David Shallow Wins World Poker Tour Ireland main event

01/09/2012 : BRIT PLAYER TAKES INAUGURAL WORLD POKER TOUR IRELAND TROPHY
 
Shallow digs deep to best 338 competitors
 
The UK-based poker pro David Shallow (29) celebrated on Sunday after besting a field of 338 that included an impressive number of top international players to take down the inaugural World Poker Tour Ireland main event in Dublin, and claim the $289,031 main prize and a $25,000 seat at the WPT World Championships.
 
Shallow delivered a sparkling display of talent and aggression to dominate the four day event almost throughout and entered the final table as chip leader by a long way, having six times the chips of his closest rival.
 
Due to Shallow's devastating double elimination of two contenders on the bubble, the final table comprised just four other players: Charles Chattha, Ronan Gilligan, Patrik Vestlin and Steve Watts.
 
Ronan Gilligan gave a good account of himself and even managed to briefly hold the chip lead before he was despatched in third place by a rampant Shallow, setting the scene for a heads up between Shallow and Charles Chattha, with Shallow holding 7.28 million chips against his opponent's 2.86 million.
 
A see-saw battle followed in which Chattha actually managed to wrest the chip lead from his formidable rival at one point, but it was not to last and the plucky runner-up had to be satisfied with a second placing prize of $144,502.
 
For Shallow, who also plays online under the handle CrabMaki, the win was his biggest yet – the best of a 9-cash career by far.