Nick Jenkins has defeated a field of over 200 players to win the World Championship Of Amateur Poker (WCOAP) NLHE main event at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London. As well as the coveted title, Championship Cup & Gold Medal, a first prize of £3,500 he also wins an expenses paid entry to the GUKPT Grand Final event worth $8,000, courtesy of tour sponsor Blue Square Poker.

Andrew Georgiou was the unlucky player to be eliminated first when his pair of Kings ran into Craig Dunn’s Aces.

Amongst the early chip leaders in the tournament was APAT WCOAP Razz Champion Mike Bodman, who found a number of big pocket pairs in the early levels, whilst Hoa Quan can consider himelf unfortunate after he found pocket Aces three hands in succession but with nobody offering him any value for them, they earned him a total of 300 chips!

Suzanne Hayward from Bath put herself in a comfortable position heading into Day 2 of the event after doubling up two hands in succession. Firstly when her Aces stood up against Kings and then her pocket 10’s held against A-K.

In total 28 players made it through to Day 2 but the field soon began to decrease and first player out was Martyn Sharp who pushed all-in with Ace Queen, despite dominating Robert Ingoldby’s K-4, a four hits on the flop and he is sent packing.

A number of other players were then eliminated in quick succession before Nick Jenkins played two hands that would prove vital in his quest for the title.

First up against Rob Swindall who pushes with A10 against Nick’s pair of Jacks, a Jack on the river sealing Swindalls fate. He was quickly followed by Richard Rudling-Smith who exited in 13th after pushing from the small blind with Q5; Jenkins had KQ, opted to call and won the hand.

Suzanne Hayward was unlucky to go out on the bubble of the final table after Ad Qd lost on a board of Qh Kd 2c 2s 9c, to Robert Ingoldby’s KcJs.

Final Table

Seat 1 - Briony Stone - 72,000
Seat 2 - James Edwards - 140,000
Seat 3 - Steve Stringer - 261,000
Seat 4 - Stuart Osborne - 116,000
Seat 5 - Nigel Johnson - 267,000
Seat 6 - Nick Jenkins - 262,000
Seat 7 - Robert Ingoldby - 597,000
Seat 8 - Tony Ross - 95,000
Seat 9 - Josh Hall - 251,000

Tony Ross, who had an outstanding final table after doubling up with twice to take half the chips in play midway through, along with Josh Hall and of course Jenkins were the three player to make it into the medal winning positions.

Josh has to make do with the Bronze Medal when he goes all-in on the button with A-3, Nick in the Small Blind keeps Ross out of the pot by pushing all-in himself and flips over pocket Ace which win the hand.

So down to heads up and it’s Tony ‘Reenot’ Ross with a 2 to 1 chip lead against Nick ‘Ripple’ Jenkins.

Things start with a bang as Tony with pocket 9’s raises only to see Nick re-raise with Jacks; Tony then pushes all-in and Nick calls and doubles through when the board fails to improve either player’s hands.

The final hand see Nick flop two pair with his A-8 against Tony’s Q-J to give him the win.

Dave Howard took the overall WCOAP Player of the Series award by placing second in the Stud event, on top of his Omaha Championship victory. The final positions on the Player of the Series Leaderboard can be seen below…

1st Dave Howard – 37 points (1 win)
2nd Owen Rankin – 32 points (1 win)
3rd Tony Ross – 30 points
4th Warren Jackman – 28 points
5th Mike Bodman – 21 points (1 win)
6th Linda Iwaniak – 21 points
7th Nick Jenkins – 20 points (1 win)
8th David Rice – 18 points
9th Peter Benson – 17 points
=9th Francis Lincoln – 17 points

For a more detailed report of the entire WCOAP event, interviews with the winners and much more, simply click on the banner below…



Pictures courtesy of APAT

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