It was a sunny Thursday in London, and perhaps, the extra Vitamin D received from the sunlight had something to do with the joyful atmosphere at Aspers Casino that we experienced today. Mother Nature can’t take all the credit, though, as it was the final day of the £150 Mini Main Event—a tournament that attracted an impressive 866 entries across six starting flights and generated a six-figure prize pool of £109,200. That should, on its own, put a smile on the lips of all poker enthusiasts!
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36 Players on the Hunt
Returning after yesterday’s intense Day 2 flight were 36 hungry poker players, all with a sole mission in mind: emerging victorious, claiming the £17,170 first-place payout and the coveted PartyPoker trophy.
At 18:00 local time, cards were in the air, and it was time for all competitors to enter focus mode. Naturally, there were some players who hadn’t been fortunate enough to bag larger stacks for Day 3. This resulted in nine eliminations within the first hour, which meant that the tournament quickly went down to three tables.
One who had earned himself great presumptions for a deep run, though, was Dost Ghrabie. Entering the day as the chip leader, Ghrabie didn’t slow down and, with an aggressive style of play – and sometimes, a little help from Lady Luck – he managed to extend his lead even further, knocking out one player here, another one there.
Staples Came up Short
Speaking of Ghrabie: as the tournament progressed and closed in on a final table, he’d be the one to knock out PartyPoker Team Pro Jaime Staples. Considering all the PartyPoker lovers we’ve seen at Aspers this week, there’s no surprise many wanted to see the always friendly Staples do a deep run, and one must admit that the Canadian displayed some great poker skills in the tournament throughout. It’ll be interesting to see what wonders he can do in the £500 Main Event.
With his termination of Staples’ tournament life, Ghrabie’s stack grew even more. However, he wasn’t the only one who was accumulating chips during the later stages of what has been a three-day tournament. Grace Smith, who finished Day 1a as the chip leader, proved that she was a force to be reckoned with over and over again, as she managed to pull off some great moves under pressure.
The April Nine
When David Barnu eliminated Danas Gerdziunas with a flush, only nine players remained and it was time for the final table. Shoutout to everyone from PartyPoker and Aspers who’ve worked on creating a top-class venue during this event; the TV-table looks great and elevates the excitement even more, and even though the broadcast won’t start until the Main Event, the finalists of the Mini Main Event seemed to enjoy testing out the prestigious scene.
Jorge Palomino would become the first casualty of the final table, when his 10♥10♣ couldn’t survive against Martin Hellmuth. The next one to go was Liam Trimmer; his kings had to forfeit as Hellmuth hit trips on the river.
Muctarr Jalloh went out in seventh place; he did a decent job surviving two pay jumps on the final table, considering he entered with only three big blinds. Like so many others, he became a victim of Ghrabie whose stack never seemed to decrease.
The bad beat of the day belonged to Jeferson Liete. His full house stood no match against the quad sevens of Hellmuth, and there really wasn’t much he could do to dodge a sixth-place finish. He wasn’t the only one who experienced pain, though, as Ghrabie hit a two-outer on the turn, which resulted in him sending Louis Cowen to the rail in fifth place.
And Then, There Were Three
When David Barbu was eliminated in fourth place by – you guessed it – Ghrabie, only three players remained. Ghrabie, Smith, and Hellmuth had all secured £8,740 in cash at this point. Smith and Hellmuth both wished to make an ICM deal and continue playing for the trophy, but chip leader Ghrabie, who held roughly 45% of the chips in play at this point, wasn’t interested in the proposition.
The three-handed play would bring some entertaining and nerve-wrecking drama, like when Smith and Hellmuth clashed all in against each other within a few couple of hands. One thing became certain, though, and that was that Ghrabie was going to play aggressively. Raising big frequently preflop and attacking the blinds and the ante proved successful as he claimed more and more chips, and soon enough, he held more than half of the chips in play.
The first victim of the trio would prove to be Hellmuth. Losing all of his chips to Ghrabie in absolute brutal fashion, the latter now held a commanding chip lead going into heads-up against Smith.
Smith and Ghrabie took a short break before commencing the duel between them. Shortly thereafter, they clashed all in, both holding an ace each. Once again, Ghrabie came out on the right side of things as he held the superior kicker, and with the board running out clean from his perspective, he knocked out Smith in second place.
That settled it: Dost Ghrabie, who entered Day 3 as the chip leader, managed to hold the chip lead more or less until the very end. After roughly eight hours of play, he was the one who claimed the £17,170 first-place payout and the trophy.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dost Ghrabie | £17,170 |
| 2 | Grace Smith | £14,000 |
| 3 | Martin Hellmuth | £8,740 |
| 4 | David Barbu | £5,725 |
| 5 | Louis Cowen | £3,940 |
| 6 | Jeferson Liete | £3,050 |
| 7 | Muctarr Jalloh | £2,415 |
| 8 | Liam Trimmer | £1,920 |
| 9 | Jorge Palomino | £1,525 |
