Eric Bunch and Luc Greenwood Win Six-Figure Prizes

Eric Bunch walked away from the 2019 WinStar Labor Day River Poker Series Main Event as the tournament’s champion. Bunch got his hands on the winner’s trophy and $260,000 after a heads-up chop with Spencer Champlin who won $234,887.

WinStar Final Table Results

Place	Player	Prize
1	Eric Bunch	$260,000*
2	Spencer Champlin	$234,887*
3	Eluterio Rodriguez	$119,046
4	Jeremy Liu	$97,000
5	Viet Vo	$74,995
6	James Jewell	$57,318
7	Kris Burchfield	$44,091
8	Jim Harris	$35,273
9	Katherine Offutt	$29,982

*reflects a heads-up deal

A field of 1,242 players each paid $1,500 to compete in the Main Event. It took three days of intense poker action to crown the champion.

The third and final day began with 10 players in the hunt for the title. Those 10 soon became nine when Chuck Barker busted in 10th place for $24,338. Barker’s exit set the final table with each player guaranteed $29,982.

Katherine Offutt saw her tournament end in ninth-place to make the event an all-male affair. Offutt committed her stack with ace-king on an ace-high flop, only to discover Champlin had flopped two queens. Champlin improved to a full house by the river and the player count reduced by one.

Jack Harris followed Offutt to the cashier’s desk before Champlin began eliminating opponents seemingly for fun. Kris Burchfield, James Jewell and Viet Vo all busted at the hands of Champlin who was no chip leader.

Champlin Soars, Bunch Tries to Keep Tabs

Champlin’s one man wrecking spree continued when he sent Jeremy Liu to the showers. Liu netted $97,000 and was the final person not to lock up a six-figure prize.

Third-place and $119,046 went to Eluterio Rodriguez. The Alamo, Texas resident more than doubled his lifetime winnings of $81,610 with this impressive result. Rodriguez’s previous best score came in 2017 when he finished 10th in the $1,000 Seniors Event at the World Series of Poker for $41,972.

Bunch trailed Champlin by almost three-to-one going into heads-up, but he was not perturbed and stuck to his game plan. The heads-up duo saw the chip lead exchange hands on numerous occasions and Bunch led going into what turned out to be the final break of the night.

Both Bunch and Champlin agreed to a deal while on break from the table, which brought the event to a conclusion. Champlin turned his $1,500 buy-in into $234,887 and Bunch secured a $260,000 payday. This latest haul pushes Champlin’s live poker tournament winnings past the $1.2 million mark. Bunch now has more than $960,000 in cashes.

Luc Greenwood Wins Opening Event of the British Poker Open

Aspers Casino in Stratford, London, United Kingdom is hosting a massive poker tournament festival. Poker Central and partypoker LIVE have come together to create the British Poker Open, featuring a Super High Roller Bowl.

The opening event of the British Poker Open was a £10,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament that attracted just 26 entries. Canadian superstar Mike Watson burst the money bubble after an ill-timed bluff cost him most of his stack. Sweden’s Robert Flink busted Watson soon after having being the recipient of most of Watson’s stack from the failed bluff earlier.

O’Dwyer Wins a Bunch of Chips

British grinder Sam Grafton was the first player eliminated inside the money place. Grafton was all in with pocket eights against the pocket tens of Steve O’Dwyer and the ace-king of chip leader Flink. Flink paired his king and a double elimination looked likely. O’Dwyer improved to a set of tens on the turn to flip the hand on its head. The river was a brick, Grafton busted and O’Dwyer padded his stack.

It was Luc Greenwood’s turn to run hot. Greenwood won a massive coinflip with ace-king versus O’Dwyer’s sevens. The most likely result for O’Dwyer was a third-place finish because he was left with a handful of big blinds. Flick, however, was the next player heading to the cashier’s cage. Flink got his stack in with pocket deuces and lost to the king-queen of Greenwood. Greenwood held the queen of spades and the board four-flushed with that suit.

A very unbalanced heads-up match between Greenwood and O’Dwyer was over almost as quickly as it started. Trailing 12-to-1 on chips, O’Dwyer attempted to claw his way back into contention. He secured a double up but any dreams of a comeback were thwarted. The American-Irishman got his stack in good with pocket tens against Greenwood’s king-ten but a king landed on the turn.

Toronto’s Greenwood is on a heater at the moment and is one to watch for the rest of the series. He was in Barcelona for the European Poker Tour festival and had a profitable time in Spain. Greenwood managed to win €783,840 (US$872,450) while in Barcelona.

British Poker Open Opening Event Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize (GBP)	Prize (USD)
1	Luc Greenwood	Canada	£119,600	$144,726
2	Steve O’Dwyer	United States	£72,800	$88,094
3	Robert Flink	Sweden	£41,600	$50,339
4	Sam Grafton	United Kingdom	£26,000	$31,462

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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