Victoria Coren Makes EPT History, SCOOP Schedule Revealed, and More

It was a history making week in the world of UK poker as Victoria Coren finally broke the European Poker Tour curse, becoming the first two-time winner in the 10 plus year history of the popular poker tour.

Coren’s wins come some eight years apart, bookending what has quietly been one of the greatest careers of any female poker player in recent memory.

Coren (now known as Coren-Mitchell since tying the knot) wasn’t the only newsmaker this past week either, as she will have to share some headlines with PokerStars, after the site released their 2014 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) schedule and with Niall Farrell, who claimed victory after chopping up the Full Tilt Poker FTOPS Main Event.

We’ll bring you the details on all of these stories in this week’s installment of Around UK Poker.

Victoria Coren makes EPT history

It’s not quite as well-known as the World Poker Tour’s odd fact that the WPT has never crowned a female champion, but the European Poker Tour’s lack of a double winner was becoming just as dubious until Victoria Coren-Mitchell put an end to all that this weekend.

We all knew this day would eventually come, and it couldn’t have been any more exciting than the way it went down for Victoria Coren-Mitchell.

Coren, the winner at the 2006 EPT London Main Event, can now add the 2014 EPT San Remo title to her poker resume. Her victory couldn’t have come at a better time considering the current debate raging over women in poker, and what can be done to draw more women into the game.

Well, I’d argue that Coren’s victory is just such an accomplishment. Furthermore, Victoria started the day as the short-stack, so not only did she win the tournament but she had to do so by scrapping and battling the whole way.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the tournament:

1. Vicky Coren-Mitchell – €476,100
2. Giacomo Fundaro – €298,700
3. Jordan Westmorland – €213,850
4. Andrea Benelli – €166,700
5. Andreas Goeller – €130,750
6. Bruno Stefanelli – €102,700
7. Andrija Martic – €76,650
8. Emmanuel Pariset – €53,100

You can read all about Coren-Mitchell’s win from the PokerNews.com live reporting team in San Remo.

PokerStars SCOOP schedule unveiled

Beginning on May 4th and running for two weeks, the 2014 Spring Championship of Online Poker will be action-packed, with 135 total tournaments (45 events each played at three different buy-in levels) and extremely rewarding, as PokerStars is guaranteeing $40 million over the course of the series.

Here are the two most notable tournaments on the 2014 SCOOP schedule:

Saturday May 17:

• 14:00 EDT — Event 41-L: $215 NL Hold’em Heads-up High Roller
• 14:00 EDT — Event 41-M: $2,100 NL Hold’em Heads-up High Roller
• 14:00 EDT — Event 41-H: $21,000 NL Hold’em Heads-up High Roller

Sunday May 18:

• 14:30 EDT — Event 44-L: $109 NL Hold’em Main Event ($100K+ to 1st)
• 14:30 EDT — Event 44-M: $1,050 NL Hold’em Main Event ($300K+ to 1st)
• 14:30 EDT — Event 44-H: $10,300 NL Hold’em Main Event ($500K+ to 1st)

You can find the entire SCOOP schedule at www.pokerstars.com.

Niall Farrell wins FTOPS Main Event

2,557 players entered the latest running of the Full Tilt Poker FTOPS Main Event, a $635 buy-in tournament that is one of the most prestigious online tournaments in the history of the game, and a tournament that has launched a number of poker careers.

One of those 2,557 entrants was UK poker pro Niall Farrell, who after a three-way chop with “Chillax Chuck” and poker superstar Mike “Timex” McDonald went on to win the FTOPS Main Event title, with each player taking $200k in prize money, and leaving the Gold Jersey and an additional $36,000 to play for.

Chopped FTOPS Main 3 handed with Chilax Chuck and @MikeMcDonald89 for $200k each. Unbelievably happy, playing for 36k and the jersey now 🙂

— Niall Farrell (@Firaldo87poker) April 14, 2014

UK News Bites

Robert McAdam wins GPS Southend

Robert McAdam entered the Genting Poker Series Southend Main Event with just a single tournament cash on his resume, which came way back in 2011 by the way, but after the GPS Southend tournament McAdam has now doubled his career cashes. This time he booked a win and pocketed a pretty substantial score.

McAdam topped a field of 270 players to claim the top prize of over £33k, a bit more than the meager min-cash he scored back in 2011 at the UKIPT Nottingham Main Event.

Here is a look at the final table results from the Genting Poker Series website:

1. Rob McAdam £33,730
2. Leon Campbell £22,500
3. Dean Clay £15,000
4. Briony Stone £8,750
5. Ben Winsor £6,750
6. Danny Tran £5,500
7. James Burke £4,250
8. Josh Venman £3,310
9. Martin Hogarty £2,380

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