Iwan Jones staged a fantastic comeback to scoop the 2014 Genting Poker Series Stoke title and its £32,030 first-place prize
The final day’s play saw 18 players return to the Genting Club Stoke but Graham Carter, Wayne Rogers, Willie Tann, Guy Taylor, Fareed Hussain, Leon Campbell, Andy Wright, Aziz Miah and Gerald David fell by the wayside before the final table was set.
The final table played out for more than an hour before the first exit, when Chen Tam busted at the hands of Matthew Simpson. Tam was down to only 114,000 chips and moved all-in when first to act. Simpson called in the big blind to put Tam at risk, and at risk he was as his 9D-6D needed some help against 10S-9S.
The AD-3C-AC-5D-4C was no help to either player and Tam exited in ninth place.
Tam’s seat hadn’t had chance to go cold before the next casualty.
Andreas Olympios Olympios open-shoved for 320,000 from late position with K-6 and Richard Horton tanked before looking him up in the big blind with A-9. Horton caught an ace on the flop and although Olympios paired his king on the turn, he couldn’t find a third king or a six and busted from the tournament in eighth.
It took a further two hours before the next player hit the rail after Horton opened to 100,000 and Dominic Kay three-bet all-in for 590,000, which Horton called. Kay showed A-2 and was way behind Horton's A-10.
The K-9-K-7-10 board brough no assistance for Kay and he left in seventh place.
Will Kassouf was the next player to fall, his tournament ending with a sixth-place finish after Jack Allen, the start of the day chip leader, opened to 120,000 and Kassouf defended his big blind with a call.
Kassouf checked the 8S-QD-4H flop and then called when Allen bet 100,000. The turn brought the 6C and Kassouf went into the tank before jamming all-in. Allen instantly called and revealed AC-QH for top pair top kicker, which was way stronger than the 8H-7H of Kassouf. The 3H on the river completed the board and confirmed Kassouf’s demise.
Sky Poker UK Poker Championships main event champion Alex Spencer was the next man to fall in a massive 2.1 million chip pot. Spencer open-shoved for 730,000 from the button only to see Jones call from the small blind. Allen re-shoved from the big blind for 2.38 million and Jones made a painful fold.
Spencer showed A-2 and was drawing to three outs as Allen turned over pocket kings. Those three outs failed to materialise and it was game over for Spencer.
Four-handed play lasted more than two hours before Simpson lost his stack to Allen.
Simpson was down to 10 big blinds and moved all-in with K-J, with Allen calling from the big blind with A-6. The 6-Q-Q flop improved Allen’s hand, but a five on the turn and eight on the river didn’t help Simpson who left in fourth place.
The three remaining players entertained the idea of a deal for the rest of the prize pool, but the discussions never resulted in anything concrete, which turned out to be bad news for Allen who jammed all-in for 10 big blinds from the small blind.
After Horton snap-called in the big blind Allen turned over 10-6 and was in a whole world of pain against pocket jacks. With a K-Q-Q-5-A board the were good and Allen was out in third place.
Horton went into heads-up play against Jones with a massive 5-1 chip advantage and many thought it would be over within minutes, but how wrong they were.
Two hands in Jones doubled with pocket deuces against K-Q then won a massive pot when he bet all three streets on a 9D-5D-9S-Ah-3D board and forced a seven-minute tank-fold on the river to claim the chip lead.
Horton then missed an open-ended straight draw versus top pair to plummet to 1.5 million chips and all the chips went into to the middle when Jones set him all-in with 1D-8D with Horton holding pocket threes.
The 6-6-2 flop kept the threes ahead, but an eight on the turn flipped the hand on its head but a seven on the river busted Horton and left Jones as the GPS Stoke champion.
Genting Poker Series Stoke: 21-25 May 2014
1 Iwan Jones £32,030
2 Richard Horton £25,200
3 Jack Allen £18,435
4 Matthew Simpson £12,020
5 Alex Spencer £8,715
6 Will Kassouf £6,880
7 Dominic Kay £5,475
8 Andreas Olympioa £4,175
9 Chen Tam £2,880
