It was all smiles for Britain’s Richard Triggs, who won the largest prize ever in his life since he began playing live poker tournaments. The Devilfish Cup, which is named after a legendary poker player David Ulliott, attracted a crowd of poker enthusiasts.
The final day of the event witnessed enough dramas and excitements with key poker characters exiting the race earlier than expected. It was a massive setback for the reigning WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson, who couldn’t make it to the money bracket. Other famous poker gamers who failed to hit cash prizes included Antony Wigs, Adam Owens, and Joe Beevers.
The Devilfish Cup managed to realize $62000 after collaborating with World Poker Tour and Dusk Till Dawn in the initiative. Furthermore, the two partners in the event also donated $300 apiece for charity.
The race for the prestigious title had 208 entrants, who all put necessary effort to clinch the main prize of $250000. However, only participants who finished up to the 23rd spot were able to walk home with some cash prizes.
The final table activity was a $5300 buy-in event, which never took long to remain a battle of nine poker personalities with exceptional abilities. The good part of that stage of the event was that all the would-be losers were guaranteed some handsome consolation prizes.
It took a short time for the three individuals to bow out of the competition, but with some cash for the effort. Australia’s Kahle Burns was dismissed at position nine and picked $21000 as he departed. Eighth-placed Dominic Cullen bagged $26000 while Scott Margereson finished seventh and had to contend with $33000.
With six players left, it was Trigg who was carrying the chip lead, but the gap between the eventual winner wasn’t massive. Simon Trumper was at the sixth spot, and all indications were showing that he would be the first to leave the contest.
It was evident that the main battle was between Trigg and Paul Siddle, but an early pot saw the former extend the lead by more than 1.4 million chips. Soon, Trigg was in a precarious position with the Dusk Till Dawn’s Trumper grounded to three massive blinds. Trumper’s all-in move with a suit of king-queen saw the watchful Trigg gain a big blind after placing his 9-3 off-suit. After hitting the three, Trigg was on the flop and consequently, by the river, sending Trumper to pick $43000 in the process.
As the name would suggest, Tom Hall was the next victim to leave the hall to the last four participants. The pocket of three that Hall possessed saw his final eight blinds dancing in the middle. Fabian Gumz was the one launching the missiles at Hall. Gumz ace-nine was sufficient to dismiss Hall, who took $58000 after finishing in the fifth spot.
Paul Siddle then came to action again to swiftly send Jack Sandford to the desk for $80000. Sandford couldn’t take advantage of his all-in movement involving a pocket of nines to launch a flip against Siddle. Ace-queen that Siddle had proved enough weapon to dismiss Sandford, who finished fourth in a fierce battle.
It was Gumz’s turn to exit the battle in the third position, taking $115150. The second spot fell to Paul Siddle, who won just $50000 less than the winner. An eight that was in Trigg’s hand caused enough danger for Siddle who had a ten. Having survived on the river, Trigg became the winner of the prestigious Devilfish Cup. His enormous glory now puts his overall winnings in live tournaments to over $1 million.
The elated Trigg had this to say after his historic day: “When I first won poker events, and people asked me how I got into poker. I always said Devilfish was one of one of the main reasons.”
