England's Sam Acheampong Ships 888Live Local London With 3-2 Offsuit for £21,950
Yesterday, England's Sam Acheampong outlasted a field of 564 players to win the 888Live Local London £220 Main Event at Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City for £21,950.
The monthly event easily surpassed its guarantee of €88,000 with 564 entrants generating a sizable £111,870 prize pool, once again proving that the synergy between the live play experience and the 888poker brand is working well.
The first of three opening days of the deep-stacked event with players starting off with 25,000 chips kicked off on July 28 with 21 of the 160 entrants surviving. A similar ratio of players navigated through Day 1b on July 29 (28 out of 186 entrants) and Day 1c on July 30 (37 out of 218 entrants) before the surviving 83 players merged into a single field for Day 2 on July 31. None of the 11 online qualifiers at 888poker were able to survive any of the opening days.
Almost three-quarters of the Day 2 field were paid at least the minimum prize of £410. The bubble was somewhat anticlimactic with England's Amar Al Hussona failing to show-up and was eventually blinded off to finish in 64th place.
After a busy day of play, the Day 2 field eventually whittled down to nine players with Romania's George Titoiu as the chip leader with 2.7 million chips.
| Seat | Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shah Athar | 1,550,000 |
| 2 | Andrew Abernethy | 1,060,000 |
| 3 | Gary Miller | 725,000 |
| 4 | Ning Lu | 1,960,000 |
| 5 | Sam Acheampong | 1,630,000 |
| 6 | Andreas Constantinou | 995,000 |
| 7 | Deividas Peleckas | 2,000,000 |
| 8 | George Titoiu | 2,705,000 |
| 9 | Andrew Sotiriou | 1,475,000 |
Despite his chip lead, Titoiu's stack dwindled down and was eliminated in sixth place for £4,380 after he shoved from the button with Q♦3♥. His hand was unable to hold after England's Gary Miller, who entered the final table with the shortest stack, called from the big blind with 6♦2♦ when the board ran out 2♠5♣5♦A♦K♦.
After a few more eliminations, Miller entered the final table with a slight 7,870,000 to 6,225,000 against Acheampong. Acheampong was able to come back and eventually win the tournament in a grand fashion with what many believe to be the worst starting hand in poker.
On the final hand Acheampong raised from the button and Miller called. Miller shoved his remaining stack with K♣6♦ on a flop of 6♠A♦3♦ which Acheampong decided to go for it with 3♣2♦ and called. Miller was looking good to double up when the 10♣ to hit the turn needing to just fade five outs on the river. However, on the 2♣ spiked the river giving Acheampong the winning two pair hand and the trophy along with a huge check.
Final Table Payouts of the 888Live Local London Main Event
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Acheampong | £21,950 |
| 2 | Gary Miller | £15,230 |
| 3 | Ning Lu | £9,790 |
| 4 | Deividas Peleckas | £7,240 |
| 5 | Shah Athar | £5,430 |
| 6 | George Titoiu | £4,380 |
| 7 | Andrew Abernethy | £3,630 |
| 8 | Andreas Constantinou | £2,890 |
| 9 | Andrew Sotiriou | £2,180 |
Both 888poker and Aspers Casino are thrilled about how their 12-month partnership signed in March is bringing many 888Live Local events to the casino.
Another low buy-in 888-branded event is just around the corner at Aspers Casino with the £110 888 Max Poker Event taking place on Aug. 4-7 featuring a £28,000. However, many poker players along with the organizers are already looking forward to the huge 888Live Local London Festival taking place from Oct. 13-23 with a handful of exciting tournaments.
Head of Poker at Aspers John Scanlon shared that he is thrilled that the partnership with 888poker is leading to "bigger and better" poker festivals.
"Our partnership with 888poker and our drive and commitment to provide players with the best product possible, meant it was an easy decision for Aspers to go even bigger and better," said Scanlon. "The 888Live London Festival on October 13-23 will feature various tournaments with buy-ins for everyone, ranging from a £220 Local event with a £100,000 guarantee, a £880 Main Event with a £200,000 guarantee, and a £2,000 high roller. We hope to welcome many of our regulars and new players to this amazing festival."
Images courtesy of 888poker.com.
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