159 players ponied up the GBP 10,300 buy-in to play in the High Roller event at this year’s European Poker Tour London, creating a prize pool worth GBP 1,538,600.
By the third day of play this weekend the field was down to just 12 survivors, led by Sorel Mizzi and Carla Sabini of Canada and 28-year-old Jason Lavallee, a fellow Canadian pro from Montreal determined to make this event his own after a number of second placings in recent tourneys.
Five hours into play the final table emerged, with Lavallee facing some tough and experienced competitors in Simon Higgins, Sorel Mizzi, Carla Sabini, Tamer Kamel, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Luca Pagano and Mark Teltscher.
Lavallee set to work immediately, repeatedly winning hands in a session where he seemingly could not go wrong.
The departure of Mizzi in third place for GBP 161,560 set up the heads up between Lavallee and Brit player Simon Higgins with the Canadian holding a 20 to 1 advantage. Predictably Lavallee did not take more than just a few hands to send Higgins to the cashier to collect his runner up prize of GBP 242,330.
A delighted Lavallee boosted his online and live tournament career earnings well over the $2.5 million mark with the GBP 357,700 main prize, cracking jokes with his friends and commenting “So this is what it feels like to win a tournament!”