David Vamplew Wins Pokerstars European Poker Tour Main Event
23-year-old math whiz beats the best to win GBP 900 000
A relatively unknown young player from Scotland, David Vamplew, has taken down the Pokerstars ( Official Website ) European Poker Tour Main Event in London after five tough days of intense competition against some of the world’s top players.
The young Scot, who is a recent math graduate and a member of the University of Edinburgh Poker Club, played outstanding and disciplined poker throughout the five days, ending each day well up among the leaders before besting a final table that culminated in a six hour heads up with the highly experienced and respected pro John Juanda.
The heads up was set when Juanda eliminated third placed Kyle Bowker, sending him to the cashier to collect a third place check for GBP 300 000. Juanda then faced off against the young Scot in what looked like a slam dunk, with Juanda holding a 4 to 1 chip advantage.
The situation did not appear to faze the cool and calm Vamplew, who maintained discipline, closed the gap and played an aggressive game in which the chip lead changed several times. At the death, Vamplew had completely reversed the chip stacks the duo had held at the start of the heads up, holding 19,175,000 against Juanda’s 5,985,000 to win the final hand and claim the GBP 900 000 main prize.
Juanda’s second placing was worth GBP 545 000.
Observers are predicting that we’ll be hearing a lot more of Vamplew, who played poker at university and turned pro immediately after graduating. He has enjoyed some internet success, but his only live tournament cash to date was a small win in the $2 500 buy-in WSOP NLHE event earlier this year.
His massive EPT London payday makes him the highest earning Scottish poker pro yet.
EPT London has to be regarded as a major success and a ringing endorsement of the popularity of the game in the UK. 848 players entered the Main Event, generating a prize pool of GBP 4,112,800.
In related news, Jose Barbero took down the GBP 20 000 buy-in EPT London High Roller NLHE competition Monday, adding to a collection of tournament titles that already included the PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour main event in Punta del Esta, Uruguay, and the LAPT main event tournament title in Lima, Peru.
77 entrants in the event generated a prize pool of GBP 1,524,600, all dedicated to the 8 final table survivors, with the winner taking home GBP 556 000.
The final table comprised Vanessa Selbst, USA; Andrew Robl, Canada; Fabian Quoss, Germany; Jose Barbero, Argentina; Jani Sointula, Finland; Matthew Marafioti, Canada; Will Molson, Canada and Pierre Neuville, Belgium.
Jani Sointula took second place, earning himself GBP 335 000.
