Paresh Mahendra Spoils Michael Perry’s PLO Party On Penultimate Day of WCOAP
It was another busy day at the Aspers Stratford Westfield casino as the APAT 2014 World Championship Of Amateur (WCOAP) continued its march towards a final. Two more champions were crowned and the Main Event saw its second and final starting flight written into the history book. Keep reading for an insight into what went on during Easter Sunday.
2014 WCOAP Event #14: Pot Limit Omaha Championship
More than 60 players bought into the Pot Limit Omaha event but the eyes of the APAT reporting team were fixated on only one of them. In 2013, Michael Perry stormed to victory and claimed the title of World Champion. As the clock struck 10:23pm on Sunday night, and the final table of the 2014 WCOAP PLO event reached its final table, Perry was on course to do something that nobody had ever done in the history of the WCOAP and that was successfully defend a title.
2014 WCOAP Event #14: Pot Limit Omaha Championship Final Table Seat Draw
1 Steve Johnson 50,000
2 Michael Perry 386,000
3 Rita Galvin 51,000
4 JP Round 109,000
5 Paresh Mahendra 120,000
6 Matt Evans 112,000
7 Darren Taylor 77,000
8 Roddy Farmer 70,000
9 Timmy Man 65,000
Three exits in quick succession – Timmy Man, Roddy Farmer and Rita Galvin – saw the final table become short-handed, with the exit of Galvin bursting the money bubble. Then Perry sent Steve Johnson to the rail in a huge pot that saw Perry stack up more than half of the chips in play with five players remaining.
Perry continued his one-man wrecking spree by taking what was remaining of JP Round’s stack to leave the tournament with four players, and then helped himself to the stack of Matt Evans. It lookd like nothing could stop Perry.
Shortly after midnight, Paresh Mahendra and Darren Taylor clashed and when the dust settled Taylor was heading out of the tournament area and into the cold London night, leaving Mahendra and Perry to play heads up for the title of World Champion.
The first hands of heads-up saw Mahendra take the lead. The chips went flying into the middle on a {3-}{2-}{J-} flop, Mahendra holding {A-}{8-}{5-}{4-} and Perry {K-}{J-}{9-}{2-}. A six on the turn improved Mahendra to a straight and when the river bricked Mahendra was the new chip leader.
Then at 1:04am it was all over. Perry raised, Maendra called and the flop came down {Q-}{8-}{J-}. Mahendra led, Perry called off his remaining chips and the cards were flipped onto their backs. Perry held {A-}{10-}{8-}{6-} and was way behind the {K-}{Q-}{Q-}{J-} of Mahendra. A four on the turn and three on the river completed the board, leaving Mahendra to spoil Perry’s PLO party by knocking him out in second place.
2014 WCOAP Event #14: Pot Limit Omaha Championship Final Table Results
1 Paresh Mahendra £1,155
2 Michael Perry £795
3 Darren Taylor £510
4 Matt Evans £380
5 JP Round £285
6 Steve Johnson £225
7 Rita Galvin
8 Roddy Farmer
9 Timmy Man
2014 WCOAP Event #15: Season Seven Championship – Liam Crawford Wins a Las Vegas Package
Event #15 was an invite-only affair that saw champions from APAT’s Season 7 take to the felt in an attempt to win a special package to Las Vegas during the 2014 World Series of Poker.
Eleven players at down at the Aspers felt at 8:00pm on Sunday and the tournament ended slightly before the unholy hour of 3:00am on Monday morning.
As the housekeeping staff hovered around the casino, Liam Crawford was busy four-betting all in on a {10-Clubs}{3-Clubs}{9-Clubs} flop and Rob Hallworth called. Hallworth was behind but not dead as he held the {A-Clubs}{4-Spades} while Crawford was in good shape with his {Q-Clubs}{J-Clubs} that had flopped a flush. That flush improved to an unbeatable straight flush with the arrival of the {K-Clubs} on the turn, sending Hallworth to the rail and Crawford to Las Vegas!
2014 WCOAP Main Event Day 1b: Darren Moy Tops Second Main Event Flight
When Scott Berridge finished Day 1 of the 2014 WCOAP Main Event with a colossal stack of 220,700 nobody thought it was possible for anyone to catch him. How wrong they were!
Among the 145 players who chose Sunday’s Day 1b as their starting day was Darren Moy, a player who would go on and not only equal the massive stack that Berridge accumulated, but actually surpass it by almost 50%!
Moy bagged up an almost unbelievable 309,200 chips as Day 1b and is by far the chip leader going into Monday’s Day 2 where only 73 players remain in contention for a slice of the £33,400 prize pool.
Joining Moy from the Day 1b field on Day 2 are a number of other players who finished with over 100,000 chips at the close of Day 1b play. David Howard, Stephen Howell, Linda Iwaniak, Nick Mazur, Rod Davies, Arnaud Benaddi, David Haynes, Colin Tsang and John Benner being in the 100,000 chip club!
2014 WCOAP Main Event Day 1b Top 10 Chips Counts
1 Darren Moy 309,200
2 David Howard 196,700
3 Stephen Howell 181,500
4 Linda Iwaniak 181,200
5 Nick Mazur 159,300
6 Rod Davies 124,500
7 Arnaud Benaddi 121,700
8 David Haynes 120,000
9 Colin Tsang 111,000
10 John Benner 105,400
Play in the Main Event resumes at 12:00 noon and continues until the tournament’s champion is crowned. Who will that champion be? Will it be Moy or Berridge or someone completely different? Tune in on Tuesday to find out!
