2012 World Series of Poker Event 43

Tuesday June 26, 2012 : SHOCK DEFEAT FOR BRIT POKER CHAMP AT WORLD SERIES OF POKER (Update)
 
22-year-old Brooklyn player takes down event 43
 
The career earnings graph for 22-year-old Brooklyn poker player Henry Lu just soared off the top right corner following his win of $654,380 in event 43 – $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em. It was far and away his biggest win in two visits to Vegas for the World Series of Poker, and his first WSOP winner's bracelet.
 
The disappointed runner up, Brit poker pro and respected expert player Neil Channing, was left still striving for his first bracelet, but with the consolation of a runner up prize worth $406,409.
 
Adding to Channing’s chagrin is the fact that this was his second WSOP runner up finish in four final tables – last year he again placed second in the $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Shootout.
 
The two players joined a field of 2768 hopefuls for the event three days ago, and then survived a tough final table to enter a three hour, hotly contested heads up with Channing initially in an apparently unassailable 9 to 1 lead.

That was to change several times as the battle see-sawed back and forth before Lu finally managed to nail his opponent with two pairs, beating Channing’s A-J with pocket fours on Q-3-2-K-3 board at level 31 with the blinds at 60,000-120,000 and a 15,000 ante.
 
It was a remarkable achievement for a young and relatively inexperienced player against a highly respected professional.
 
Other pay-outs on the final table included:
 
James Mackey $286,633
Tom Alner $207,019
John Nelson $151,338
Hovan Nguyen $111,961
Balazs Botond $83,802
Francois Dur $63,459
Jared Rosenbaum $48,614