Former World Series of Poker main event finalist Jonathan Kalmar took down the latest £150,000 guaranteed Deepstack at the Dusk Till Dawn casino in Nottingham from 3-6 April 2014.
There were 280 players who signed up for the £500+£50 buy-in, with 91 making it through to Sunday’s day two and of those only 34 were paid. The 35th-place finisher was Martyn Frey, a regular on the UK poker circuit and a player with Grosvenor UK Poker Tour titles and DTD Deepstack wins to his name.
But it was Kalmar who survived to take the title, beating Waheed Ashraf heads-up to claim the £33,500 first place prize and a seat to the upcoming £1 million guaranteed UKIPT Nottingham main event.
Kalmar held an 8.15 million to 5.85 million chip advantage over Ashraf going into heads-up play and it wasn’t long before he opened an even more substantial gap. In the final hand Kalmar opened to 300,000 with Ashraf calling and both players checked the KC-7C-3D flop.
Ashraf also checked the 6C turn, with Kalmar betting 400,000 before Ashraf moved all-in for 3.7 million with his 8D-7S, with Kalmar calling with 6S-3S.
The 2D on the river was no help for Ashraf and Kalmar was crowned the latest DTD 500 Deepstack champion.
The first exit from the nine-handed final table was that of former Genting Poker Series Sheffield champion Hasmukh Khodiyara. Down to less than 10 big blinds, Khodiyara open-shoved 360,000 chips with AD-KD and was looked up by Mike Cummings with QQ, which held.
Following Khodiyara to the cashier was the “bridesmaid” Simon Deadman, who surprisingly didn’t finish second! With the blinds at 25,000-50,000, Deadman moved all-in for 352,000 with A-J and David Denny re-shoved for 827,000 in the small blind with A-10. A 10 on the turn improved Denny to a pair and left Deadman heading to the sidelines in eighth place.
Chin Chai Koh, better-known as “Chinese Frankie”, was the next casualty. Neil Raine opened to 100,000 and then called when Chinese Frankie three-bet to 225,000 from the big blind. Both players checked the KD-3D-JC flop, with Frankie then leading for 165,000 after the 6S on the turn. Raine called. The AS completed the board and Frankie moved all-in for 475,000, with Raine eventually calling and turning over QH-JD, leaving Frankie sighing as he tapped the table and headed off to the cashier.
Denny was the next to go after his opening bet was followed by a Kalmar three-bet. Denny jammed all-in and Kalmar called. It was queens versus A-K, Kalmar holding the latter. It looked like the ladies would again hold, but a king on the river sent Denny out in sixth place.
Kalmar then helped himself to the chips of James Clarke, who check-shoved on an 8-9-10 flop with 10-5 and found Kalmar with pocket queens. A jack on the turn improved Kalmar to a straight and when a king on the river completed the board, the tournament lost another player.
Raine was the next player to bust, again at the hands of Kalmar. After opening to 120,000 with Q-J, Raine was set all-in by Kalmar. After much deliberation, Raine called all-in and was shown A-9. A board reading K-5-A-Q-4 confirmed Raine's demise.
Michael Cummings was the third-place finisher, when Ashraf opened to 160,000 from the button and Cummings called in the big blind, who then check-called a 260,000 bet on the 5H-6H-QS flop. The KC saw Cummings initially check, Ashraf bet 500,000 and then Cummings jammed for 1.5 million. Ashraf instantly called with his KD-QD and was way ahead of Cummings’ 5S-3S. The 8D on the river was of no help to Cummings and it was down to two.
DTD Deepstack April 2014
1st Jon Kalmar £33,500
2nd Waheed Ashraf £20,000
3rd Mike Cummins £13,500
4th Neil Raine £9,750
5th James Clarke £6,900
6th David Denny £5,000
7th Chin Chai Koh £3,750
8th Simon Deadman £3,000
9th Hasmukh Khodiyara £2,500
