The Grosvenor Victoria Casino was packed to the rafters for the 888poker Live London Main Event with 642 players forking out £888 and creating a £513,600 prize pool. Bhavin Khatri outlasted his 641 opponents to secure the £126,340 top prize, which happens to be Khatri’s largest-ever tournament score.
888Poker Live London Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bhavin Khatri | £126,340 |
| 2 | Shah Athar | £89,620 |
| 3 | Paul Trotter | £53,930 |
| 4 | Oliver Price | £32,360 |
| 5 | Ian Simpson | £19,520 |
| 6 | Oliver White | £12,840 |
| 7 | Steven Game | £9,750 |
| 8 | Nick Marchington | £7,190 |
| 9 | Joseph Bodner | £6,160 |
Some 68 of the 642 starters received a slice of the prize pool. Janis Karklins was the first in-the-money player to bow outl Karklins walked away with £1,800.
Several household names, including Tamer Kamel, Kevin Allen, and 2021 WSOP Main Event third-place finisher Jack Oliver cashed. As did the likes of Ronan Sweeney, Jack Hardcastle, Steve Watts, and Kully Sidhu.
All but three of the nine finalists saw their £888 investment turn into a prize of at least five figures. Joseph Bodner was the first finalists to head to the cashier’s desk, doing so to collect £6,160. Bodner came into the final table as the shortest stack and failed in his quest to improve his position.
Nick Marchington, the seventh-place finish in the 2019 WSOP Main Event, fell in eighth-place. Marchington committed his stack with a three-bet shove with pocket sevens but ran into the superior pocket jacks of Khatri.
Seventh-place and the last four-figure score, £9,750, went to Steven Game. Again, pocket jacks held, this time the fishhooks in Oliver Price’s hand, which remained true against Game’s ace-king.
Oliver White crashed out in sixth, a finish worth £12,840. White’s tournament ended abruptly when he raised to 300,000 with ace-nine, leaving himself only 320,000 chips behind. Ian Simpson set White all-in for the rest of his chips with pocket kings, and White called. A queen-high board sent White to the showers.
Simpson could not put White’s chips to good use and he was the next player heading into the cold London night. Simpson open-shoved for 7.5 big blinds from the button with ace-jack, and can count himself unlucky to run straight into the pocket jacks of Khatri. The ace-jack had 33% equity but that plummeted when Khatri flopped a set. A queen on the turn left Simpson drawing dead, and he busted in fifth for £19,520.
Fourth-place went to the start-of-the-day chip leader Oliver Price. With blinds of 40,000/80,000/40,000a, Khatri opened to 180,000 with pocket queens. Price responded with a call. A nine-eight-deuce flop saw Price check, Khatri lead for 275,000, and Price check-raise to 750,000 in total. Khatri moved all-in, and Price called off the 1.1 million chips he had behind. The ladies held on the turn and river, sending Price home in fourth with £32,360 in prize money for his troubles.
Heads-up was set when Paul Trotter‘s tournament ended abruptly at the hands of Shah Athar. Trotter pushed all-in for 11 big blinds with ten-nine of spades, and Athar called with king-queen to put Trotter at risk of elimination. The five community cards ran with a king on the turn, ending Trotter’s participation. Trotter banked £53,930, the largest score of his career.
Khatri held a massive 9.4 million to 3.4 million (117 big blinds to 42 big blinds) chip lead, but he found it difficult to shake off Athar. The final hand saw Athar limp in with ace-five, and Khatri raise to 400,000 with king-jack. Athar shoved for 4.9 million, and Khatri called. The queen-high flop kept Athar ahead, as did the nine on the turn, but a ten on the river improved Khatri to a tournament-winning straight! Ahtar won £89,620 while Khatri scooped £126,340.
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