Alan Picken Takes Down GPPT Cardiff for $40,000
The Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff was this weekend's venue for the latest stop on the Grand Prix Poker Tour (GPPT) and it was Alan Picken who was the last man standing, a result that saw him turn $109 into $40,000.
Grand Prix Poker Tour Cardiff Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alan Picken | $40,000 |
| 2 | Daniel Hamblin | $24,000 |
| 3 | Adrian Ko | $16,000 |
| 4 | Josh Veasey | $12,000 |
| 5 | Christopher Alexander | $9,000 |
| 6 | David Morgan | $6,500 |
| 7 | Neil Wyatt | $5,000 |
| 8 | John Hird | $4,000 |
A total of 215 players progressed from the dozens of online and live Day 1s, each of them returning to their seats knowing they had notched up a cash for their efforts. Some familiar faces from the British poker circuit, including Dan Owston, Iwan Jones, Dewi James, Andrew Hulme, Leigh Wiltshire, Paul Jackson and Roberto Romanello, fell by the wayside during the Day 2 action.
When the tournament was down to only 10 players, and therefore on the final table bubble, Carl Collins and Soheil Khorram bust in separate hand, but at the same time, to bust in joint tenth place meant the final table was an eight-handed affair.
John Hird was the first to be eliminated from the final table, pushing his final two big blinds into the middle with king-eight of diamonds and being called by David Morgan and his pair of sevens. Hird spiked an eight on the flop and a king on the river, but the board contained four spades and one of Morgan’s sevens was spades, his flush sending Hird to the rail.
Next to fall was Neil Wyatt at the hands of Adrian Ko before Morgan, Christopher Alexander and Josh Veasey all lost their chips to leave only three players in the hunt for the $40,000 first place prize.
At this point, all eyes were on Ko because he held a Golden Chip from the online qualifiers, which meant if he won the GPPT Cardiff Main Event, he would win an additional $50,000. That extra money remained unclaimed; however, because Ko lost the majority of his stack when his ace-three lost to the pocket fours of Daniel Hamblin and he never managed to recover.
The final hand of the tournament saw Hamblin make a move with ace-ten on a five-five-seven rainbow flop. It proved to be ill-timed because Picken sat holding six-five of spades and had one of the easiest calls of his career. Call he did, and when the dealer placed the turn and river onto the table, it was game over for Hamblin and Picken was announced the latest GPPT champion.
Next up for the GPPT is a trip to Killarey in Ireland Sept. 14 before the tour goes full circle and returns to the Dusk Till Dawn casino in Nottingham on Oct. 10. You can qualify for both of those legs online at partypoker where new depositing players are entitled to a 100% up to $500 bonus if you download partypoker via PokerNews and use the bonus code "PNCOM" when making your first deposit.
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