UK poker players ultimately failed to represent their home country in last year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada. Only one bracelet was brought back to the UK in 2014, and now, with the results of the first 15-of-65 events in the books, pros from England, Ireland and Scotland haven’t fared any better.
Thus far, the closest any UK poker players have gotten to grasping a piece of 2015 WSOP jewelry is 3rd place. That near-honor went to Britain’s Benjamin Dobson, who scooped $105k in Event #13, $2,500 Omaha/7 Card Hi-Lo, before Konstantin Maslak of Russia (1st, $269,612) defeated American Hani Awad (2nd, $166,583) to claim gold.
Americans Domination Subsides in 2015 WSOP
While UK poker players haven’t realized ultimate success thus far, several other countries have. By this time last year, American players had dominated the World Series of Poker right up through the first 14 events. The first non-American to adorn the coveted bracelet was Davidi Katai of Belgium, who broke the US-winning streak by taking down the 15th event for just over half a million USD.
Ten more non-Americans went home with bracelets that year, with Germany earning the most (3), before Martin Jacobson of Stockholm, Sweden took down the 2014 WSOP NL Holdem Championship Main Event for $10,000,000. Note that, despite 6 different countries being represented by the final table’s November Nine last year, not a single UK poker player was among them.
The 2015 WSOP has proved much more affluent for international poker players. Americans swept the first 7 events, but Austria’s Paul Michaelis snagged gold in Event #8, $1,500 PL Holdem, for $189k, followed by Max Pescatori of Italy winning Event #9, $1,500 Razz, for $155k.
In Event #11, $1,500 Limit Holdem, William Kakon ($196,055) made history by becoming the first known native of Morocco to win a WSOP bracelet.
Since then, two more international players have achieved gold in the 2015 WSOP. Idan Raviv of Israel took 1st in Event #12, $1,500 NL Hold 6-Max, for $457k, and, as detailed above, Russia’s Konstantin Maslak won Event #13 for $269k.
It doesn’t take a calculator to figure out that non-Americans are representing much better this time around. After 15 events in the 2014 WSOP, the ratio of American to non-American wins was 14-to-1, or 6.66%. In 2015, that number has dropped to 10-to-5, or 33.33%.
UK Poker Players in the Hunt for 2015 WSOP Gold
There’s still a long way to go before the 2015 WSOP comes to a close. There are 53 more events (68 in all) on the menu, thus 53 more chances for UK poker players to bring home gold. And right now, Adam Owen is in a strong position to do so.
With just 12 players remaining, Owen is the current chip leader in the $10,000 Razz Championship Event #11. Owen has 591k chips, but American Thomas Keller is right on his heels with 535k. Both will have to deal with the likes of some extremely talented US pros in Phil Hellmuth (307k), Erik Seidel (284k), Shaun Deeb (155k) and Brandon Shack-Harris (58k), as well as Canadian pro Mike Leah (242k), among others. But also in their midst, with a median stack to work with, is UK poker player Stephen Chidwick (235k).
Over at the tables of at Event #18, $1,000 Turbo NL Hold’em, where 29 competitors remain, two UK poker players are listed in the top 10. John Gale has the second highest chip stack of 576k (American Gregory Kolo leads with 862k), while fellow Brit Stuart Rutter ranks 9th with 368k.