Good win for bad guy

Author: Simon Dexter

Following the GUKPT event in London at the beginning of the month, a number of shrewd punters had seen enough to place a modest wager on a man with a nom de guerre that might not exactly inspire confidence. In a world where many poker players ensure their nicknames reflect the size of their ego, Badbeat is the sort of self-deprecating title which either indicates a lack of confidence or is designed as the subtlest double-bluff.

There was no absence of confidence as Badbeat trumped quality players such as Dave Ulliott, Julian Thew and Darren Fuller in London recently and those fortunate enough to recognise that here was a player reaching his peak could have got 100/1 against him winning the Irish Poker Open (IPO) in Dublin earlier this week.

Neil Channing, the former bookmaker with the implausible poker name, eventually finished second in the GUKPT event, but romped to victory and a cool EUR 1.26 million by taking the IPO crown; word is, he had a few quid on himself at similarly attractive odds.

Channing’s win at Europe’s oldest poker tournament will have come as no surprise to those who saw him play in London and also at last year’s WSOP main event where he collected ,000. The only problem with his victory was that he loses another title, namely that of the best player in the UK never to win a major poker crown. We suspect Neil won’t complain too much about that.

Tags: Badbeat, GUKPT, Irish Poker Open, Julian Thew, Neil Channing, poker

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 10:56 am and is filed under News & Promotions Blog.