Though it may lack some of the prestige of the World Series of Casino Malaysia remains one of the most popular – and profitable – series of international poker tournaments around. The tournament have lined the pockets of thousands of players over the years and helped cement the reputations of some of the game’s biggest names, such Gus Hansen, “The Professor” Howard Lederer, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Erick Lindgren. One player joining their ranks is British pro Simon Deadman, who capped off a stellar 2023 with a big win at the 2023 WPT National Dublin.
Outplaying a field of 238 players, the 24-year-old Nottingham native took home more than €67,500 in the tournament, which was held at Dublin’s Citywest Hotel earlier in the month. Entering the final day of the tournament, Deadman was fourth in chips with 10 players remaining, though some deft plays – and a spiked king on the river to crack a pair of aces – allowed the British pro to knock out the 10th- and ninth-place finishers and enter the final table as the chip leader.
Deadman, who earned much of his acclaim playing online poker, would play coy for much of the table, picking his spots and holding onto the chip lead until he was heads up with Norwegian pro Joachim Haraldstad, who had eked ahead of his British rival when he knocked out the tournament’s final remaining Irish participant, Sean Prendiville. The play remained pretty tame for a while, with neither player taking a commanding lead, and both stacks remaining fairly even heading into the final hand.
The deciding hand of the tournament saw Deadman push with a king-queen off suit after the flop came king-8-5 with two hearts on the board. Holding a 7-3 of hearts, Haraldstad decided to roll the dice on his straight- and flush-draws only to see the turn and river come up blank. This massive sway of chips left the Norwegian with only 10 big blinds, and the rest was academic.
With this win, the British pro’s 21st cash in live play, Deadman boosted his live tournament earnings to more than $350,000, catapulting him to 88th place in the Bluff Power Rank. While the tournament was definitely a strong start to the year, Deadman seemed more excited for his post-game celebrations.
“It’s always fun playing in Dublin,” he told the Belfast Telegraph. “If you go bust, you go on the beer.”
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Crazy Poker Hand
A Titan Poker player goes all-in with his pocket kings, not realizing that there’s another player at the table holding the remaining two kings. That’s not all in this crazy poker hand! A third opponent has pocket queens. Three players all-in, and the flop is about to be dealt. What will happen? Watch this video to find out. You, too, can create videos of your crazy poker hands with Hall of Hands and share them with your friends.
