London Poker Duo Harry Lodge and Jack Maskill Final Table $3K Shootout
It’s the ultimate dream. Ship out to Las Vegas with your buddy for the World Series of Poker, hop into one of the first events of the series, and both make the livestreamed final table. It’s a rarity that Harry Lodge and Jack Maskill, a poker duo from London, are living.
“Harry convinced me to play the tournament,” said Maskill after they both won their second tables to qualify for the final. “I wouldn’t normally have played it.”
“Harry convinced me to play the tournament. I wouldn’t normally have played it.”
While Lodge is the tournament pro, Maskill makes his living grinding high stakes cash games $25/$50 and up. With the juicy Rio live games not yet in full swing for the series, Lodge was able to convince his mate to fire a one-off $3K in Event #3: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout.
“He’s persuasive,” Maskill laughed.
Lodge had a different answer: “It was easy. He loves it.”
Maskill disagreed. “I don’t love it at all!”
When asked how they pulled it off, Maskill responded, “We both got very lucky - repeatedly. That’s usually how you win a tournament.”
Getting There
Both Maskill and Lodge sailed through their Day 1 tables, Lodge’s over in four hours to give him time to hit the pool and relax the rest of the day. Day 2 was a little bit different of a story as they both had tough final heads-up matches not without some drama.
Maskill admitted he got lucky several times against a tough opponent in Ivan Galinec, coming back from huge deficits multiple times to stay alive and close it out. Lodge had his work cut out for him too, as he battled heads-up against bracelet winner Arkadiy Tsinis, and they were the last table standing.
“He was the guy that I least wanted to get heads-up with – very good player, but it just came down to a flip in the end that fortunately went my way.”
Lodge has 10 WSOP cashes and one WSOPE cash, his best coming from a third-place finish in the $888 Crazy Eights event last year for $344,888, but he’s looking forward to his first WSOP livestreamed final table.
“I’ll probably just go back to playing cash after tomorrow. It’s too stressful this tournament thing.”
Maskill will be booking his first WSOP cash on Saturday, but his run in the Shootout likely won’t change his summer plans.
“I’ll probably just go back to playing cash after tomorrow. It’s too stressful this tournament thing.”
While Maskill admits, “It’s a good story already,” he’s hoping to make it an even better one before they really brag to everyone back home.
“We have to win first. I want first and second.”
To do so, they will have to get through some tough opponents, notably including former Main Event champs Joe McKeehen and Joe Cada, but they're up for the challenge. No doubt all their friends and family back home will be glued to the PokerGO live broadcast starting at 12:30 p.m. PT to see if they can pull it off, and according to Maskill, Lodge will draw loads of viewers.
“Pretty much half of the British poker scene follows Harry. I’m no one, but he’s just like Mr. Big Time,” Maskill laughed.
No matter what the end result is, it’s an excellent start to the summer for these two, playing for a top prize of $226,218 in Week 1.
Be sure to follow all the live updates from this World Series of Poker event right here on PokerNews and you can subscribe to PokerGO to catch the livestreamed action.
