Uk-Poker.co.uk

Scotland’s Paul Kerr, of Bothwell, almost made it six bracelet wins for Britain at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) this year. Following the bracelet-winning antics of James Dempsey, Praz Bansi, Richard Ashby, Mike Ellis and Steve Jelinek, Kerr ought to consider himself fortunate to have finished only third in Event 54. Held annually in Las Vegas, the WSOP attracts the very best players in professional poker, so to finish on the final table of any event is in itself quite an achievement. To finish third and narrowly miss an opportunity to add to Briton’s record-breaking WSOP bracelet tally is little short of spectacular.

Event 54 featured a buy-in of $1,000 and a huge field of 3,844 players – one of the largest events hosted at the WSOP this year. The tournament’s large field of players contributed to a mammoth prize pool of $3,459,600, the largest share of which – $570,960 – was won by Marcel Vonk of the Netherlands. David Peters of the USA finished a close second for $350,803, whilst Kerr earned a respectable $255,076 for his efforts. Kerr crashed out of Event 54 when his suited J-6 (clubs) fished out a flush on the river – only for the 9 of clubs to earn Peters a full house with Q-Q-9-9-9.

UK online poker players will be all too aware of unfortunate river cards, but for Kerr it meant the end of a truly impressive run in Event 54. Meanwhile, whilst the WSOP slowly draws to a close in Vegas, a number of major UK poker tournaments have been in operation. Among them, the Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham was won by Fraser Bellamy, who also happened to win the event in August last year. Bellamy overcame a field of 243 to win the £300 buy-in event.