Deep Pockets: David Shallow Wins 2016 Unibet Open London Main Event
After approximately six hours of play on the final table, the United Kingdom's David Shallow emerged as the winner of the Unibet Open London Main Event for £62,000 and the coveted trophy. Shallow now exceeds the half-million mark in career live tournament earnings after the victory.
The Main Event victory marks the third-biggest win for Shallow in his poker career, as he previous won the World Poker Tour Dublin Main Event for €222,280 in January 2012 and shipped the UKIPT Nottingham High Roller in May 2014 for £68,000.
There were 418 entries in the event.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Shallow | UK | £62,000 |
| 2 | Bhavin Khatri | UK | £42,500 |
| 3 | Nicolas Cardyn | France | £28,190 |
| 4 | Julien Rouxel | France | £21,005 |
| 5 | Mate Mecs | Hungary | £15,770 |
| 6 | Benjamin Lebor | UK | £12,670 |
| 7 | Akos Gergely | Hungary | £10,540 |
| 8 | Nicolas Ludwicki | France | £8,400 |
| 9 | Jin Hui | China | £6,300 |
The day began with eight of the nine players in their seats, and Shallow joined a few hands late. Not too far into the day, the man holding the shortest stack starting today's action, China's Jin Hui, was eliminated in ninth place for £6,300. Hui's top pair on the turn with the J♣10♦ proved no match for Bhavin Khatri's flopped set of eights.
Play continued for over two hours before the next player was eliminated. France's Nicolas Ludwicki hit the rail after falling short on chips a few hands earlier. Then, Shallow went from being a short stack to no longer "shallow" in chips when his preflop all-in shove for 850,000 with the A♥10♥ — at blinds of 25,000/50,000 and an ante of 5,000 — flushed the board against Khatri's J♣J♦.
Shortly after, Hungary's Akos Gergely (7th - £10,540), France's Benjamin Lebor (6th - £12,670), and Hungary's Mate Mecs (5th - £15,770) exited the tournament in very quick succession.
France's Julien Rouxel, who began the day as chip leader, was the next player eliminated in fourth place for £21,005 at the hands of fellow countryman Nicolas Cardyn. While it was Cardyn who finished him off, Rouxel was already short after losing a big hand against Khatri, in which Khatri flopped a set with the 5♥5♠ on a J♣5♣2♠ board. Rouxel had the A♣6♣ and took the lead with the nut flush on the 3♣ turn. But, the final blow was delivered to Rouxel when the 3♠ paired the board on the river to give Khatri a full house.
Not too long after that, the tournament was heads up after Cardyn lost a key hand. He went all in preflop with the A♥K♦ and lost to Shallow's A♣8♣ after the 8♦ appeared on the flop. Cardyn collected £28,190 for his third-place finish.
Khatri began heads-up play with 7.155 million in chips and a small lead against Shallow's 5.485 million. Khatri's advantage became slightly greater during the beginning of heads-up play thanks to taking down a few small pots in a row, but eventually Shallow turned the tables with a couple of big pots.
During the final hand, Khatri raised the action to 240,000 with the A♠3♠. Shallow three-bet to 665,000 with the K♥Q♠, and Khatri called. Shallow then led out for a bet of 740,000 with two pair on a flop of A♥K♦Q♥. Khatri then went all in for 3.3 million holding just top pair, and Shallow promptly called. The 4♦ on the turn and the 10♥ on the river didn't improve Khatri's hand, eliminating him in second place for £42,500.
Khatri shared with PokerNews that he qualified into the Unibet Open London Main Event for around £100.
Malta Up Next, Then Copenhagen
If you missed out on the Unibet Open London festival, don't worry, because the tour has more stops coming up soon, starting with Unibet Open Malta. This event will feature a €1,100 buy-in and take place May 26-29 at the brand new Olympic Casino.
Click here to learn more about Unibet Open Malta.
Then, scheduled to take place August 25-28 will be the Unibet Open Copenhagen. The event is in the early stages of planning with more information soon to be released, but we can tell you that it will be hosted at the Radisson Hotel in Denmark's capital city, Copenhagen.
Check back with this page often for when more details for Unibet Open Copenhagen become available.
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