Last night, Blue Belt Kevin Williams topped a field of 944 to win the $200,000 Guaranteed weekly iPoker tournament, taking away $42,000 in winnings as well as some much-needed momentum heading into this year's World Series of Poker.
A product of Grading II: Destination Dublin, Kevin is a professional cash player from Brighton who also frequents the live tournament circuit with several cashes including a win in a UKIPT side event for €8,650. When he's not playing, Kevin can be found sharing his wisdom, speaking at Poker in the Park and Academies and is currently the co-host of the highly acclaimed Enlightenment Dojo Sessions.
Kevin gained entry into the $200+15 main event through an $18 rebuy satellite just prior to kick-off, meaning that, along with the $11,200 overlay, he was receiving incredible value on his investment.
The early levels were uneventful for Kevin, as he "plodded" his way through the tournament with little to report. Around the bubble, however, he was struggling with just 10 big blinds, but managed to survive, and later double through after finding aces.
With several tables remaining, Kevin reached double the average, but dipped back down below average. His descent was only temporary, however, as with just two tables remaining, he enjoyed a welcome rush of cards to head into the final table with a comfortable, although not threatening stack.
During the early stages of the final table, a key hand occurred where under-the-gun raised, and Kevin made a small three-bet on the button, only for the big blind to move all in for around a similar stack of 30 big blinds. The initial raiser folded and, albeit after a slight dwell, Kevin made the call with pocket queens before holding strong against jacks for a crucial double-through.
"I got a bit of stick for not calling immediately," confessed Kevin, "but with under the gun raising and the big blind snap-jamming, I thought there was a good chance I could be 'flipping at best. In the end, I'd made a small three-bet to look weak and induce action, so I couldn't then justify folding a hand as strong as queens."
From thereon in, Kevin never looked back, and, after observing that "no one really seemed like that they wanted it", ramped up the aggression to form a chip-leading stack of three million. "There was one player who kept folding to my three-bets," he added, "which helped me out massively."
With three left, Kevin was in a dominating position with the regular short-stacked and seated to his right, meaning that Kevin could push any two cards blind-on-blind and know he'd receive a large percentage of folds. Ultimately, it was his foes who clashed, and a coinflip later, Kevin was just one hand away from victory.
Heads-up was a brisk affair, and with his final opponent open-shoving 9-8, Kevin peeked down at the bullets and called quicker than a cheetah on roller-skates. No change on the board, and Kevin topped the podium for his biggest online win to date.
"I was quite clam at the time and stayed chilled throughout knowing there was work to be done," explained Kevin. "It was strange, because even immediately after I won I wasn't buzzing that much. In reality, though, this was a super, super important result, and those who read my blog will know that things haven't been going my way of late. It was particularly good timing with Vegas just around the corner as that's the absolute worst place to be if you don't have a healthy bankroll."
18 players in all entered this event through Black Belt Poker - all looking to take full advantage of the overlay on offer - including Ben Meredith, Jerome Bradpiece, Sam Razavi, Jamie Burland and Neil Channing. The aforementioned fell short, but joining Kevin in the money were Jason 'Elysiumjay' Layland (11th - $1,500), 'isguzo '(36th - $900) and 'seven7777777s' (78th - $400).
However, the night belonged to Kevin, and after a long, hard-fought day which included a satellite and a dogged slog in the Main Event, he ultimately came up smelling of roses and $42,000 to the good. If you want to emulate Kevin's success and turn a small acorn of an investment into a giant oak money tree, then be sure to secure your path into next Sunday's event via the numerous satellites available throughout the week.
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