Nathwani picks up big London win

Eurosport - Thu, 20 Mar 19:05:00 2008

The latest leg of the UK Poker Tour has gone the way of youngster Ketul Nathwani in London.

POKER Poker Four of a kind - 0

The 23-year old defeated 423 rivals in the £1000 + £60 NL Hold'em Main Event in London.

He claimed the £119,780 first prize plus free entry to the £3,000 Grand Final and a seat in the Champion of Champions tournament after maintaining the chip lead he took into the final table.

Nathwani (984,000) held a decent chip lead going into the final with Daniel Samson (656,000), David Rudling (570,000), Antony Phillips (458,000), Steve Jelinek (440,000),

Maria Demetriou (364,000), Colin Kennedy (349,000) and Lloyd Rees (318,000) following while Fran Egan (145,000) had a lot of work to do.

Nathwani took his stack to one million in the opening hour while Egan boosted his chips by calling with Ace, Queen to outwit Phillips who had pocket sixes.

That meant Kennedy was the first to depart as Rudling called with Ace, five from the big blind to take out Kennedy who had King, ten from the small blind.

Rees had to settle for eighth after going all-in with Ace, Five only to be called by Phillips who became the new chip leader when he hit a pair of Jacks.

Egan finished seventh after going All-in and failing to nail a draw on the flop against Phillips while Jelinek was sixth after going All-in on pocket tens only for Ketul to land a pair of Kings on the flop.

The players were going out of the exit door swiftly now and the only woman on the final table, Demetriou ended fifth despite holding a pair of Aces.

Nathwani had a flush on that hand and was back on level terms with Phillips with a 1.6 million stack.

Online qualifiers Samson and Rudling were third and fourth respectively, the latter exiting on a hand that gave Nathwani a decisive chip lead.

The eventual winner went All-In and was instantly called by Rudling who had an Ace-Jack but Nathwani hit the deuce.

The head-to-head began with 20-year-old Phillips trailing by 3.25 million chips and only lasted one hand as he went All-In with Ace, two and was called by Nathwani who had pocket fives and that was enough for him to take the honours after a Q-Q-3-J-6 board was dealt out.

Nathwani's rapid style resulted in the quickest final table in UK Poker Tour history which lasted just three hours.

Nathwani now is looking to gain a couple of winner's bracelets at the World Series of Poker later this year.

Result:

1st Ketul Nathwani £119,780

2nd Antony Phillips £69,960

3rd Dan Samson £50,880

4th David Rudling £33,920

5th Maria Demetriou £26,500

6th Steve Jelinek £20,140

7th Fran Egan £15,900

8th Lloyd Rees £12,720

9th Colin Kennedy £9,540

10th Marius Hogtun £6,360

11th Alessandro Mioni £4,240

12th Davood Mehrmand £4,240

13th Simon Wickenden £4,240

14th Darren Pearce £3,180

15th Piers Whyman £3,180

16th Anthony Chapman £3,180

17th Jen Mason £3,180

18th Stewart Clutterbuck £3,180

19th John Conroy £2,120

20th Yilfer Shevket £2,120

21st Kier Fitzgibbon £2,120

22nd Jonathan Martin £2,120

23rd Leo Kam £2,120

24th Chris Rhodes £2,120

25th Jan Lundberg £2,120

26th Alan Abraham £2,120

27th Mark Rayson £2,120

28th Thomas Dunwoodie £2,120

29th Jeremy Longley £2,120

30th Joe Grech £2,120

31st Helle Stjernvang £2,120

32nd Steve Townsend £2,120

Angus MacKenzie / Eurosport