J.P. Kelly (23) has won the WSOPE £1,000 NLHE event in London just months after winning his first WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas. He is now only the second man to complete a trans-Atlantic WSOP double in the same year and said of his £136,803 first place victory:
“The first one was a bit sweeter because of the achievement. This one I just wanted to prove I was good enough to take down one of these events and I was lucky enough to do it.”
The tournament started with a field of 608 players and by Day 2 Kelly was the chip leader but by the time he reached the last nine French cash game specialist Fabien Dunlop, held a huge chip lead over the others. Kelly’s vast tournament experience meant he could bide his time and wait for the less experienced players to gamble away their chips. He commented:
“It’s not normally my style to wait it out, but sometimes you have to do that. I had to play tight early on because of Fabien with the big chip lead, but I knew if I got heads up with him I am a better heads up player, so I figured I could take him on there.”
Kelly’s plan worked to perfection and before long he found himself playing heads-up against Fabien Dunlop, albeit at an almost 3:1 chip disadvantage. He got a chance to double up early when all the chips went in with his Ac10c against Dunlop’s Ad5d but a board with two diamonds had Kelly and the home crowd fearing the worst. Nonetheless he managed to win the million chip pot and an hour later Kelly, with a nut straight, picked off an all in bluff by Dunlop which effectively ended his tournament.
Dunlop collected £84,512 for his second place finish but expressed disappointment he wasn’t able to get a better nights sleep the night before. He explained:
“The thing is I was very tired and couldn’t play my best game.I did OK as long as we were nine-handed down to four-handed. I made a few bad moves I wouldn’t have made if I was in better shape. I’m just very disappointed I couldn’t play my best game.”
Kelly has now got two WSOP bracelets to his credit and has become the first Englishman to win a WSOP bracelet in London. He will back next week for the WSOPE main event and ambitious as ever said, “I think I’ll try and get as many (bracelets) as possible. I have two now, why not go for three. I don’t want to stop at two.”
