Sam Greenwood Strikes Again, Claims £10K Short Deck Title at British Poker Open
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The fourth event of the newest high roller festival, the British Poker Open, wrapped up on Friday at Aspers Casino in London with a familiar face on top. Sam Greenwood made a comeback from last to first once the money was reached four-handed to collect his first BPO title in the £10K Short Deck event, defeating Swedish Short Deck cash game regular Robert Fink heads up.
“I registered, went on this crazy heater and won every all-in basically,” Greenwood told Poker Central’s live reporting team following his win. “It happens a lot in Short Deck; people go from having all the chips to having no chips. I sprung 100,000 up to 1.5 million.”
Event #4: £10K Short Deck Official Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Sam Greenwood | Canada | £110,400 |
| 2nd | Robert Flink | Sweden | £67,200 |
| 3rd | Anson Tsang | Hong Kong | £38,400 |
| 4th | Cary Katz | United States | £24,000 |
Greenwood hung around as the shortest stack for some time four-handed but then gained momentum to soar into the lead and then to victory.
“On the bubble, there was intricate finesse to it, then I cracked Cary’s aces and it was just the easiest tournament I’ve played in a long time!” Greenwood recounted.
It’s the second win of the series for the Greenwood family as his brother Luc Greenwood took down Event #1: £10,000 No Limit Hold’em for £119,600. For Sam Greenwood, it was his second cash of the series after he finished fifth in Event #3.
Four Get Paid
Only five made it to the final day, with Rainer Kempe the last to go before chips were bagged. With four spots in the money, one player would go out empty-handed and that would be Danny Tang. The Hong Kong pro who won the WSOP $50K high roller this summer came in as the shortest stack and ultimately fell to Fink.
Tang shoved a short stack with nine-ten suited and was called by Fink who held ace-nine suited. Despite flopping top two and a backdoor flush draw, a river ace sent Tang packing in fifth, leaving the final four in the money.
Fink continued to add to his stack, overtaking Katz for the lead. Katz then slipped into third place when he reshoved over another Hong Kong bracelet winner, Anson Tsang. Tsang got the double with pocket tens as Katz couldn’t pair up with ace-queen.
Meanwhile, Greenwood chipped up and eventually took over the lead when he cracked Katz’ aces with queen-ten all-in preflop to send the Poker Central founder to the rail with his second cash of the series — he finished sixth in Event #3. Katz collected £24,000 in what was his ninth Short Deck cash.
“On the bubble, there was intricate finesse to it, then I cracked Cary’s aces and it was just the easiest tournament I’ve played in a long time!”
It wouldn’t be long from there before a winner was declared as Tsang went out in short order shoving with jack-ten only to see Greenwood re-jam with king-queen. Both caught a piece of the king-ten-nine flop but a king on the turn gave Greenwood trips and had Tsang drawing dead. Tsang, who finish third in the first-ever WSOP $10K Short Deck event this year, adds another third-place finish in the Short Deck tournament variety.
Heads up was a short affair after Greenwood and Flink began the match virtually even in chips and Greenwood pulled out in front early. About 20 minutes in, they got the rest in on the turn of a board reading 10♣J♣6♦K♣, Greenwood holding a flush with 8♣6♣ and Flink holding Q♦9♣ for a straight.
Flink was drawing to another club but he didn’t find it and fell short once again of capturing his first live tournament title. Like Greenwood, it was Flink’s second cash of the series as he finished third in Event #1.
Greenwood, meanwhile, entered the winner’s circle for the tenth time in his illustrious poker career.
Leaderboard Races
The leaderboard for the series is a close race after four, with six events to go. The win brought Greenwood into second just behind Sam Soverel, with Flink hot on their heels.
BPO Series Leaderboard Standings After Four Events
| Rank | Player | Points | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Soverel | 280 | £179,200 |
| 2 | Sam Greenwood | 260 | £147,200 |
| 3 | Robert Flink | 240 | £108,800 |
| 4 | Paul Newey | 200 | £156,400 |
| 5 | George Wolff | 200 | £120,000 |
| 6 | Luc Greenwood | 200 | £119,600 |
| 7 | Steve O’Dwyer | 140 | £72,800 |
| 8 | Stephen Chidwick | 140 | £71,000 |
| 9 | Cary Katz | 120 | £51,600 |
| 10 | Elio Fox | 100 | £69,000 |
Soverel remains atop the ongoing race for Poker Central’s High Roller of the Year title, with Stephen Chidwick in second. With his fourth-place finish in Event #4, Katz overtook Ali Imsirovic for the third-place slot.
The high-roller action continues at the British Poker Open through next week, with final tables streamed live at PokerGO.
Lead image courtesy of Poker Central.
