Robert Baguley Triumphs at UKIPT Nottingham
Robert Baguley was seventh of eight to start the final table, but survived to heads up against Iqbal Ahmed at which point the latter enjoyed a better than 2-to-1 chip lead. Baguley came back again, however, to grab all of Ahmed's chips and the title.
The 60-year-old retiree Robert Baguley has become the latest champion on the PokerStars United Kingdom Ireland Poker Tour, besting a whopping field of 1,625 players at the Dusk Till Dawn poker club in Nottingham to win a handsome first prize of £210,400. Baguley overcame a huge deficit versus Iqbal Ahmed to win the title.
When the eight-handed final table began on Monday it was Iqbal Ahmed starting with the big chip lead with nearly 6.7 million, with Ian Senior his nearest foe with 3.765 million and Baguley a distant seventh with just over 2.1 million.
As it happened, Senior would be the first out at the final table in eighth. After falling behind Grant Pirie in the counts, Senior would find himself all in with Qh-Qc against Pirie's Ks-Kc before a flop, and five cards later Senior was on the rail.
Pocket kings would serve the next elimination, too, as Nick Woodward used them to best James Cummings' Ks-Jh to knock the latter out in seventh.
Woodward's good fortune was short-lived, though, as he'd soon lose most of his stack to Ahmed when Ahmed's Ac-Qh managed to outdraw Woodward's pocket jacks, then Pirie would take the rest of Woodward's chips soon thereafter to send him out in sixth.
A double-KO soon followed with Ahmed taking out two short stacks -- Hasmukh Khodiyara in fifth and Barry McMahon in fourth. In that one Ahmed had Qc-7h versus Khodiyra's Kc-9c and McMahon's As-6s, and when the board rolled out 7s-2d-6h-7c-Qd, Ahmed had a full house and all of a sudden they were down to three.
Just minutes later, Ahmed would wipe out Pirie in third when his Ad-Jh remained best against Pirie's As-7c, and when heads-up play began Ahmed had almost 16.5 million chips to Baguley's 7.685 million.
Baguley quickly chipped up, though, then grabbed the lead in a hand in which he turned trip sevens against Ahmed. Baguley would increase his lead further, then had Ahmed all in with Jh-7s against Baguley's Ah-Td. The board came Th-4s-6d-6s-Kc, and Baguley had won.
2012 UKIPT Nottingham final table payouts:
1st: Robert Baguley -- £210,400
2nd: Iqbal Ahmed -- £125,000
3rd: Grant Pirie -- £96,700
4th: Barry McMahon -- £79,600
5th: Hasmukh Khodiyara -- £62,500
6th: Nick Woodward -- £45,500
7th: James Cummings -- £34,000
8th: Ian Senior -- £22,750
The final table featured seven U.K. players, plus the Irishman McMahon. The next stop on the UKIPT tour is Dublin, Ireland in May.
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.
