Former professional soccer player Tony Cascarino has had his first triumph in a big professional poker event. The Irishman who played for Chelsea and Millwall as well as his country, won the No Limit Hold’em main event of the seventh leg of the BlueSquarePoker.com Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) at the Grosvenor Casino in Bolton.
His victory means he qualifies for the Grand Final in London in November. He was also rewarded with a winners’ cheque for £52,850.
The field for the Bolton event was 174 players with Cascarino fighting his way through to the final table and a heads-up final with Ali Mallu.
Cascarino was well behind in chips as the heads-up got underway but he came back to win, sealing his victory with a nut flush on the final hand.
Here are the final table finishers and their payouts:
1. Tony Cascarino (£52,850)
2. Ali Mallu (£30,600)
3. Roberto Romanello (£20,600)
4. Rob Sherwood (£14,900)
5. Kevin O’Leary (£11,400)
6. Dennis Clough (£8,750)
7. Surinder Sunar (£7,000)
8. Sid Harris (£5,250)
9. Greg Hunt (£4,400)
The GUKPT will return in October with the eighth leg being held in Thanet. Nik Persaud is currently in first place in the GUKPT leaderboard with a 27 point lead over Marc Goodwin with Julian Thew in third place.