Dave McConachie won the 888poker LIVE main event
The London championship called 888poker LIVE is coming to an end. The central event of the series ended tonight with a buy-in of 1,100 pounds. Dave McConachie won the 888poker LIVE main event after making a heads-up deal with Francis Obadun. McConachie’s award for first place was 83,100 pounds.
The main event attracted 385 players who created a prize pool of 367,500 pounds. 15 people reached the final third day of the tournament. McConachie started the day with an average stack, but already during the first level he reached the top of the chip count. McConachie, who was born in London, said after the tournament that the final table was difficult.
“It’s hard to play with Francis. I mean, he’s crazy. He’s a tough opponent. The whole final table was tense. For a while I lost the thread of the game, but everything turned out in my favor. A miracle happened today,” McConachie said.
The newly crowned champion often plays at tournaments in London, somewhere abroad or in Las Vegas. Although this is not the first victory of the player, it definitely became the largest.
As for runner-up Francis Obadun, he was also satisfied with the tournament, despite the fact that he could not realize the advantage he had during the day. Obadun’s words after the game: “I started the day with the idea that I could enter the top 2. Obviously, it would be better to win, but when it comes to heads-up, the game can be in favor of any player.”
The 15 players who reached the third day of the tournament guaranteed themselves 4,050 pounds. In two hours, the players with the shortest stacks were eliminated, and the participants of the final table were determined. Hong Pham started the day with a significant margin, but it was only a matter of time before she faced Obadun, who also had a decent stack. Shortly before the break, Pham made an untimely bluff and had to play more carefully.
The players decided to make a deal
Raymond Caabay was the first to leave the final, who was unlucky in several hands against Obadun. He was followed by Tobias Kirby Hogarty, who fell victim to several players with short stacks. Bixi Yao held the short stack for what seemed like an eternity, but still lost and took 7th place.
Hong Pham had only 10 blinds by that time, and she went all-in after getting a call from Obadun. The opponent eventually collected trips, and Pham took 6th place. The remaining five took a 30-minute break. A couple of players at that time had about 10 BB. After the break, Jiaze Li was the first to be eliminated, who lost to a pair of Obadun’s sixes. In the next hand, Smit Trivedi lost a pair of aces to McConachie and took 4th place.
- Dave McConachie — 83,100 pounds
- Francis Obadun — 75,000 pounds
- Ryan Otto — 39,500 pounds
- Smit Trivedi — 25,250 pounds
- Jiaze Li — 16,450 pounds
- Hong Pham — 12,100 pounds
- Bixi Yao — 8,750 pounds
- Tobias Kirby Hogarty — 7,500 pounds
- Raymond Caabay — 6,400 pounds
In another decisive hand, Ryan Otto with K-hi could not cope with a pair of Obadun’s jacks and took 3rd place. Thanks to all these knockouts, Obadun entered the heads-up with a big advantage, but his careless play led to the fact that the stacks of players were even. The players decided to make a deal, according to which both got 75,000 pounds. 8,100 pounds and the cup were decided to be played. In the final hand, both players had only an ace, but McConachie won at the expense of the kicker.