16 Sep
September has been a relatively quiet month with regards to professional poker tournaments. That said, there were a few poker events around the world that kept a number of players busy on the felt.
Lakhov Makes it Two from Two in Cyprus
Russian player Alexander Lakhov took down the WPT Merit Classic North Cyprus Main Event last week, where he outlasted 403 other competitors and took out $325,400 for his stellar play.
It was a repeat performance of his showing in the European island nation back in July. That was when Lakhov took out the WPT National North Cyprus Main Event and pocketed $124,161.
Cyprus seems to be the dream country for the Russian, who has had a top 13 places in the last six Cyprus-based poker tournaments he had played in.
Findlay the Man in London
In what is a bit of a feel good story, Iraq war veteran, poker player and amputee Paul Findlay reigned supreme in the UKIPT Series 6 in London.
He topped a field a 354 en route to taking down the event and pocketed a respectable £12,396 (around US$20,059) for his valiant efforts at the tournament.
Following the event, Findlay stated that 10 per cent of his first place cash prize would be donated to the Help for Heroes organisation. While his play gained him compliments, his humility and philanthropy gained him admirers throughout the poker community.
WPT Borgata Championship Gets Underway
A total of 1,226 players – the fourth largest field of any WPT event in history – descended on the Borgata in Atlantic City for the annual WPT Borgata Championship, which began on the weekend.
This number was quickly reduced in the two starting flights as players aimed to get a strong start to the five-day event. Ben Bianco got the strongest start of the surviving players, with 389,000 chips to his name going into the second day of play.
A number of known faces, including former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Malik Rose and actor James Woods also participated in the event.
Meliopoulos Wins in Estonia
In Eastern Europe, Greek poker shark Konstantinos Meliopoulos bested a field of 118 to take out the Grand Live Main Event in Estonia’s capital Tallinn after a dominating perofrmance.
He had a large stack going into the final table, and was able to keep it as he went on to win the event and its €28,600 (around US$36,988) cash prize.
Previous Eureka Main Event final table player Gary Clarke settled for second spot in the event, while Finnish player Veli-pekka Penttinen claimed the third spot in the Main Event.
