War hero Paul Findlay has defeated 353 entrants to take the first prize of £12,936, at the United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour Series 6 Main Event in London, and immediately donates 10% to the Help for Heroes Military charity.
Bad beat?
Don’t make me laugh.
It’s not until you hear stories like the one that Paul Findlay has to tell that everything that you know comes into context.
After three successful tours to Iraq, Paul Findlay travelled to Afghanistan, for the first time, and on May 22 2009, a bomb blasted his vehicle. Findlay sustained terrible damage to his leg, and nine months later, he took the harrowing decision to have it amputated.
The former representative of the Great Britain Amputee Football World Cup team, has just defeated 353 entrants to take the first prize of £12,936, at the United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) Series 6 event in London.
The £250+25 buy-in event was held at PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome and the line up included Full Tilt Poker Ambassadors Martins Adeniya and Sin Melin.
Findlay defeated Mario Trattou in heads-up action after a deal was made when the play was four-handed. It’s the first live tournament cash for Findlay, and only the second for his heads-up opponent.
“It’s my 30th next year. My friends have already booked to go to Vegas. Plus I’m going to give 10% to Help for Heroes – I’m an ambassador for the charity after they helped me when I lost a leg in Afghanistan.” Findlay told the PokerStars blog.
The UKIPT Series is a new idea for UKIPT Season 4, with a lower buy-in tournament that has the same structure as the UKIPT Main Event. Each event is held at PokerStars Live, at the Hippodrome, and the winners also receive a buy-in to the year-ending UKIPT Champion of Champions event.
Outside of the tremendous Findlay victory, Willie Tann was the most well known pro to cash. His 36th place finish means he has so far won $140,000 playing in the likes of UKIPT, Genting, GUKPT and DTD events this year.
Final Table Payouts
1st. Paul Findlay – £12,396
2nd. Mario Trattou – £10,874
3rd. Khashayar Zarghampour – £9,688
4th. Garcia Damaso – £9,092
5th. Onur Dag – £5,100
6th. Darren Murphy – £3,900
7th. Steven Lewzey – £2,100
8th. Jan-Yie Chiang – £2,100
