Gooooooooooooooal!! Tony Cascarino Scores at Bolton GUKPT

Gooooooooooooooal!! Tony Cascarino Scores at Bolton GUKPT

Monday, 8 September 2008

Former Irish international footballer Tony Cascarino has joined the ranks of ‘Sportsman Who Make Good Poker Players’, having won the seventh leg of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) in Bolton. Tony picked up a first prize of £52,850 after overturning local legend Ali Mallu in a frantic heads up encounter.

Mallu had dominated the final table from the off and by the time Welshman Roberto Romanello had been eliminated in third place, he held a four to one chip lead over Cascarino. Mallu continued to press hard and just when it looked like it could all be over, the ex-striker equalized to take the match into extra time. Mallu had pushed all in with 8-4 on a 7-4-3 flop, but Cascarino called holding Q-7 and it stood up for him. On the very next hand Mallu shoved again, this time with K-8. Cascarino called immediately with pocket kings and when they also held up Mallu was left with just over 60,000 chips. They thought it was all over, and it was just a few hands later. In the final hand he held A-8 of clubs against Mallu’s 9-3 of hearts. A flop of 5-3-T of clubs gave Cascarino a flush and wrapped up the three points – sorry, £52,850.

“I had a great sports career, but even this I think has overtaken some of things I have done in football. I just enjoyed it. I’ve had a strange year and this has made a big difference for me in the poker world”, said Cascarino in the post-match interview.

Final results from GUKPT Bolton:
1st Tony Cascarino £52,850
2nd Ali Mallu £30,600
3rd Roberto Romanello £21,900
4th Rob Sherwood £14,900
5th Kevin O'Leary £11,400
6th Dennis Clough £8,750
7th Surinder Sunar £7,000
8th Sid Harris £5,250
9th Greg Hunt £4,400



Tags: Poker News, Gooooooooooooooal!!, Tony, Cascarino, Scores, at, Bolton, GUKPT