Lubys Zanas is the latest person to win a World Poker Tour National Main Event after he outlasted a field of 576 players in the £100,000 guaranteed accumulator event at Aspers Casino, Stratford, London this weekend.
Zanas enjoyed a deep run in the July 2014 edition of the WPT National London Main Event where he crashed out in 27th place for £765. More recently, Zanas cashed in the Grand Prix Poker Tour Stamford Bridge Main Event, but this latest result is by far the biggest and best result of his career thus far.
2016 WPT National London Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lubys Zanas | £21,500 |
| 2 | Mo Zahour | £15,000 |
| 3 | Steve O’Keefe | £9,640 |
| 4 | Xuan Nguyen | £7,140 |
| 5 | Davia Baruskaite | £5,375 |
| 6 | Paul Newland | £4,300 |
| 7 | Sam Macdonald | £3,570 |
| 8 | Edgar Drozdov | £2,855 |
| 9 | Chris Kadji | £2,140 |
The nine-handed final table began on the afternoon of Sunday 7 February, 2016, and saw Zanas sit down fourth in chips with a stack of 1,275,000. Steve O’Keefe (2,380,000 chips), Edgar Drozdov (2,310,000), and Sam Macdonald (1,510,000) were the other players who began their quest for glory with seven-figure stacks.
First out of the door was Chris Kadji who three-bet all-in over the top of a raise from Xuan Nguyen with 
. Nguyen called with the powerhouse hand that is 
, and when the board ran 
, the final table lost its first players.
Joining Kadji on the rail was Drozdov, despite sitting down with the second-largest stack. Drozdov raised all-in with 
on a board reading 
and ran straight into Davia “Baltic Blond” Baruskaite’s [QcQd]. The 
turn and 
river sealed Drozdov’s fate.
Sam Macdonald, a talented tournament player, fell next after a blind-on-blind battle with Zanas didn’t go his way. Zanas, in the small blind, set Macdonald all-in with what turned out to be 
, and Macdonald called with [Lc]
. Lady Luck was shining down on Zanas as the dealer spread the 
onto the table, busting Macdonald in seventh place.
Sixth place when to Paul Newland whose 
couldn’t get there versus the 
of Mo Zahour, before Baruskaite and Zanas entered a raising war on the 
flop that resulted in Zanas check-raising all-in and Baruskaite calling. Zanas showed for two pair, which held against Baruskaite’s 
.
The tournament became an all-male affair with Nguyen’s exit in fourth place. Nguyen was short of chips and moved all-in from the button with 
in an attempt to steal the blinds. Instead, she picked up a caller in the shape of Zanas and his 
, a hand that improved to a flush on the river of the 
board.
Heads-up was set when Steve O’Keefe was eliminated at the hands of Zhour, with the latter improving to quads! O’Keefe moved all-in with and Zahour called with . Both players improved to a pair on the 
flop, but the turn and 
river gifted Zahour four-of-a-kind jacks.
Heads-up was a short battle that ended with Zahour pushing his 10 big blinds into the middle of the table while holding , and Zanas calling with 
. Neither player improved on the 
board, which meant Zanas’ ten-kicker played, sending Zahour to the rail as the tournament’s runner-up, and leaving Zanas to be crowned WPT National London champion.
Qualify for WPT Events at partypoker
If you want to play in a WPT event for a fraction of the tournament’s buy-in you need to head to the partypoker lobby right now and get involved in the satellites. Under Live Events>World Poker Tour>All, you’ll find the WPT satellites including those to the WPT Vienna Warm Up and WPT-N Brussels.
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