Pratik Ghatge has won the London Unibet Open, after overcoming a field of 315 players over three days to lift the trophy, and collect the £85,050 ($138,044) top prize.
With his victory at the Aspers Casino at Westfield Stratford City, the London-born high stakes cash game player has now taken his live tournament winnings to $281,014 since his first cash in 2009. Commenting on his latest success, Pratik Ghatge said: “I ran pretty good today from the get-go. I got a lot of hands, and I picked up a lot of chips..Good things come to those who wait.”
As the nine-seated final table of the €1,650 buy-in tournament got underway, Pratik Ghatge (901k) was lying in 3rd place behind last year’s winner Paul Valkenburg (1.36m) and Tomasz Kozub (1.331m).
France’s Marc Inizan (A-Q) then dispatched Poland’s Sander Hart (A-7) in 9th (£8,125) before doing likewise to his fellow Pole Dariusz Charski in 8th (£10,580), who pushed his short stack with 9c-8c into the pocket sevens of Marc Inizan
Next, Pratik Ghatge (A-K) eliminated Finland’s Pyry Kekalainen (Q-J) in 7th (£13,600) before taking out Marc Inizan in 6th (£18,520), who held A-K and reluctantly called Pratik Ghatge 5-bet pocket kings shove.
Pratik Ghatge (8-8) then followed up by sending Poland’s Piotr Jaworski (A-K) to the rail in 5th (£24,190), before Dutch player Paul Valkenburg followed suit (Q-J) after bluffing three streets in position on an A-10-5-8-3 board, but unable to shake off Pratik Ghatge with K-10. Paul Valkenburg then collected £32,500 for his 4th place finish.
Two hours later, Pratik Ghatge (K-Q) called UK’s Gavin Eley preflop shove (8d-7d) to send him to the rail in 3rd (£43,090), thus heralding in the heads-up phase of the competition against Poland’s Tomasz Kozub.
At this stage, Pratik Ghatge held a 2 to 1 advantage over Kozub and an hour later it was all over after the Pole moved all-in holding Q-10 and was called by Ghatge with Ah-7h. The 3-7-6-5-3 sealed his fate and so Tomasz Kozub finished the runner-up for £60,500, while Pratik Ghatge was crowned the 2012 Unibet Open London Main Event champion.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1 Pratik Ghatge £85,050
2 Tomasz Kozub £60,500
3 Gavin Eley £43,090
4 Paul Valkenburg £32,500
5 Piotr Jaworski £24,190
6 Marc Inizan £18,520
7 Pyry Kekalainen £13,600
8 Dariusz Charski £10,580
9 Sander Hart £8,125
