Tom Kitt turns his short stack into the only stack, after defeating 994 players in one of the most fun-filled tournaments you will find anywhere in the universe: the six-max Winamax Poker Open.
The Winamax Poker Open returned to the Regency Hotel in Dublin for the fifth successive year, and local boy Tom Kitt became the first Dublin based player to win the event in the tour’s history.
The online poker giant may be based in France but for the past five years the French have invaded Dublin to sink some Guinness, play some cards, and have a whole lot of fun. An event that started with just 313 players when Alan Trueick defeated Romain Mahot to become the first champion back in 2010, reached a peak of 1,086 players in 2013 when Jerome Guermeur defeated the Winamax Team Pro Sylvain Loosli in heads-up action.
The 2014 field didn’t reach the heights of 2013, but the number of 994 is still mightily impressive. Winamax Team Pros Manuel Bevand, Ludovic Lacay, Gaelle Baumann, Ludovic Riehl, Bruno Lopes, and Triple Crown winner Davidi Kitai, all investing their time, effort, and dance moves into this event.
When the final table of six was set Tom Kitt was the short stack. He was also the only Irishman left in the field with a final table dominated by the French, and one lone Dutchman also making up the mix.
Kitt would dig in deep, emerging with the hands when he needed them the most. He eliminated the player known as “Adrien” in fourth, and Pierre Tassin in third, to set up a heads-up encounter with the Frenchman Alexis Coming.
The Irishman had a 14 million v 6.2 million lead and the death knell sounded when the pair got it in on [9s] [8s] [6h], with Kitt holding [As] [6s], for bottom pair and the flush draw, and Coming holding [Td] [8c] for middle pin and the gut shot. The [Ah] on the turn handing Kitt two pair and after the river bricked his hand was held aloft in victory.
It’s the biggest score of Kitt’s career, eclipsing the $67,050 he won in a Deep Stack event at the Palazzo, Las Vegas last year. In 2010 he was third in the United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) Main Event that Max Silver won in Dublin.
Final Table Standings
1st. Tom Kitt – €75,000
2nd. Alexis Coming – €51,000
3rd. Pierre Tassin – €37,000
4th. Adrien – €28,569
5th. Jonathan Rozema – €22,500
6th. Sebastian Lerclerq – €17,000
If you have never been to a Winamax Poker Open before then you are seriously missing out on some fun.
