Stephen Chidwick and Sam Soverel both won a tournament on Monday in London at the British Poker Open. The field size in each event were small enough to have transported every player to the casino in the same limo.
Chidwick took down Event #7, £25,000 Pot Limit Omaha for £202,500. Soverel shipped Event #8, £25,000 No Limit Hold’em for £227,500, his second victory of the series. The two high stakes tournaments had a combined 28 entries. To put things in perspective, 27 players paid $1 million to enter the 2018 WSOP Big One for One Drop.
Stephen Chidwick Continues His Winning Ways
Stephen Chidwick has always been a no limit hold’em tournament specialist. And one of the best of all-time. But he’s starting to have some success – okay, a lot of success – at pot limit Omaha.
In June, he shipped the prestigious WSOP $25,000 PLO High Roller for $1.6 million. At the British Poker Open, he now has a pair of cashes in PLO events, including winning the £25,000 tournament on Monday for £202,500, although the tournament had just 15 entries. George Wolff (second place for £112,500) and Sam Soverel (third place for £60,000) also cashed.
Afterwards, Chidwick was perhaps a bit modest. He told Poker Central in reference to his recent PLO success that he’s been “running good” and downplayed the skill factor. But it’s hard to imagine luck is the only factor in his newfound PLO success given he also took down the 278-player WSOP PLO High Roller, arguably the most difficult pot limit Omaha tournament in the world as it attracts many of the top players.
Stephen Chidwick now has over $32 million in career cashes, most all-time among the Brits, and eighth most in the world. He has four cashes through eight events at the British Poker Open and trails only Sam Soverel for the overall series lead.
Sam Soverel Wins Yet Again
Speaking of Sam Soverel, he pulled off another impressive performance, even if it was against a 13-player field. The American took down his second event of the series, this one the £25,000 No Limit Hold’em for £227,500. He also has a pair of runner-up finishes and, as we just mentioned, a third place finish.
The £25,000 No Limit Hold’em event lasted just one day instead of the scheduled two days and wasn’t live-streamed on PokerGo. With such a tiny field, the final table was achieved too quickly to put together a broadcast. Steve O’Dwyer finished in second place, earning £97,500.
The British Poker Open is in its first year of existence but isn’t drawing much attention on social media and the eight events have only averaged 22.5 entries, which includes re-entries. It’s possible the BPO will one day grow into something much bigger. But perhaps Poker Central jumped the gun on dubbing it a “major” before it earned that distinction.
