Gary Miller Wins 888poker WPT500 London
WPT500 awarded its latest six-figure prize for an affordable buy-in Monday in London.
Gary Miller emerged atop a field of 1,810 entries to claim $159,600 in prize money in the long event, one of only a handful the WPT holds every year. It's by far Miller's biggest cash and about double all of his previous live winnings combined.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Home Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Miller | UK | $159,600 |
| 2 | Getnet Hailu | UK | $111,762 |
| 3 | Dwayne Bradley | UK | $72,058 |
| 4 | Charles Akadiri | UK | $53,305 |
| 5 | Sang Leung | UK | $40,600 |
| 6 | Richard Hoadley | UK | $32,249 |
| 7 | Kevin O'Donnell | USA | $26,705 |
| 8 | Adrian Petrus | Netherlands | $21,245 |
| 9 | Sunil Mistri | UK | $15,946 |
With a unique format that included a slew of starting days both live and online — the WPT partnered with 888poker to run online Day 1s — the massive field was cut down to 91 in-the-money players who gathered for Day 2 at Aspers Casino. Of those, the final nine would see Day 3, with the likes of 888poker ambassadors Martin Jacobson and Sofia Lovgren among those who cashed but didn't make the final table.
Final Table Action
After taking a strong stack into the live-only portion of the event, Miller had a big Day 2 and toted the chip lead with over 5.8 million at 60,000/120,000/20,000 going into Day 3, according to the live updates.
Adrian Petrus came in with the second-biggest stack, but after shorty Sunil Mistri went bust, Petrus got himself in an awful spot when he got in a raising war with Dwayne Bradley on 10♠J♣9♣. Petrus wasn't letting go of A♣J♠ but Bradley had top set and doubled through with ease to leave Petrus short. Petrus dwindled to five big blinds and got them in with ace-three but busted against Sang Leung's sevens.
Kevin O'Donnell, with his nearly $2 million in cashes, was the most experienced player at the final table. However, he'd go down in seventh when he got coolered picking up ace-king against fellow short stack Charles Akadiri's kings. O'Donnell ran it back up briefly but ace-king would be his undoing on the other end as his queens failed to hold against Leung.
Left under one big blind, O'Donnell busted the next hand.
With six players left and the tournament moving to 150,000/300,000/50,000, everyone was under 20 big blinds so it was anyone's game.
Richard Hoadley tried stealing Miller's big blind with J♣9♦ in the small, but Miller woke up with aces and snapped him off. A nine-high flop gave Hoadley some hope but he couldn't make anything more after that and went out sixth.
Leung then ripped in for 14 big blinds over a Bradley open but the latter had kings and quickly called. Leung could only muster threes and lost all but her last 250,000, busting right after that.
Miller clashed with Getnet Hailu after that in a pot that saw Hailu open under the gun with 10♦2♠. He three-barreled off as A♠9♠6♠J♥6♦ hit the board, but Miller called off for his stack with ace-three to double and take hold of about 40 percent of the chips, though it was only worth about 30 big blinds.
Miller didn't have to make a big call for his next knockout but he did make a big hand. He jammed blind versus blind into Akadiri, who woke up with ace-nine and called. Miller was dominated with A♣5♣ but flopped the steel wheel for a sweat-free elimination.
Minutes later, Bradley shoved 12 big blinds over an open from Hailu but ran smack into aces with J♣5♣. A pair of clubs hit the board on the turn but Hailu faded the river to go heads up with Miller down about 3-2 in chips.
Miller widened his lead early but Hailu doubled up and evened the stacks again. Miller took over from there though, first getting a big bluff through with a raise on a board of four Broadway cards and three to a flush holding five-high. Hailu mucked queens and tens. Down to his last five big blinds, Hailu got them in with king-ten flipping against sevens. Miller saw a ten hit the board but a seven arrived on the turn to lock up the tournament for him.
