David Shallow Wins Unibet Open London Main Event For ￡62,000
After approximately six hours of play on the final table, the United Kingdom's David Shallow emerged as the winner of the Unibet Open London Main Event for ￡62,000 and the coveted trophy. Shallow now exceeds the half-million mark in career live tournament earnings after the victory.
The Main Event victory marks the third-biggest win for Shallow in his poker career, as he previous won the World Poker Tour Dublin Main Event for €222,280 in January 2012 and shipped the UKIPT Nottingham High Roller in May 2014 for ￡68,000.
The day began with eight of the nine players in their seats, and Shallow joined a few hands late. Not too far into the day, the man holding the shortest stack starting today's action, China's Jin Hui, was eliminated in ninth place for ￡6,300. Hui's top pair on the turn with the 
proved no match for Bhavin Khatri's flopped set of eights.
Play continued for over two hours before the next player was eliminated. France's Nicolas Ludwicki hit the rail after falling short on chips a few hands earlier. Then, Shallow went from being a short stack to no longer "shallow" in chips when his preflop all-in shove for 850,000 with the 
— at blinds of 25,000/50,000 and an ante of 5,000 — flushed the board against Khatri's 
.
Shortly after, Hungary's Akos Gergely (7th - ￡10,540), France's Benjamin Lebor (6th - ￡12,670), and Hungary's Mate Mecs (5th - ￡15,770) exited the tournament in very quick succession.
France's Julien Rouxel, who began the day as chip leader, was the next player eliminated in fourth place for ￡21,005 at the hands of fellow countryman Nicolas Cardyn. While it was Cardyn who finished him off, Rouxel was already short after losing a big hand against Khatri, in which Khatri flopped a set with the 
on a 
board. Rouxel had the 
and took the lead with the nut flush on the 
turn. But, the final blow was delivered to Rouxel when the 
paired the board on the river to give Khatri a full house.
Not too long after that, the tournament was heads up after Cardyn lost a key hand. He went all in preflop with the 
and lost to Shallow's 
after the 
appeared on the flop. Cardyn collected ￡28,190 for his third-place finish.
Khatri began heads-up play with 7.155 million in chips and a small lead against Shallow's 5.485 million. Khatri's advantage became slightly greater during the beginning of heads-up play thanks to taking down a few small pots in a row, but eventually Shallow turned the tables with a couple of big pots.
During the final hand, Khatri raised the action to 240,000 with the 
. Shallow three-bet to 665,000 with the 
, and Khatri called. Shallow then led out for a bet of 740,000 with two pair on a flop of 
. Khatri then went all in for 3.3 million holding just top pair, and Shallow promptly called. The 
on the turn and the on the river didn't improve Khatri's hand, eliminating him in second place for ￡42,500.
Khatri shared with PokerNews that he qualified into the Unibet Open London Main Event for around ￡100.