The final day of the inaugural PokerStars Festival London Main Event saw 24 survivors out of a 944-entry strong field return to the table at the Hippodrome Casino. The event ran until the midnight to find the champion and it was Rehman Kassam, a 23-year-old law student and occasional poker player from London in the UK, who emerged champion to pocket £89,320 after a 3-way deal.
When three players left, a 3-way deal was struck among Kassam, Daniel Harwood, and Eric Cech. Harwood received the most of the prize pool with £95,000, while Kassam got £89,320 and the golden trophy. Cech got £70,000, while Yuriy Boyko finished 4th for £ 43,370. Though Harwood received the biggest share of the prize pool, but he finished as runner-up to Rehman Kassam.
Winning the Main Event for Kassam had not been easy. He had to face very tough players. Harwood, who was his heads-up opponent, proved the toughest among all the players. In fact, there were times when it looked as if Harwood would win the title. When 12 players left in the game, Harwood had accumulated a huge stack of 18 million chips. Finally, when the three-handed table was being played, he held two times more chips than his two remaining opponents at the table.
After Cech’s elimination, the heads-up game started between Kassam and Harwood. The latter was still holding the chip lead. However, the 23-year-old law student did not want to miss the opportunity. Even though Harwood gave him a tough time, he suddenly found him in a good position by a winning huge pot and took the chip lead. Afterward, he finished off his opponents in a few minutes only.
The final hand saw Kassam raise to 400,000 to which Harwood called. The flop came down 10d-6c-5s.Harwood checked the flop and Kassam bet 500,000 to which his opponent moved all in. Kassam made a snap-call. Kassam held Kh-10c, while Harwood’s had 10h-7d. The turn and river cards came 4d and the Qs, giving Kassam the higher pair to claim his the Main Event title, trophy, and the first place prize.
The PokerStars Festival London main event had a £990 buy-in and attracted 944 entries, generating a whopping £824,112 in the prize pool. The top 24 finishers out of 944 players received their share of the prize money.The conclusion of the Main Event marked the end of the inaugural PokerStars Festival London.
A Look at Final Table Payouts:
- Rehman Kassam – £89,320* ($112,543)*
- Daniel Harwood – £95,000* ($119,700)*
- Eric Cech – £70,000* ($88,200)*
- Yuriy Boyko – £43,370 ($54,646)
- Clement Tripodi – £31,510 ($39,702)
- Ludovic Geilich – £22,950 ($28,917)
- Alexis Fleur – £16,702 ($21,044)
- Lam Van Trinh – £12,150 ($15,309)