| British Poker Pro James Bord Becomes WSOP Europe Main Event Champion |
| Tuesday, 28 September 2010 22:15 |
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The 2010 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion is James Bord, from Stanmore, UK. He is a 29-year-old professional poker player. Bord was cheered to victory by a boisterous crowd packed around center stage at the Empire Casino in London. Prior to playing for a living, Bord worked for international banking giant Citigroup. He decided to leave his conventional job to focus instead on playing poker for a living. He is close friends and strategic allies with top British poker pro Sam Trickett, who was present during the finale.  This was only the second WSOP Europe event Bard had ever entered. But he certainly made this one count. This turned out to be his best tournament finish ever. Bord has now cashed seven times at the WSOP, including a sixth-place finish in Las Vegas earlier this year in the Deuce-to-Seven Lowball championship. Until this victory, Bord had been far better known among his peers as a cash-game player. When in Las Vegas, he routinely plays $300-600 and $400-800 stakes in the biggest poker rooms in the city. However, with this victory Bord is most certainly going to be seen more on the international tournament circuit. Bord was behind in chips during most of the final day, until he was heads-up against Italian-born Monte Carlo resident Fabrizio Baldassari. Bord won a huge pot late to take a slight chip advantage and closed out his dramatic victory a short time later when his pocket tens defeated Baldassari’s pocket fives. Bord collected £830,401 for first place, equal to about $1,316,550 (USD). He was also presented with his first WSOP gold bracelet. The final table players and top nine tournament finishers were as follows: 1st – James Bard (London, UK) 2nd – Fabrizio Baldassari (Monte Carlo, Monaco) 3rd – Ronald Lee (Jericho, NY – USA) 4th – Roland de Wolfe (London, UK) 5th – Nicholas Levi (London, UK) 6th – Danny Steinberg (Fairfield, IA – USA) 7th – Dan Fleyshman (San Diego, CA – USA) 8th – Brian Powell (Louisville, KY) 9th – Marc Inizan (Pluguffen, France) The top 36 finishers collected prize money. There were six former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in this event – including Roland de Wolfe (4th), Hoyt Corkins (15th), Phil Ivey (19th), Greg Mueller (22nd), Barry Greenstein (23rd) and Freddy Deeb (30th). This was the fifth and final WSOP gold bracelet tournament played this year in London. Recapping all five events which are now complete, the winners were: EVENT #1: Phil Laak -- (£2,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em) – won £170,802 EVENT #2: Jeffrey Lisandro -- (£5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha) – won £159,000 EVENT #3: Scott Shelley -- (£1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em) – won £133,857 EVENT #4: Gus Hansen -- (£10,000 buy-in High-Roller Heads-Up Championship) – won £288,409 EVENT #5: James Bard -- (£10,000 buy-in Main Event Championship – won £830,401 This was the most successful of the four years that WSOP Europe has been played in London. The total prize pool and total number of entrants for 2010 exceeded all other years. |
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