The opening events of the World Series is drawing closer.
As the opening events of the World Series of Poker draw ever closer it may be worth noting that several of the main competitors could lie outside of the US this time around.
With the US dominating the bracelet rankings during last year’s series, as they earned nine of the top ten places in the leaderboard, it may seem a lost cause consider anyone from the UK from stealing a march on their rivals, especially since Canadian Daniel Negreanu was the other man in last year’s top ten list. Here however, we make a case for just a few possible contenders from the UK to make names for themselves during the events of this season.
Former London stock trader Martins Adeniya is edging closer and closer to his two year anniversary since winning the 2012 Super Stack Series poker event, also staged in London. The win saw Adeniya earn over $16,500 in tournament prize money and more importantly, went a long way to earning him his much-coveted spot on the ambassadorial team for Full Tilt Poker, when he was announced in late 2013. Whether it be Texas Hold’em or other poker variants, Adeniya has since gone on to earn a seventh place finish in the 2011 EPT London Main Event amongst several other high profile finishes across the World.
Adeniya is not the first from Britain to make a major impact in the popular game of cards however, as although the USA may dominate in terms of World Series bracelets, several other tough competitors have shown impressive outings. Chris Moorman, from Brighton, competed valiantly at the 2011 World Series of Poker and walked away as the fifth-highest earner of that series, aside from the final Main Event spectacle. Moorman amassed over £600,000 in winnings, although that falls short of fellow Englishman Sam Trickett, from Nottingham. Trickett ended 2011 as the second highest earner across the game of poker with over £2million earned throughout the period.
Both players show bags of potential from their impressive play in 2011, but the player most likely to break the mould is Mel Judah. Despite being Indian-born, Judah now resides in London and already has two World Series of Poker Bracelets and has seen forty cashes during his stint at the series’ tables. He has been in the game since the late 1980’s and that experience could prove vital when facing the World’s elite poker players.
Although it is unlikely given the dominance of the US-born poker players, we could be dawning on somewhat of a golden generation of British poker players and with the success of the aforementioned Adeniya, Trickett and Moorman, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic.
Photo courtesy of David Singleton, with thanks.
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