Justin Smith has defeated PartyPoker pro TonyG in heads up action to win the World Poker Tour London High Roller Event and £141,000 in prize money.
The event had 19 entrants all paying £15,000 each to play creating a prize pool of £285,000.
Justin Smith, the online pro known as BoostedJ, would emerge victorious ahead of a tough field that included the likes of WSOP Main Event Champion Huck Seed, Frank Kassela the 2010 WSOP player of the year, Jason Lester, young gun and Victory poker pro Andrew Robl, British bad boy Luke Schwartz as well as Freddy Deeb.
With the smaller field, these players would need to make the top three spots to walk away smiling on the day.
The payout structure would be:
1st - £141,000
2nd - £84,600
3rd - £56,400
It would be Freddy Deeb, TonyG and Justin Smith making it to the final three spots, with Bruno Fitoussi being the unfortunate soul to go bust on the bubble.
The battle for the 1st would see large chip swings between the three survivors and it really could have been anyone’s title.
In the end, Deeb would be eliminated when he called Smith’s push with AT. Smith held pockets 4s. The flop didn’t help Deeb, who would then turn an Ace, but the river would bring an unlikely 4, sending Freddy to the sidelines with an extra £56,400 in his pocket.
Smith would be the chip leader, but TonyG fought back and was lucky enough to hold KK when Smith made a move with 88. TonyG’s Kings would hold and he would take the lead from Smith.
Smith would battle back to eventually even the score. The big hand would come when Smith held Q9 on a flop of Qc4s2s that hit both players with TonyG holding 53. Smith would lead into TonyG who then shoved all his chips in to push Smith off the hand. With the board also being draw heavy, Smith most likely placed G on a flush draw and made the call. His pair held and he would win the 1st even WPT London High Rollers Event!
