The fourth PartyPoker.com World Open poker tournament featured 72 players with a buy-in of over £4,000.  The players gathered at London’s Albannach restaurant in Trafalgar Square with the hope of winning a share of the £294,000 prize fund and ultimately the World Open title.

It was Northern Ireland’s Marty Smyth who prevailed to win the title and the £127,739 prize for first place.  The 33 year-old Ulsterman added the World Open crown to his Irish Open victory last year.  This has added to his reputation and he will be one to watch out for at the World Series of Poker that starts in Las Vegas later this month.

Smyth took on the in-form Neil Channing in the heads-up final.  Channing succeeded Smyth as Irish Open champion this year and was also a member of the Great Britain team that won the PartyPoker.com Poker Nations Cup. 

Channing was pre-tournament favourite and was expected to defeat Smyth in the heads-up.  At one stage, Channing had over 1.05 million chips which was three times the amount Smyth had at 346,000.  The chip lead did, however, change hands on several occasions making for an exciting contest as the heads-up lasted longer than the entire heats of the final table. 

Smyth claimed victory when he had QQ against Channing’s 99.  The flop produced 10s, 5d, 2d and a kh on the turn meaning that Channing required a 9 to save his skin.  He didn’t get a 9 and got the king of diamonds instead, which meant that Smyth was the 2008 World Open Champion.

Channing received just over £51,000 for his second place.  After the tournament he said, “I thought it was my day.  I believed during the final table that if I didn’t win this I would be disappointed, and I am.  That said, it would have been a bit ridiculous if I managed to take down this title, as well!”

Smyth commented on his win by saying the money will “come in handy for Vegas” referring to the World Series of Poker taking place later this month.  He and Channing will both be there together with a string of other top British poker players, to play in the world’s biggest poker tournament.

A spokesman for PartyPoker.com praised Smyth’s win by saying, “It would be fair to say that Marty was an extremely popular winner.  He’s done European poker a favour by derailing the Channing bandwagon but make no mistake he is one of the finest players on the circuit at the moment.”

Eddie Hearn, director of Matchroom Sport said, “This was without doubt the strongest field we have seen at the PartyPoker.com World Open, and the players certainly didn’t disappoint.  The standard of play was simply stunning throughout and Marty was a deserved winner.  The PartyPoker.com World Open is now firmly established as one of poker’s major titles.”

The event was filmed for television across Europe and will be broadcast on Channel Five starting at 12am on Thursday 24th July.

Here is the list of players that made it to the final table, their position and prize money wins:

Marty Smyth (£127,739)
Neil Channing (£51,016)
Marc Goodwin (£25,542)
Andy Ward (£15,325)
Dixie Dean (£12,772)
Ryan Fronda (£10,218)

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