Uk-Poker.co.uk

It was expected that the inaugural Black Belt Poker Live event, which concluded in the early hours of Monday this week, would become something of a playground for James Akenhead, who is generally regarded as one of the most talented players of live UK poker tournaments around today. In the build-up to the Black Belt Poker Live event, Boylepoker had installed Akenhead as favourite to win the tournament, ahead of Praz Bansi, Julian Thew and Black Belt Poker co-founder, Neil Channing. In illustration of the view that poker stars do not necessarily make good bookmakers, none of the aforementioned players made it to the final table at the Black Belt Poker Live event.

In fact, the sell-out $200+$20 main event at London’s prestigious Victoria Casino was conquered by the relatively unknown Paul Pham – a seasoned UK online poker player who tends to shy away from live events. Despite his comparative lack of experience in live UK poker tournaments, Pham managed to triumph above big name stars such as Akenhead, Channing and Marty Smyth to win the $15,000 top prize.

Speaking about his success, Pham said: “I play pretty much all of my poker online and am mainly a cash game player. I don’t play live very often and have only played three tournaments so far. I only played this one because the structure was deep and it suited my game”.

Pham beat Karim Louis ($10,000) and Hugo Martin ($6,000) on the final table to take the coveted inaugural Black Belt Poker Live event title, which was by all accounts a resounding success for Channing and company. Other notable players to finish in the game include: Jack McDermott (4th, $4,500); Dean Aldred (5th, $3,500); Warren Woolridge (6th, $2,500); Nicholas Aly (7th, $2,000); Daniel Laming (8th, $1,500); and Roy Farranat (9th, $1,000).