OCOP WINNER SCOOPS $266,250 from $3!
After a gruelling 10 ½ hours of poker play, Scarborough-born catering manager Alistair Lane has won the Ladbrokes European Championship – 100 % Online (LEOCOP) Main Event, the number one online poker championship in Europe.
Known under the alias ”ALI666” at the poker table, Lane has been playing poker for twelve years but admits that LEOCOP is his first major win. And after paying a mere $3 to enter, his poker prowess paid off as he defeated his opponents to scoop first prize to the tune of $266,250 – a massive 88,750-1 return.
As well as the large cash payout, Alistair has also guaranteed himself a place on the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise early next year – a daunting prospect for someone who prefers the anonymity of playing online and confesses to only ever playing live poker with friends.
Following his recent win, he commented:
Winning the Main Event was a fantastic but tiring experience and I’m delighted with the cash, but the icing on the cake is the chance to go on the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise. When I entered a $3 rebuy satellite tournament I never dreamed that I would win the whole thing and it has taken a couple of days to really sink in. Although I play online poker fairly regularly, I have tried out lots of different sites and Ladbrokes is definitely my preferred choice due to the easy layout, the variety of games and the types of table available. I’m looking forward to playing in LEOCOP again next year and defending my title!”
The Heads-Up event was won by a Sydney-born player, alias ”The Hood”, who won $72,000 and, coming a notable third in the 32 stake event was popular Ladbrokes poker player, ”Actionjack”. He collected $27,200 in prize money less than a week after his £100,000 win at the Cavendish Club in Northern Ireland.
Other LEOCOP winners include alias ”Square7” who claimed victory in the opening event and has now secured himself a place worth $11,000 on the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise 2006, as well as taking home a whopping $38,475 in prize money.
More than 10,000 aspiring poker players entered this year’s online satellite qualifiers and over 2,000 players participated in the seven LEOCOP event tournaments.
Commenting on the LEOCOP event, Albert Tapper, General Manager of Ladbrokes Poker said:
”The huge prize pools generated a great buzz on the site and brought out the strong community element at ladbrokespoker.com. Over 500 players were watching the final table of the main event at 4am on a Sunday morning, and we took over 300 bets in-running on that game alone! I would like to pass on my thanks to all those players who participated and made it such a roaring success.”
For full information on LEOCOP winners visit www.ladbrokes.com/poker/leocop/results.php