On Sunday the 25th of June, Londoner Richard Redmond won a record-breaking $262,151.50 for his 1st place finish in the PokerStars $1 million guaranteed event.
With 1301 players contributing $1,000 each, it is no wonder that this figure became the highest prize to be won in the popular weekly event. Known by many as the 'big one', PokerStars' Sunday night extravaganza has always been keenly attended and consistently hands out six figure sums for top honours - June the 25th was no different.
Incredibly, Redmond nearly missed out on this event when he reached his depositing limit of $600, a capped figure placed by PokerStars on daily deposits. However, the quick thinking Redmond soon accrued the desired number of bucks when he jumped onto the Omaha Hi-Lo cash tables to build his money up to the 1k mark, thereby enabling him to by-in to the evening's event.
"Winning this tournament was an exercise in patience," said Redmond afterwards. "When we were down to around 30 players my tens bust out a pair of queens when I made a set on the flop. That is the moment of luck any player needs to win a tournament, but I can honestly say that was the only time I pushed my chips in without the best of it until we got shorthanded. When we were down to the last three, I think we all became aware of just how much money we were playing for, and for the first time I sensed some fear from the table. I tried to make that work in my favour."
Redmond, who runs an indoor golf course in Canary Wharf, finally won the online event with a pair of pocket jacks.
"As soon as I won, the first thing I did was take my border terrior Dolly out for a walk in the park. She was my sole companion for the final hour or so, and had been very patient! When I got home, the phone was ringing off the hook with friends calling up to congratulate me."
So, another week, and another six figure online winner. Several years ago, who would have thought?...