Matt Ashton Wins WSOP 50k Players Championship


Friday July 5,2013 : BRIT ONLINE POKER ACE WINS W.S.O.P. PLAYER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
 
$1.77 million first prize goes to Liverpudlian Matt "Mustahabet" Ashton
 
Matt Ashton, a 25-year-old professional player from Liverpool in the United Kingdom and a respected grinder on the internet poker scene, has claimed Britain's second bracelet in the current World Series of Poker tournament, besting a field chock full of top players in the prestigious $50,000 buy-in Players Championship.
 
It was Ashton's third final table cash at this year's series, and the high point of both his career and his year thus far, where he has achieved cashes in several major live and online tournaments despite taking almost nine months off to tour the world in 2012.
 
Along with his first WSOP bracelet, the young Brit claimed the Chip Reese trophy and a main prize of $1.77 million.
 
The final table for the event included a formidable array of top players:  Don Nguyen, John Hennigan, David Benyamine, George Danzer, Minh Ly, Mike Wattel and former Canadian WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel.
 
Ashton entered the final day of the Championship with the second largest stack, and managed his resources wisely and well until the time came to strike when three-handed play was reached.
 
The heads up between Don Nguyen and Ashton was reached when John Hennigan was eliminated at third for $686,568, with Ashton holding a massive chip lead of 17,300,000 against his rival's 2,500,000.
 
The result was inevitable and took only 7 hands to complete the gruelling 264-hand final table; Nguyen headed for the cashier and a second place prize of $1,096,254.
 
Ashton's big win brings his career earnings to close on $2.5 million in 14 cashes – 7 of them in World Series of Poker events. He has also earned the respect of other players for besting a field that included names like Doyle Brunson, Jason Mercier, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Justin Bonomo, Bryn Kenney and Huck Seed.