £3,500 |
| 9 | Hristo Genov | £2,800 |
Mistri got off to a flying start in the Stamford Bridge Main Event, finishing Day 1 with a massive stack of more than 729,000 in chips — enough for third place going into Day 2. By the time Mistri reached the final table, he had increased his stack to 13 million.
The official final table was meant to be an eight-handed affair, but a double elimination with nine players remaining changed that. A three-way all-in clash involving Chung Pak, Martyna Valkunas, and Hristo Genov saw the latter two bust to leave seven players in the hunt for the £35,000 first-place prize.
First to fall at the final table was Vincent Sanchez, who was all in from under the gun with the 9♦9♥ and looked up by Tony Vu and his superior Q♠Q♣. No help arrived for Sanchez on the K♦8♣3♦A♥7♣ board, and the table became a six-handed contest.
Those six became four after Seelantha Kangaha busted next and Vu sent Dave Mundle to the rail in fifth. Mundle's tournament life depended on his A♥8♦ improving against Vu's dominating A♦K♦, but it didn't happen.
Tim Rowlands then lost most of his stack when his AxJx lost out to Mistri's AxQx, before Mistri open-shoved from the small blind with the J♠7♠ and Rowlands called from the big blind with the A♣Q♣. A jack on the flop of the K♦J♦6♦3♦3♠ board left only three players in the Main Event.
A huge pot between the chip leaders, Mistri and Vu, sent the tournament into the heads-up stages. Vu three-bet all in over the top of a Mistri opening raise and Mistri called. Vu showed the K♦8♥ and Mistri the A♠9♣. Both players improved on the A♥2♣8♣ flop, but it was Mistri who had the upper hand. The 7♣ turn was a relative brick, as was the 4♣ river — game over for Vu.
Mistri held a lead of 47.25 million in chips to the 6.75 million of Pak Chung. Despite doubling up once, Chung couldn't mount a significant fight back and Mistri got the best of him.
The final hand saw a short stacked Chung move all in with the 8♥3♦. Mistri called with the K♥4♣ before flopping trip kings. After the river, the board read K♣K♠8♣3♣7♠ to bust Chung in second place and leave Mistri to collect the largest tournament cash of his career.
Grand Prix Poker Tour Heads to partypoker and Old Trafford
The next GPPT leg will take place online at partypoker on Dec. 20, 2015. This leg is a $109 buy-in tournament where players can reenter once as they fight it out over a $250,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Fans of poker and Manchester United should keep Jan. 16-17, 2016, free because the GPPT will head to the iconic Old Trafford Stadium on these dates. Keep an eye on the partypoker lobby for satellites, Players Choice Day 1s, and ticket tournaments for this eagerly anticipated stop on the tour, which has a £250,000 prize pool.
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