EPT London: Young Scotsman David Vamplew Defeats John Juanda for the Title

It was certainly not what you would call an even match: 23-year old David Vamplew went up against Poker veteran John Juanda in the Heads-up of the EPT London Main Event, but eventually came out on top.

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Day five of the EPT London Main event should have been the day to shine for John Juanda. He went into the day second in chips, claimed the lead for a good portion of the day, but eventually it was the unknown Scottish poker pro David Vamplew who got the title. Starting third in chips, he finished his rollercoaster ride with £900.000 and an EPT trophy.

The two finalists clashed for first time when play was still seven-handed, as Juanda led out with a raise pre-flop and later fired three barrels on all streets. The board read and Vamplew finally even snap-called Juanda's river bet, turning over for top pair with a good kicker. Unfortunately, this was not enough to best Juanda's which had already hit their set on the flop. As a consquence, Juanda became chip leader and Vamplew moved down to the bottom third of the leaderboard.

A Scotsman on his way up

But the newcomer came back, primarily with the help of two Queens that busted short-stacked Kayvan Peyman for fifth place. The fact that Kyle Bowker added some more juice to the pot by calling Peyman's all-in earlier but surrendering his hand to Vamplew's all-in made this victory even sweeter.

Two more hours went by with play being three-handed until the two bigstacks at the table, Juanda and Kyle Bowker, decided it was time for some action. Both raised well before the flop and when the cards were on their backs, Juanda's was significantly behind Bowker's . Fortunately for Juanda, Lady Luck was on his side and the turn brought a fourth club, completing his one-card flush. Juanda had Bowker covered and thus the latter hit the rail, pocketing £300,000 for his third place.

Juanda however came into the heads-up against Vamplew with a huge chip lead of 3:1 and immediately put the young gun under pressure. Vamplew saw his stack slowly slipping away, but he hit the right cards in the following all-in situations. First he handed a big cooler to Juanda, turning over after an all-in on a flop of  . Juanda showed for trips with a worse kicker and since turn and river brought no help for him, Vamplew took the chip lead for the first time during that night.

Vamplew now had the lead, but it wasn't meant to last. Juanda picked up plenty of smaller and medium-sized pots after that and at the time the next all-in was announced and called, Vamplew was at the verge of elimination again. The young player showed while Juanda tabled , making the American a slight favorite to win the pot. The dealer then put a flush draw for Vamplew on the board, giving him plenty of additional outs and the almost sealed the deal. The river brought no help for Juanda and his opponent doubled up, reducing the Juanda's chiplead to 2:1.

It took only 15 more minutes until the next all-in annouced by Vamplew and with holding on a board of , Juanda had a very easy time calling. The Scotsman tabled for nothing but a flush draw, but the on the river was just what he needed, forcing Juanda to hand over the lead to the underdog.

This all-in was followed by a few hands that went in Juanda's favor, but eventually it was Vamplew who could build up a substantial chiplead. The veteran became desperate for a double-up and as he woke up with , it was good enough for him to announce all-in. Vamplew called and showed for a slight advantage over Juanda which became a heavy one after the dealer put an ace on the flop.

Turn and river bricked and the 23-year old, who plays NL400 and NL600 online, is now leading the all-time money list in Scotland with £900.000 in winnings from the EPT alone. This should also mean a quite substantial boost to his bankroll as his largest cash so far was a mere $6,000 at a WSOP event earlier this year.

EPT London Main Event Results Final Table
Place	Name	Payout
1	David Vamplew	£900,000
2	John Juanda	£545,000
3	Kyle Bowker	£300,000
4	Artur Wasek	£240,000
5	Kayvan Payman	£190,000
6	Fernando Brito	£145,000
7	Tom Marchese	£100,000
8	Per Ummer	£66,800