British Poker Open Ends with Soverel as Overall Champion

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on December 15th, 2021

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The first-ever British Poker Open ended this week at Aspers Casino in London this week. The whirlwind schedule of 10 high-stakes poker tournaments played out in less than two weeks.

Poker Central, originators of the US Poker Open that takes place in Las Vegas, introduced the British Poker Open this month. In partnership with PartyPoker LIVE, the series offered buy-ins of £10K to £100K – all with reentries available – for high rollers.

Action started on September 2, and the first five events produced these results:

–Event 1: £10K NLHE winner Luc Greenwood (£119,600) out of 26 entries

–Event 2:  £10K PLO winner George Wolff (£120,000) out of 30 entries

–Event 3:  £10K NLHE winner Paul Newey (£156,400) out of 46 entries

–Event 4:  £10K Short Deck Hold’em winner Sam Greenwood (£110,400) out of 24 entries

–Event 5:  £25K NLHE winner Sam Soverel (£322,000) out of 28 entries

The tournaments continued with even bigger buy-ins for the remainder of the series. And this is how they played out over the past week:

Event 6:  £25K NLHE

The second tournament at this buy-in level drew the fewest number of entries thus far with only 22 but that still created a prize pool of £550K. The top four players were to be paid.

Only five players made it to Day 2. Though Ali Imsirovic was second in chips to start, he was the bubble player after more than three hours of play. He departed in fifth place.

The remaining four didn’t take long to finish the tournament, though. Sergi Reixach quickly eliminated the first two players and won the tournament in short order.

1^st place:  Sergi Reixach (£253,000)

2^nd place:  Timothy Adams (£154,000)

3^rd place:  Elio Fox (£88,000)

4^th place:  Michael Zhang (£55,000)

What does it take to play against best in the world? Years and years of hard work for 🇪🇸's @srxakgirona. 🇬🇧https://t.co/oHXp3VAWIU pic.twitter.com/nMTlfDKjzN

— PokerGO Tour (@PokerGOTour) September 11, 2019

Event 7:  £25K PLO

The high-stakes Omaha event brought in only 15 total entries, putting the prize pool at £375K and paying only three players with that money.

Four players went into Day 2, and Ben Tollerene was the first to go on the money bubble. Soverel was the original chip leader but departed in third, and after a long heads-up battle, Stephen Chidwick emerged victorious.

1^st place:  Stephen Chidwick (£202,500)

2^nd place:  George Wolff (£112,500)

3^rd place:  Sam Soverel (£60,000)

Event 8:  £25K NLHE

There were only 13 entries into this tournament, the prize pool was set at £325K. Only the top two finishers would be paid.

It all played out in one day with so few players. Ben Tollerene bubbled the event. And when it was said and done, the man who had already been atop the leaderboard for the series thus far took first place for the second time in less than a week.

1^st place:  Sam Soverel (£227,500)

2^nd place:  Steve O’Dwyer (£97,500)

Event 9:  £50K NLHE

With 18 total entries, this event created a £900K prize pool for the guys. Three would be paid.

The tournament played out in a single day with everything changing late in the action. Sam Greenwood bubbled, and David Peters was the chip leader with three left. But he lost all of his chips in just two hands, and Mikita Badziakouski dominated until the end.

1^st place:  Mikita Badziakouski (£486,000)

2^nd place:  Christoph Vogelsang (£270,000)

3^rd place:  David Peters (£144,000)

Event 10:  £100K NLHE

The final event of the series brought in 12 entries. The resulting prize pool was £1.2 million.

With only two players being paid, Mikita Badziakouski did the honors of exiting in third place, and Ben Tollerene remained to battle Cary Katz – founder of Poker Central – for the win.

1^st place:  Ben Tollerene (£840,000)

2^nd place:  Cary Katz (£360,000)

From short stack to 🏆. @drew_amato walks us through Event 10 with his 📸. #BPO🇬🇧https://t.co/4ll764fGXC pic.twitter.com/BCABbqGKwH

— PokerGO Tour (@PokerGOTour) September 12, 2019

Player of the Series

One player had the overall points in the series locked up days before the British Poker Open ended.

Sam Soverel was at the top of the points leaderboard halfway through the series by a serious margin. His 480 points was followed by Sam Greenwood with 260 points.

The next five events shook things up a bit but not for Soverel, who never gave up the lead. He finished with 780 points without much worry that other players would catch him. For the victory, he won a trophy and honors.

“It was a great series for me,” Soverel said to the Poker Central reporter. “I’m not really a trophy guy, but because everyone else wanted it so much, and I got to keep it, it was pretty sweet winning it!”

In all, Soverel claimed two victories in the series, two runner-up finishes, and a third place. His winnings for the series totaled $966,462.

The final points standings were as follows:

1^st place:  Sam Soverel (780 points)

2^nd place:  Stephen Chidwick (420 points)

3^rd place:  Cary Katz (365 points)

4^th place:  Ben Tollerene (350 points)

5^th place:  George Wolff (340 points)