Welsh Poker Series Swansea satellite qualifier Malcolm Linton will be returning to the G Casino, Cardiff, in July to take part in leg six of the GUKPT having won his seat as the longest-lasting satellite qualifier on the final day of the opening WPS event of 2014, which took place at the G on 30 March.
And, not only did Linton get to have his cake, but he got to eat it as well… taking down the Cardiff leg of the WPS for a £4,715 payout and trophy on top of his GUKPT seat.
With the clock ticking past 4.30am, Linton reached a deal with Darryl Johns to convert his overwhelming chip lead into first place and the trophy, after both had done a deal with five runners remaining to play for £2,715, with all five pocketing £3,000. Johns added another £1,000 to his winnings for second place.
Johns and Linton, who had been one of the short stacks an hour earlier, were closely matched in chips when they hatched the deal with Dean Griffiths, Mark Bennett and Bashir Ahmed for each to take home £3,000, but after Linton had knocked out the other three players he was taking a huge chip advantage into heads-up play so Johns agreed to deal.
Griffiths went out out in third, his blind shove with 6-9 being called by Linton with A-Q. The 3-Q-5 flop put Linton massively in front and the queen on the turn confirmed the inevitable.
Short-stack Bennett was also taken out by Linton minutes after Ahmed, whose all-in shove with pocket sixes had been called by Linton with queens. AC-7C-10S, 4S, 8C on the board sending Ahmed out in fifth.
Gareth Acreman exited in sixth place, the first to take home a four-digit prize with £1,130 for his efforts.
Gareth Jones left in seventh place after a three-way all-in which proved to be a pivotal hand for Linton. Jones shoved all-in with 9S-10S and Linton called with AC-10C, Johns pushing all his chips over the line with AK.
Linton called but the 8-6-7 flop was music to Jones’ ears as he hit his straight, only for Linton to spike a flush on the river and triple up and send Jones to the rail.
Terrence Davies departed in eighth place, taking home £655 after his pocket twos were no match for Linton’s aces.
An unlucky Carl Thomas went out in ninth place after shoving all-in over Griffiths’ raise. Griffiths made the call with fishooks against Thomas’ A-K. The 2S-7S-AD flop and 2D on the turn saw Thomas in good shape for a double-up but the JC on the river gave Griffiths trips and left Thomas £475 richer for his ninth-place finish.
The only other player on the final table with a chance of winning the last-longer GUKPT seat had been Cardiff satellite qualifier Paul Griffiths, but unfortunately he was the first out. On an AH-7H-JC board his namesake Dean raised to 75.5k and Paul re-raised to 175k. When Dean shoved all-in Paul snap-called with A-K to see Dean make the call with A-J. A jack on the turn gave Dean the double up and left Paul breathing fumes and he exited the next hand.
The next leg of the Welsh Poker Series will take place over the May bank holiday, with day 1A in Cardiff on Saturday, May 24, and day 1B in Swansea on Sunday, with day two also in Swansea on Monday, May 26.
For all the action from leg one see the blog, with more pictures on Facebook.
Welsh Poker Series result
1st Malcolm Linton £4,715
2nd Darryl Johns £4,000
3rd Dean Griffiths £3,000
4th Mark Bennett £3,000
5th Bashir Ahmed £3,000
6th Gareth Acreman £1,130
7th Gareth Jones £895
8th Terence Davies £655
9th Carl Thomas £475
