Almost 260 students descended on St. Andrews in early April to take part in the biggest poker tournament ever held in the UK – the inaugural UK Student Poker Championships in association with Betfred.com. The tournament, held in the Students Union of St. Andrews University, was the brainchild of Christian Harris, a fourth-year French student, who approached Betfred for financial investment and logistical help in order to get the tournament off the ground.
Competitors were playing no-limit Texas hold'em, the popular poker game that is taking the online world by storm, and tickets to the event were worth £30 each, making a total cash prize pool of £7,770. On top of this cash pool, the winner would also receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the World Series of Poker – to be held in Las Vegas in July- courtesy of Betfred.com. A ticket for this event alone is worth $10,000!
Held over two days, the starting field of 259 was whittled down to just 30 by the end of day one, with Nikolas Spathis from Aberdeen University ahead in the chip count.
All qualifiers for the second, and final, day were guaranteed a prize, but play was understandably cagey as all players wanted to make it to the prestigious top table of 10 and into the big money.
By late afternoon on Sunday, there were just three left battling for the trophy: Darius Nikbin, who'd travelled up from Imperial College in London; Dhruv Doshi, from Warwick; and Calum MacNicol from St. Andrews. With a huge proportion of the chips sitting with Calum, the others dug deep and won a few hands, but it was to no avail. Calum claimed the title and prize money.
UK Snooker Champion, and keen poker player, Stephen Maguire presented the UK Student Poker champion his trophy and cheque for £1,180, rounding off a fantastic weekend of poker.
Congratulations to all who made it to the money and to Calum MacNicol for becoming the first-ever UK
Student Poker champion – winning the chance of fame and fortune with an all-expenses-paid seat to the
World Series of Poker, courtesy of Betfred.com. Betfred Chairman Fred Done said, "We are delighted to have been able to put together the biggest poker tournament ever seen in the UK, and to give the chance to one lucky student to take part in the fantastic
World Series of Poker. I just can't wait for next year's competition, which I hope will be even bigger." A full list of prize winners can be found below. For further information, please contact Paul Gambrill at Betfred on 01925 288596 or Christian Harris, tournament organiser, on 07734 923851. Photographs are available on request.
The full list of prize winners:
1. Calum MacNicol, St. Andrews . . £1,180 +
WSOP seat
2. Dhruv Doshi, Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,180
3. Darius Nikbin, Imperial College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
4. Phill Sievers, Salford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 585
5. Andrew Thompson, Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..430
6. Angus Spence, Dundee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .350
7. Martin Ledgard, Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ….310
8. Iain Boxer, Dundee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 270
9. Paul Fairbridge, Edinburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..235
10. Alex Gabriel, Cambridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195
11. David Mcinroy, Strathclyde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
12. Cameron Boal, Abertay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
13. Gary Coulter, Lancaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
14. Alvin Kwan, St. Andrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
15. Phil Nicholls, Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
16. Seamus Conner, Trinity College . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
17. Stuart Black, Warwick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
18. Louis Bridger, Bristol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
19. Nikolaos Spathis, Aberdeen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
20. Robert Glasspool, Imperial College . . . . . . . . . . . .130
21. Dave Ranki, St. Andrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 85
22. Tom Murphy, Edinburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..85
23. Kevin Morton, Glasgow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
24. John Macintosh, St. Andrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..85
25. Daryl Walker, St. Andrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..85
26. Ian Grant, Heriot Watt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
27. Nicholas Allen, Manchester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
28. Nikki Mcintosh, Heriot Watt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …85
29. JJ Scharf, Keele . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..85
30. Drew Veevers, Royal Holloway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
RNAMENT CIRCUIT
