/ Matthew Pitt / 25 June 2011 / Leave a Comment 
The 2010 World Series of Poker was labelled the Year of the Brit after our boys and girls played out of their skins and ensured British players had their best WSOP on record. That year Brits won five bracelets, 23 final tables, 275 cashes and winnings of $8,679,918 but with 19 events and the Main Event still left to play at this year's series British players look set to smash that record.
At time of writing up to Event #38 has been completed and Brits are still running hot and playing even better. So far Jake Cody, Matthew Perrins and Darren Woods have won a bracelet and there have been a total of 18 final table appearances and a massive 136 cashes, for winnings of around $5,100,000! An amazing achievement and long may it continue.
Last night two more Brits came close to bringing home the bacon but fell just short after terrific runs. The first was Tom Middleton, a young online pro from Leeds who is currently ranked 62nd in the world for online poker tournaments. Online he has won more than $2,700,000. Before reaching the final table of Event #35, the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em event, Middleton's best cash was for £22,150, which he was awarded for winning the 2008 Gala Casinos Poker Tour final in Bristol. Now he has smashed that amount by winning $305,015 after finishing third this event.
He played superbly throughout the tournament and was unlucky to lose a vital coinflip to eliminate him, if he had won this particular hand there is no doubt he would have been brining home a bracelet. In the hand in question he got into a raising war preflop with eventual winner Mikhail Lakhitov that resulted in Middleton being all-in and at risk of elimination. His ThTd were in front of the AsKd of his Russian opponent but fell way behind as the flop came down 5d-Ks-9s. The Js gave Middleton extra outs to a gustshot straight but the 5s was not one of them and the Brit was sent to the rail where he was met by an army of drunken, boisterous supporters.
The second British player to make a WSOP final table last night was Paul Nash, better known as brummieboy when he is plying his trade as an online poker professional. Nash's biggest score of his career came in 2009 when he finished second in the PokerStars Sunday Million, a result that netted him $165,555. Despite winning close to $880,000 from online tournaments, Nash had not been able to reproduce the same form in the live arena, though he did have four cashes in UKIPT events prior to this result, his best being a sixth place finish in Manchester that scooped him £12,600.
Nash entered Event #38, the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em tournament, along with 2,191 others and after three long days and nights of poker found himself on the final table of nine, albeit seventh in chips. Unfortunately for Nash, and his legion of railbirds, he could not gain the momentum he needed to bring home a bracelet and was eliminated in fifth place. The final hand saw the flop come down 7s-3s-8h and with 250,000 already in the pot Nash bet 160,000. Arkadiy Tsinis raised to 365,000 and after a brief pause Nash moved all in for 970,000. Getting close to three-to-one pot odds Tsinis shrugged his shoulders and made the call, turning over Ac8d. Tsinis' pair of eights were the best hand as Nash revealed AdJs and in desperate need of help. The Qs on the turn gave him extra outs to the spade flush but they failed to materialise as the river was the Ah, sending the popular Brit to the rail disappointed to not win a bracelet but with $123,028 to console himself with.
By the time the weekend is done and dusted we could have a few more Brits on final tables and winning bracelets. The $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Six-handed event is down to the last 20 and both Jude Ainsworth (From the Republic of Ireland but we'll steal him) and Martins Adeniya are both still in with a shot at glory. Good luck ladies and gents!
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