David Rudling-Smith Is Cash King; Derek Rowland in Split Pot Heaven, on Day Five

Once again the Aspers Stratford Westfield was teeming with some of the best amateur poker talent in the world as the 2014 APAT World Championship Of Amateur Poker (WCOAP) continued towards its glistening finale.

Saturday saw two more champions crowned in addition to the Main Event getting under way. Interested in a recap of the day’s action? Then keep on reading this article as it will do just that.

2014 WCOAP Event #13: Cash Tournament

The APAT created the cash tournament a year or so ago and it has quickly become one of the most popular tournaments on each APAT stop. It’s a fantastic idea and one that essentially sees players sit down and play eight-handed cash games with the largest stack winning the title.

Five tables of eight competed in the first round of the 2014 WCOAP Cash championship and when play came to a close the following players, in order of stack size, had progressed to the final.

Player Stack
Rick Craig £301.25
J.P. Round £296.75
Shaun Venables £278.25
Neil Sillick £275.75
Richard Sheils £244.50
David Rudling-Smith £241.50
Gary Jackson £237.25

In an epic battle, J.P Round and Rick Craig both lost their stacks, while Shaun Venables was the bubble boy and won no extra prize money, although he did finish with a £337.75 stack so all was not lost.

Third place went to Richard Sheils, the silver medal to Anthony Ross, leaving David Rudling-Smith to secure the title, gold medal, championship bracelet and bragging rights!

2014 WCOAP Event #13: Cash Tournament Results
1 David Rudling-Smith £516 £280
2 Anthony Ross £417 £120
3 Richard Sheils £399.50
4 Shaun Venables £337.75
5 Neil Sillick £255.00
6 Gary Jacson £198.75
7 Rick Craig £0
8 J.P. Round £0

2014 WCOAP Event #12: Pot Limit Omaha High/Lo – Derek Rowland Wins

Seventy-nine players bought into the amazingly structured Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo (PLO8) event, a popular poker variant that creates some massive pots – many of which get chopped due to the very nature of the game.

The event kicked off at 2:00pm and over the next nine-and-a-half hours the 79 entrants were whittled down to the final table of nine.

Seat Player Chips
1 John Seel 250,000
2 Rieuwert Fleer 260,000
3 William Whicher 190,000
4 Neil Sheehan 150,000
5 Derek Rowland 76,000
6 Mark Lassman 37,000
7 Robert Heller 61,000
8 Michael Perry 95,000
9 Steve Johnson 100,000

Three players busted out during the first 30 minutes of the final table: Michael Perry, Robert Heller and the bubble boy Mark Lassman.

Shortly after the bubble burst, William Whicher (6th for £235) and Steve Johnson (5th for £290) crashed out. They were followed into the cold London air first by Rieuwert Fleer (4th for £395) and then Neil Sheehan (3rd for £530), leaving John Seel and Derek Rowland to lock horns heads up for the gold medal, championship bracelet and the £1,205 first place prize.

All three of those things now belong to Rowland who held {A-}{7-}{6-}{2-} versus Seel’s {K-}{10-}{5-}{2-} on a {3-}{J-}{6-} flop. The turn and river brought the {5-} and {7-}, Rowland scooped the pot and Seel busted in second place.

Place Player Prize
1 Derek Rowland £1,205
2 John Seel £825
3 Neil Sheehan £530
4 Rieuwert Fleer £395
5 Steve Johnson £290
6 William Whicher £235
7 Mark Lassman £0
8 Robert Heller £0
9 Michael Perry £0

2014 WCOAP Event #11: Main Event Day 1a

The 2014 WCOAP Main Event has got off to a brilliant start after 189 players bough into Saturday’s Day 1a. Of those 189 who bought in only 43 made it through to Monday’s Day 2, with Scott Berridge leading them so far courtesy of his 220,700 stack.

Berridge made the long journey from Cornwall to compete in this event and it looks to be a great decision so far as he stormed to the top of the chip counts. One of the APAT members joked on the bustling APAT forum that “God runs like Berridge,” suggesting he was having more than his fair share of luck on Day 1a. Berridge will hope his run-good continues.

Also well stacked going into Da 2 are players such as Daniel Crabble (181,700), Kerrien Sabastien (167,600) and Ken Wright (164,500). The top 10 chip counts can be found below.

Place Player Chips
1 Scott Berridge 220,700
2 Daniel Crabble 181,700
3 Kerrien Sabastien 167,600
4 Ken Wright 164,500
5 Levente Varga 159,400
6 Jamie Lee 143,100
7 Claire MacGregor 142,700
8 Terence Simpson 142,500
9 Rob Quinn 137,000
10 Anthony Gale 129,200

Easter Sunday sees Day 1b of the Main Event take place in addition to the Pot Limit Omaha Championship and the invite-only Season Seven Championship.