WCOAP: World Amateur Poker Champion

Saturday 28th March was the first of two Day 1s for the WCOAP Main Event, with a sell out affair with 155 sitting down at the beginning of the event and the cap of 200 being hit with time to spare in the 3 hour late registration period. Play was fairly standard, 13 levels were played and 36 players made it through to Day 2. Ionut Valentin as chip leader with just shy of 360k and players with as few as 30k.

The second Day 1 was held the following day and it was almost as popular as the first, reaching 197 players by the end of late registration. Less players starting did not mean less players remaining and, by the end of the 13th level of play, 51 players bagged up their chips ready for Day 2. Chip leader from this field being Lisa Tan with a stack that reflected the number of players remaining, of just under 230k, shortest stack being just over 17k.

Day 2, and all 87 players were re-drawn and took their seats to fight it out for an impressive prize pool:

1st £8,300, WCOAP Main Event Bracelet & Gold Medal
2nd £5,770 & Silver Medal
3rd £3,710 & Bronze Medal
4th £2,750
5th £2,060
6th £1,650
7th £1,375
8th £1,100
9th £825
10th-12th £600
13th-15th £490
16th-18th £420
19th-21st £365
22nd-24th £330
25th-27th £290
28th-36th £255
37th-45th £220

It only takes a couple of hours to get into the money and it is a tale as old as time as the Aces of Chuc Khuu are defeated by the Jacks of Marcic Rejmac and there was applause around the room as the news spread that all remaining players had made the money.

Exits were fast and furious as the players hanging on for a cash made their moves and, by the dinner break, only 22 players remained on three tables.

9 players graced the final table, including Andy Dodson who won his added value seat by winning the APAT UK Championship in Newcastle recently. It was to be a long, well fought battle lasting over 5 hours. Joel Holmberg went to the final table as chip leader with over 2.5m with Paul Rice his closest rival with a stack of just over 1m. With an incredibly active and exciting final table, however, Paul only managed a 7th place finish and Joel came away in 4th.

Marco Vasconcelos finished in 3rd place and took home the Bronze Medal, leaving an intense Heads Up battle between Kaveh Kiavand and Andy Dodson. The stacks were too close to call it at one point and the difference between 1st and 2nd place was over £3,000 and it really showed. The game finally concluded at around 3am when Andy’s fair chip lead and 7s 8s was enough for him to beat Kaveh’s 2c 4c and he claimed the WCOAP Main Event Bracelet, Gold Medal and £8,300 as the new World Amateur Poker Champion.

It was an amazing event, played with a fantastic spirit – genuine rounds of applause as players exited the final table and handshakes all round. Congratulations to all who played and especially the winner.

1st Andy Dodson £8,300, WCOAP Main Event Bracelet & Gold Medal
2nd Kaveh Kiavand £5770 & Silver Medal
3rd Marco Vasconcelos £3710 & Silver Medal
4th Joel Holmberg £2,750
5th Matt Carter £2,060
6th Lisa Greer £1,650
7th Paul Rice £1,375
8th Balazs Roka £1,100
9th Frederic Gautrin £825
10th-12th John Kelly £600
Cem Misirlioglu
Lisa Tan
13th-15th Ionut Beleci £490
Stephen Draper
Phillip Chan
16th-18th Jack Wolfenden £420
Karl West
Stefaan Cleppe
19th-21st Matt Whiting £365
Vanessa Dieryckx
Fredric Dehling
22nd-24th Brent Waters £330
Mark Shelley
Bechir Sahli
25th-27th Daniel Fernandez £290
Andrew Watts
Marcin Rejmac
28th-36th Matt Cooledge £255
Jen Chiang
Peter Burgon
Jeremy Marriott
Scott Berridge
Josh O’Connor
Usman Siddique
Lynford Pinnock
Rob Lenearts
37th-45th Sung Yun £220
Carl Pilgrim
Nigel Rantor
Geert Hermans
Michel Sealtiel
Antonio Ageitos
Martin O’Shea
Luke Fuller
Sam Beckwith