Stephen Chidwick Wins British Poker Open Event #7 for £202,500

A dramatic day at the felt saw Event #7, the £25,000-entry Pot Limit Omaha event produce another new winner this series, as Stephen Chidwick put himself right back in the race for the British Poker Open Championship in London.

SOVEREL’S CHIP LEAD DISAPPEARS

Coming into play with a mammoth lead in the overall Championship, American pro Sam Soverel might have been forgiven for thinking nothing could go wrong. The streetwise super high roller thought no such thing, of course, knowing PLO better than most on the planet, and as we have seen so many times before, the chip lead he came into play with disappeared fast.

Soverel wasn’t to bubble, however. Ben Tollerene came into the day as the short stack by some margin, and while he quadrupled up when even shorter, his run came to a premature end when his pair of queens on the flop was drawing very thin against George Wolff’s trip queens, which held to bust the online legend.

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George Wolff with the call of the series? 🤔

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WOLFF AND SOVEREL FALL SHORT

One of the pivotal moments of the British Poker Championship could well become when George Wolff then took out Sam Soverel. Soverel, who has 580 points now in the BPO Championship leaderboard. The overnight chip leader was eliminated when Wolff first called a great bluff with an even greater hero call on the river, then was all-in pre-flop and paired up on the turn to send Soverel out of the running.

Heads-up was a fairly lengthy affair, and saw a turnaround in fortunes for the two players, with George Wolff 2:1 ahead in chips at the commencement of proceedings in London. Wolff picked the wrong time to bluff as he pushed all-in on a river he’d missed all of his draws on. Chidwick, however, had turned the flush and called it off in double-quick time to go 9:1 ahead.

CHIDWICK THE CHAMPION

The end was a mere formality away once Wolff was taken down from 220,000 chips to 85,000, Chidwick sitting behind over two million.

“End my misery!” joked Wolff, and it was over when his all-in move with and was called by Chidwick with . The board of  saw Chidwick crowned champion. He was disarmingly honest in his post-game interview.

“I’d like to say that I’ve figured out how to play tournament PLO,” he said, “But honestly, I’ve been running very good. These last three 25k PLOs, I’ve registered at the last minute and run well. That’s kind of what it takes.”

Despite his obvious success in the format – Chidwick also won his maiden WSOP bracelet this summer in the same buy-in and format for over a million dollars – he retains a belief that he still has a lot to learn.

“I don’t think I have an edge. There’s a lot of very experienced PLO players here. But I really enjoy playing PLO even though I don’t do it that much just try and do the best that I can.”

TAKING ON A FRIEND FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Chidwick’s success means that he closes to within 200 points of British Poker Open Championship leader Sam Soverel. He’ll be trying to reign in a player he counts as a friend on the super high roller circuit.

“I’ve played a ton of poker with Sam over the last few years and I’m sure I’ll continue to. It’s fun to play against Sam, although it’s really tough, and obviously he’s running great this week too. I’ll keep playing as well as I can to keep trying to chase him.”

With three events to go, the race really is on!

Final Table Results:

Seven British Poker Open events are in the books and Sam Soverel still holds the points lead.

Stephen Chidwick is Soverel’s closest competition and is now less than 200 points back after winning the £25,000 Pot Limit Omaha event. Chidwick has four cashes, equalling Soverel’s BPO total. George Wolff is also near the top of the charts. The four-card specialist likely won’t enter another BPO event though, meaning his total should stay at 340.

An updated look at the BPO top-ten is provided below:

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