WSOPE Main Event: James Bord wins the title

It's the fourth year of the WSOP Europe and for the first time it's an Englishman who claims the title: James Bord overcame Italian Fabrizio Baldassari last night in the heads-up for £830,401 and a gold bracelet.

Photo source: WSOP.com

A total of 346 participants signed up for the World Series of Poker Europe Main event and put down 10,000£ as a buy-in. 36 of them eventually walked away with a share of the £3,460,000 prize pool.

The final table of the event started yesterday and it all came down to James Bord from the London area and the Monaco-based Italian Fabrizio Baldassari who faced off in the heads-up.

American Robert Lee came third, receiving a bad beat from the hands of Baldassari as his got cracked by the Italian's through the on the flop. Lee had Baldassari covered, but could not come back from this setback and busted a few hands later with against James Bord's who hit a King on the flop.

Baldassari soon became chip leader and held the #1 spot for most of the heads up. The tides turned when he limped from the button and shoved all-in after a raise from Bord. The Brit snap called with and was ahead of held by the Italian. The board brought a gutshot draw for the underdog, but the Big Slick held up and Bord claimed the lead. The battle ended with an 80-20 spot for Bord holding against Baldassari's , making him the winner of this year's WSOP Europe Main Event.

A frenetic rail for the local player

With James Bord as the champion it's the first time that a local player claims the title in London after Shulman (2009), Juanda (2008) und Obrestad (2007), two Americans and a Norwegian. The audience on site, which included Bord's brother, was more than pleased with the result and cheered their compatriot to victory. Bord stated that this win in his hometown would mean as much as "everything" to him. With Roland de Wolfe and Nicolas Levi also at the final table, the United Kingdom was represented with three players among the final nine.

The 29-year old is a professional poker player and plays on a serious level since he turned 24. By now, he spends half of the year in Las Vegas to play the highest live cash games there, especially Mixes Games. He told the media after his victory that he is very grateful for the help and insights to tournament Hold'em he got from Sam Trickett, one of the most recognized British tournament players.

The WSOP Europe Main Event boasted a rather small field of 346 entrants, but arguably one of the strongest of the year. A total of 57 players out of the 346 were WSOP bracelet holders, including household names such as Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson or Phil Hellmuth, the latter sporting the usual eccentric entrance to the casino.

The final table results and the corresponding payouts at a glance:

WSOP Europe Main Event Results
Place	Name	Prize Money
1	James Bord	£830,401
2	Fabrizio Baldassari	£513,049
3	Ronald Lee	£376,829
4	Roland de Wolfe	£278,945
5	Nicolas Levi	£208,119
6	Danny Steinberg	£156,530
7	Dan Fleyshman	£118,643
8	Brian Powell	£90,617
9	Marc Inizan	£69,754