WSOP EUROPE POT LIMIT OMAHA CHAMPIONSHIP WON BY ITALIAN

14 September 2007

Dario Alioto wins European record GBP 234 390 prize


European players continued their dominance at the first annual World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair.com, as 23-year-old Dario Alioto of Palermo, Italy, won the Pot-Limit Omaha Championship title, GBP 234 390 in cash and the second WSOP gold bracelet ever awarded outside the United States.

Although an all-star contingent of poker professionals from the United States entered the GBP 5 000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha event, only two – Andy Bloch and Ted Forrest – made the final two tables. The remaining players, all of whom cashed, continued the strong showing by Europe’s young lions that began with the first WSOP Europe event, a H.O.R.S.E. tournament won by Thomas Bihl of Germany just 24 hours earlier (see previous InfoPowa report).

“It’s as though we’ve picked up where we left off at the Final Table of the 2007 Main Event in Las Vegas,” said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “That was the most international of tables and affirmed the global appeal of poker. Results here in London further suggest that the rest of the world has caught up to American poker professionals. This bodes well for the continued international growth of the game.”

Alioto won the final hand of the Pot-Limit Omaha championship at 4:50 am (GMT) today (Monday) at The Casino at The Empire in London from second-place finisher Istvan Novak of Hungary, who took home the consolation prize of GBP 137 280, or about $280 000.

Lithuanian native and current Australian resident Tony G finished third, winning GBP 94 380, following a seesaw battle for the chip lead with Alioto, and losing a couple of critical hands to the Italian player and to Novak.

Ireland’s David Callaghan finished fourth with GBP 65 520, Antoine Arnault of Paris wound up in fifth place with GBP 49 530, Afghani Sherkhan Farnood finished sixth for GBP 38 220, Helsinki’s Sampo Lopponen ended in seventh for GBP 30 420, multiple WSOP final-table player Andy Bloch of Las Vegas finished eighth for GBP 22 620 and Joseph Aval won GBP 16 380 for ninth place.

Roland de Wolfe, Jan Persson and Ted Lawson collected GBP 11 700 apiece for finishing 10th through 12, respectively; John Duthie, Andrew Hagen and Rupert Housden won GBP 10 140 each for finishing 13th through 15th, and Dan Bitsch Pedersen, Rafi Amit and Ted Forrest got GBP 8 580 each for their 16th to 18th place finishes.

A total of 156 of the world’s top poker players anted up GBP 5 000 each to play in this second WSOP Europe event, building a prize pool of GBP 780 000. Both the WSOP Europe HORSE and Pot-Limit Omaha tournaments established record prize purses.

On Monday September 10 the first round of the GBP 10 000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’Em Main Event will get under way at three casinos operated by London Clubs International – Fifty on St. James Street, The Casino at the Empire on Leicester Square and The Sportsman at Marble Arch.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa