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If you're going to to be the last man standing from a poker tournament of 650 players, you're going to have to hit a few cards. And if you had the choice of when to start hitting them, you'd probably choose "at the final table" when it matters most of all.
Andrew Couldridge, from London, has just been crowned champion of UKIPT Nottingham, winning £80,000 as the lone survivor from four days of action at Dusk Till Dawn card room. He battled superbly throughout more than 20 hours of play, and then as the tournament entered its death throes, he could suddenly do no wrong.
When they were five-handed, Couldridge won a monster pot with pocket nines against Oliver Schaffmann's K♠J♠, and from that moment on it was a cruise. Couldridge crippled Graham Giles with A♠Q♥, then knocked out Owen Robinson with pocket sixes.
He sat back and allowed Schaffmann to eliminate Andros Spyrou in third, but returned for a short heads up battle, outdrawing Schaffmann's pocket nines with Q♠4♠. That was tournament-winning form, and Couldridge, who started the day in fourth place, was the champion in less than five hours.
"It's been a very tiring three days of ups and downs," Couldridge said. "This was my first UKIPT event, it's a very good tour with lots of play and was a very enjoyable tournament."
It's alway better when you win it too.
