Steven Spivack (pictured) has won the Main Event at Asper’s Casino Stratford in London for a bumper prize of £35,318. Spivack did a heads-up deal with Eastbourne player Chris Dirsin, with the pair splitting the remaining prize pool and playing it out for the coveted Main Event champion’s title and trophy.
There were 225 unique players – 371 entries in all – for the £600 buy-in Main Event which came with a £120,000 guaranteed prize pool. It was the largest field so far since Aspers launched its seasonal festivals last December.
The packed schedule featured 15 tournaments in total. Lithuania’s Denas Pranaitis took down the first event, the £250 buy-in No Limit Warm-up for £6,900. That event also attracted a large field – some 126 entries– generating a guarantee-busting prize pool of £27,495. That field included MainEventTravel’s promotion winner Suzie Williamson (pictured) who won an Autumn Fest Package which included an entry to the £250 Warm-Up tournament and £250 travel credit.
The next player to get their hands on one of the coveted Aspers trophies was Londoner Tony Poulengeris (pictured below.) His victory in the £340 Progressive Bounty gave him a £3,824 payday. Poulengeris is a prolific live poker player and has been enjoying cashes in festivals all over Europe this year including the Battle of Malta, the Irish Poker Open in Dublin and the UKIPT, GUKPT and 888poker Live events in London. He was glad he made a last-minute decision to play the tournament. Tony said “I had one bounty when I reached the final table. Then it all changed and I started to hit with sets and had a massive double up with AK v AK. Winning the trophy was such a great feeling as recently it’s been close but no cigar. Now it’s a nice box full!”
Danh Tran beat a stellar field to take down the £1,250 buy-in High Roller for £18,870. The event easily beat its £50k guarantee attracting 59 entries to generate a prize pool of £65,810. Among those who cashed were EPT London and WPT Barcelona finalist Martins Adeniya who finished fifth and Unibet London High Roller champion Damian Bell who came seventh. Tran has been thriving over the last few months and also finished fourth in the Main Event at the last Aspers festival – the Summer Fest in July – for £11,005.
The Aspers Autumn Festival took place from October 25 to November 6 and attracted bumper fields – thanks in part to the presence of the EPT which was drawing to a close just a few miles away in the West End. Paresh Doshi was among those players who made the trip across town to Aspers; he won the £300 PLO 4/5/6 event for £2,165 only days after finishing sixth in the EPT London PLO event.
Aspers Customer Services Manager Janis Mozajevs said: “We are thrilled at the turnout we had for the Autumn Fest. Everyone had a really great time and it showed that hosting seasonal festivals every quarter is a great idea. This was the first time we’d had a High Roller on the schedule but it certainly went down well with players and attracted quite a few high-profile names. Autumn Fest also had the biggest schedule we’ve done so far which bodes well for future events.”
The next major tournament at Aspers will be the Christmas Cracker which will run from December 14 to December 18. There will be five starting flights in total including two on Saturday, December 17. The final day will be on Sunday, December 18. The buy-in has yet to be confirmed but organisers say it’s likely to be around £200.
Suzie Wiiliamson, (pictured) an ambassador for FLIP women’s group, said about winning the package “I was chuffed to bits to win not only entry to the Aspers Autumn warm-up but also Main Event Travel hotel credit. Booking was easy, the website included plenty of hotel options located near Aspers. I’d only ever used Main Event travel once before which was years ago. Since Aspers I’ve already used the site again to book a hotel in London for the up-and-coming Mega Series. Aspers casino was great, easy to find, located within a huge retail/shopping centre with a fab food court just down the escalator and the entrance to the station is located just outside. The staff were very welcoming and friendly and even though I didn’t manage to cash the tournament, I did make a little bit playing the cash games and I had a lot of fun too. Thank you again to Aspers Casino and Main Event Travel for the opportunity and also to the lovely Kelly Saxby for making sure everything was in place for when I arrived."
Aspers Stratford is one of the UK’s leading casinos with the biggest card room in London. The venue has already hosted numerous premier tournaments including the Unibet Open and 888poker LIVE. Getting to Aspers couldn’t be simpler as it’s located right in the giant Westfield Stratford City retail centre and easily accessible by tube or train. If you’re driving, just head to Car Park B of Westfield Stratford City and use the lifts to access the casino.
Photo Credit: Aspers Poker Stratford
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