In the early hours of this morning, London based Frenchman Paul Pham triumphed over a tough final table to become the 2010 Black Belt London Live Champion taking home $15,000 and the coveted title.
A 27-year old VIP Manager of an online cardroom, Pham headed into the final with more than twice the chips of his nearest competitor before proceeding to eliminate four of his fellow finalists.
Second place went to Karim Louis who earned himself $10,000. The final hand saw Louis check-raise a 7d-Td-Jc flop with Js-6c before calling an all-in from Pham. Pham tabled Kc-Jd and cemented his win with a Kd turn. The Ts river was therefore academic.
Pham, who has been playing poker since 2005, commented: “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.”
“There were a lot of strong players in the tournament,” he continued. “Daniel Laming was very good and gave me a bit of a hard time on Day One. So was Jack [McDermott] on my left. He’s a decent player and I managed to get lucky against him on the final table with A-J versus A-K.”
The Black Belt London Live took place between Friday, Mar 12 and Sunday, Mar 14 at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London. The event sold out four days in advance and boasted familiar names such as Ian Frazer, Ross Boatman, Karl Mahrenholz, Laurence Houghton and Liam Flood, all of whom stumped up the $200+20 buy-in fee.
Also on offer were eight high profile bounties with the winner receiving a black belt and a photo with their victim. On Day One, Rory Liffey earned the scalp of James Akenhead, whilst Praz Bansi was eliminated by recent EPT winner Jake Cody. On Day Two, it was eventual winner Pham that took out 2008 Irish Open Champion Neil Channing.
Black Belt Poker were also offering various Belt bonuses including four $500 Orange Belt last-longers. These were won by Tom Drew, Giovanni Pennetta, Toby Lewis, and Craig Wakeham. The highest placing Purple/Green Belt was Warren Wooldridge who finished sixth for $2,500. If Wooldridge had won the event, he would have earned himself an additional $15,000 on top of first prize.
The general vibe at the event was a positive one with the tournament played in a friendly, good spirited manner. One highlight was Black Belt Poker co-founder Neil Channing who arrived in full karate garb which remained on for the entire tournament. Former EPT winner Vicky Coren also made a surprise appearance, adding a touch of wit and amusement to the final table with her running commentary.
Black Belt Poker would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the 50 players who cashed in the tournament, and thank everyone who supported the event from the players themselves to the Vic staff. If early feedback is any indication, the event was a roaring success, and we look forward to returning next year.
For more information, check out the following links:
Black Belt Poker Blog
AWOP Live Updates
Full Results (including bounties and last-longers)
Event Photographs
Interview with Paul Pham
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