The first-ever WPT Ireland is now in the history books and UK poker player Dave “Dubai” Shallow has added his name to the WPT Champions Cup. For his efforts, the Englishman earned €222,280 (which includes a $25,500 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship) and a WPT Champions Trophy of his own.
Facing a field of 338 entrants, Shallow surged up the leaderboard as early as Day 2 of the event and was one of the chip leaders as players dropped around him. By the time the final table was set, he had an impressive chip lead thanks to an amazing hand that knocked out two players at one time, leaving only five for the WPT final table instead of the usual six.
The three-way hand involved the chip leader, Shallow, Steven Moreau and Shaun Conning and saw Shallow come from behind in the hand to knock both of the others out. Moreau raised to start the hand with pocket aces and Shallow then re-raised all in with pocket jacks. Conning decided he wasn’t to be left out and re-raised all-in himself with pocket queens. Salivating with anticipation, and the best hand, Moreau snap called all-in himself. Shallow had both players covered and the 10-9-7 rainbow flop put Moreau out in front with his pocket aces. However, the jack on the turn and the meaningless four on the river gave the hand, and commanding final table chip lead, to Shallow. He would ride that 5 to 1 chip lead to victory, despite doubling up several of the short stack players along the way, during one of the shortest WPT final tables ever played.
An aggressive and well-known online player, this is the first major live poker tournament cash for Shallow since 2009 and his largest live cash ever. Back in 2006 in an interview with PokerNews, he stated one of his goals in poker was to win a WPT title. Six years later, he has added his name to WPT Champions Cup and cemented his place in WPT history while fulfilling one of his lifelong goals.
Here are the full final table payouts and placings:
1. David Shallow – $289,031
2. Charles Chattha – $144,502
3. Ronan Gilligan – $96,339
4. Patrik Vestlin – $68,396
5. Steve Watts – $51,063
Right after the last hand between Shallow and runner-up Chaz Chatta, WPT Live Updates commentator Jesse May interviewed them both on their run at WPT Ireland and their heads-up match.
With this infusion into his bankroll, one might assume we’d see more of Shallow on the tournament circuit. However, the soon-to-be family man will be spending the foreseeable future at home with his girlfriend, who is seven months pregnant.
So, congrats to Dave Shallow for his victory and for his impending new addition. Welcome to the WPT Champions Club!