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The pride of Watford: Ashby wins $140K, WSOP title13 June 2010Richard Ashby won the $1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud tournament (Event #21) at the World Series of Poker on Saturday night to claim the $140,467 first-place prize. Ashby, age 38, is primarily an online cash game specialist who lives in Watford, England. "I play a lot of mixed games," Ashby said, following the win. "But maybe I should be playing stud a little bit more, after this." He is the third Englishman to win a gold bracelet at this year's WSOP, following in the footsteps of previous U.K. champions, Praz Bansi and James Dempsey. Christine Pietsch barely missed becoming the 16th woman in history to win an open WSOP event. She had a big chip lead when heads up play began, but Ashby proved to be a formidable opponent in the duel, leaving the lady from Orange County, Calif., in second place. "She kept on being aggressive," said Ashby. "Once the pots started getting big, it was hard to put on the brakes. I got lucky on a couple of pots and she played really well. (On one hand) I was bluffing and she kept on correctly calling me. Then, I got lucky and hit a third deuce and won. That was really the turning point, I think." The final hand of the tournament came when Ashby's (queen-queen) three-seven-nine-seven (jack) Pietsch's (king-10) jack-eight-10-ace (two). Ashby made two pair – Qs and 7s – which bested Pietsch's pair of tens. Pietsch would have joined an illustrious group of female champions, including Jennifer Harman, Annette Obrestad, Annie Duke, Kathy Liebert, Cyndy Violette, and Vanessa Selbst, among others. Selbst was the last woman to win the most coveted of all poker jewelry, which took place in Event #19 at the 2008 WSOP.  Ashby is the third Englishman to win a WSOP bracelet this summer (photo by GreasieWheels) The final table, which was played on Day Three, began a few minutes after the conclusion of the 2010 World Cup (soccer) match between the United States and England, which ended in a 1-1 draw. The third-place finisher was Darren Shebell, from Las Vegas, Nev. He formally served with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Former WSOP gold bracelet winner Dan Heimiller from Nevada, Ariz., was fourth, Owais Ahmed, from Anaheim, Calif., was fifth, Sorel Mizzi, from Toronto, Ont., was sixth, Pat Pezzin, also from Toronto, was seventh, and Jon Turner, from Henderson, Nev., was eighth. The tournament attracted 408 players, with the top 40 finishers collecting prize money. Aside from the final table players, former WSOP gold bracelet finishers who cashed in this event included Alexander Kravchenko (9th), Scott Seiver (19th), and Rod Pardey, Jr. (37th). Modified from notes provided by Nolan Dalla for www.wsop.com |