After eight hours of poker on the final day, Dave Mcconachie reigned victorious by overcoming a field of 385 entries to take home the top prize of ￡83,100 and the 888poker trophy. Mcconachie came all the way back in a heads-up match versus Francis Obadun after a deal was made earlier on.
The 2023 888poker Live London festival is winding down and the ￡1,100 Main Event was the pinnacle event that everyone was looking forward to. With a prize pool of ￡367,500 up for grabs, the majority of that would be dished out on Day 3 with just 15 players returning to the felt. Mcconachie entered the day in the middle of the pack but quickly joined the leaders in the first level of the day.
The London native overcame one of the toughest final tables he's ever been apart of and coming out on top was extremely satisfying. "Playing with Francis is tough. I mean, he's a lunatic," Mcconachie laughed after the match. "He's a tough opponent. The whole final table was tough. I went card dead for a bit but things turned out in my favor. Today was a miracle."
Mcconachie can often be found playing MTTs either in the London area or overseas in Las Vegas during the summer months. While it's not the first tournament win of his illustrious career, it will now be recorded as his largest victory, topping the six-figure mark in USD that is recorded on The Hendon Mob.
As for the runner-up, Obadun was also satisfied with how the day turned out, even though he was unable to finish things off after holding a large chip lead earlier on. "I came into the day thinking I could get top two. Obviously, it would have been nice to win, but it can go either way once you get to heads-up. I wasn't going to sit here and be a rock for two hours."
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (GBP) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dave Mcconachie | United Kingdom | ￡83,100* | $103,044 |
| 2nd | Francis Obadun | United Kingdom | ￡75,000* | $93,000 |
| 3rd | Ryan Otto | New Zealand | ￡39,500 | $48,980 |
| 4th | Smit Trivedi | United Kingdom | ￡25,250 | $31,310 |
| 5th | Jiaze Li | United Kingdom | ￡16,450 | $20,398 |
| 6th | Hong Pham | Vietnam | ￡12,100 | $15,004 |
| 7th | Bixi Yao | United Kingdom | ￡8,750 | $10,850 |
| 8th | Tobias Kirby Hogarty | United Kingdom | ￡7,500 | $9,300 |
| 9th | Raymond Caabay | United Kingdom | ￡6,400 | $7,936 |
*denotes that a deal was made
Action from the Final Day
There were 15 players who returned for Day 3 with their sights set on the top prize after already locking up at least ￡4,050 thus far. It didn't take long for some of the short stacks to start hitting the rail as the final table was reached in just a quick two hours. Hong Pham entered the day with a healthy lead over the rest of her opponents but it was only a matter of time until she clashed in a pot with fellow big stack, Obadun.
Just before the first break of the day, Pham made an ill-timed bluff that set her back on the leaderboard and was forced to play with a lot more caution going forward. Caution was the name of the game when the final table got underway with major ICM implications in play. Raymond Caabay was the first to fall after getting unlucky in a few spots against Obadun who appeared to be running over the table.
Tobias Kirby Hogarty was cruising along with an above-average stack for the latter part of the tournament but the tides turned when he ran into the pocket kings of Jiaze Li. Unfortunately for Kirby Hogarty, he fell victim to some short stacks that doubled up and was forced to settle for eighth place. Bixi Yao nursed the short stack for what seemed like an eternity and appeared to be in a position to at least stay alive but her ace-high kicker did not play on the runout and Yao was also eliminated.
With Pham now on the short stack, the cards did not go her way. Folding her way down to just 10 big blinds, Pham moved all in from the small blind and got a surprising call from Obadun in the big blind with jack-five offsuit. Obadun flopped a pair and turned trips, leaving Pham drawing dead before the river was dealt. The final five players took a 30-minute dinner break and whatever they ate, it caused chaos when they returned.
As the blinds went up again, there were a couple of stacks around the 10 big-blind mark. First on the chopping block was Li whose baby ace was no match for the six-high of Obadun. The chip leader once again took an uncommon line but found a pair on the flop which held on to eliminate Li in fifth place. On the next hand, Smit Trivedi found himself at risk in the big blind but Mcconachies flopped pair of aces was more than enough to send Trivedi packing.
One more hand, one more elimination as Ryan Otto picked up a king in the big blind and opted to send his short stack into the middle as well. Obadun was up to his old tricks with jack-high and to nobody's surprise, found a jack on the turn. Otto couldn't find any help on the river, leaving Obadun with a huge chip lead entering the heads-up battle with Mcconachie.
Everything was looking like Obadun was going to take this one home, especially after adding to his lead in the first few hands of their heads-up match. However, Obadun may have crossed the line one too many times when he opted to run a huge bluff on the river, only to have Mcconachie call him down with two pair. That gave Mcconachie a glimmer of hope and that was all he needed.
Once the chip stacks were nearly identical, the two players made an agreement to each guarantee themselves at least ￡75,000 and play for the remaining ￡8,100 and the trophy. As if Obadun needed any more incentive to play aggressively, but now he had the result to back him up. On the final hand of the night, both players woke up with an ace, and in heads-up play, sometimes that's all it takes. All of the chips got in the middle preflop and it was Mcconachie who held the better kicker. A clean run out for the now chip leader meant the tournament now had a champion.
That wraps up this event for the PokerNews team, but stay tuned as there will be plenty of more action from around the world in the coming days.
