Brill Mitchell

Last month, we were all delighted to see Hugh Kirton earn Brown Belt status after cashing for $50,000 in the iPoker Monthly Million. In doing so, he became the first ever Black Belt Poker player to have been promoted to Brown.

As elated as we were, we considered it a rare, but welcome occurrence, and believed with the torrid variance involved in poker, it would be a while before we witnessed a repeat performance. However, it would appear as though there is a feast of talent lingering among the Blue Belt region as this month, former Grader and Blue Belt James repeated Kirton’s feat by shooting up to Brown Belt from Blue after winning a magnificent £30,000 in the recent Littlewoods World Heads-Up Poker Championships.

Proudly wearing the Black Belt Poker colours, James Mitchell entered the event amid tough company, with the eclectic field showcasing the talents of Andrew Feldman, Michael Greco, Roland De Wolfe, Sorel Mizzi, Dario Minieri and 35 other heads-up specialists.

Although facing some of the game’s best heads-up players, James is a keen heads-up enthusiast himself, and after defeating players of the ilk of Keith Hawkins and Laurence Houghton, managed to battle his way to the third and final day for a young versus old tete-a-tete. His opponent had just despatched of Russian Victor Ilyukhin in the semi-final: Vic regular and cash game veteran Charalambos 'Bambos' Xanthos.

Holding home field advantage, Bambos managed to eek his way into a three to one chip lead before sealing victory with top pair versus middle pair on an Ad-Td-4c board. A blank turn following by a third bullet on the river was enough to claim both the title and the £65,000 first prize, the latter of which provided the Cypriot with his biggest tournament win to date.

Having been so close to winning the event outright, the week had proved bittersweet for James, but would become slightly sweeter upon learning that his performance had elevated him to Brown Belt status, thus securing him a sponsorship package worth $4,000 per month. Joining Hugh Kirton as one of the figureheads of the company, James is now in prestigious company at the top of the Black Belt Poker tree, and everyone here at Black Belt Poker would like to congratulate him on his success.

If you would like to ask James a question or add him as a buddy, then feel free to check out his personal profile on the Black Belt Poker social network.