Ralph Baylor Ships 888Live Local London For £22,500, Kara Scott Takes Third Place
Ireland's Ralph Baylor outlasted a field of 590 players to win the 888Live Local London £220 Main Event at Aspers Casino for £22,500. The event not only generated a record for the most players in an 888Live Local event, but the £116,820 prize pool also more than doubled the posted £50,000 guarantee.
The tournament featured three opening days from March 3-5 with each flight allowing one reentry. Each day more players got into the action, with 168 entrants registering on Day 1a, 173 entrants on Day 1b, and 227 entrants on Day 1c. Through it all, 79 players survived the three opening flights to compete in Day 2 on March 6 with 63 of them walking away with a cash and at least £450.
888Live Local provides lower-limit players a great chance to get in on some amazing action with tournaments featuring great structures and big guarantees. Players are provided a chance to play on a big stage for huge money without worrying about a huge dent in their wallets.
However, this doesn't mean that only lower-limit players get in on the action as this tournament witnessed a few big names competing including newly-appointed 888Live Ambassador Kara Scott, who navigated her way to the final table to take third place for £10,250.
Scott shared she had fun playing in the event and was also pleased with her performance, stating to 888poker Magazine that, "It's a great start. It felt like so much fun. The first day was really long for me, and I was telling myself, 'Don't throw it away, don't throw it away.' I had a really nice stack, and I managed to keep it together, and I'm kind of proud of that, because I have a really bad habit late at night in the last level of throwing away a lot of chips, and I didn't do that. It was a nice personal goal met."
Scott further elaborated on her experience by stating that, "For a while, I really wasn't finding the fun in poker as much and then the last couple of years I've managed to re-find it, and this is part of that for me. I play because I really love the game, and I like being able to sit at tables with people and hear their stories and tell some jokes. It was really nice. I smiled the whole time."
While Scott's performance is certainly worth noting, the star of the tournament was Baylor. Baylor entered the final table with the chip lead, and he used his stack to put pressure on his opponents. After Scott was eliminated, it took just 30 minutes of heads-up play for him to defeat England's Bernard Okyere-Sasu to win the title. Okyere-Sasu didn't leave disappointed, as he was able to parlay his £220 entry fee into a nice second-place payday of £16,000.
Baylor was not only thrilled by his biggest tournament cash in his career but the great structure featured in the event.
"It's my biggest cash by a big margin, so I can't complain, I enjoyed the tournament," explained Baylor to 888poker Magazine. "The structure of two-day events is ideal, and the guarantee as well is an attractive package. I just play a few tournaments a year. There's a lot of play in the deep levels. Also, the three day one option gives you a lot of flexibility to reenter."
Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Baylor | £22,500 |
| 2 | Bernard Okyere-Sasu | £16,000 |
| 3 | Kara Scott | £10,250 |
| 4 | Hugues Lavieu | £7,600 |
| 5 | Amar Al Hussona | £5,690 |
| 6 | Shah Raza | £4,570 |
| 7 | Robert Norman | £3,790 |
| 8 | Enzo Del Piero | £3,020 |
| 9 | Luke Burton | £2,270 |
*Image courtesy of "fabfotos."
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