Jamie Hurst Takes Sky Poker Tour’s Cardiff Crown

Yorkshire’s Jamie Hurst has lifted the second to last leg of the British-based Sky Poker Tour at Cardiff’s Les Croupiers Casino – from his first ever live poker tournament experience.

With a prize pool of £16,100 (about $26,200/€18,226) on offer at the fifth leg of the tour, the youngster defeated a field made up of Sky Poker qualifiers and big-name players such as south London journalist, broadcaster and poker commentator James Hartigan, Dave Bland, Nottingham pro Julian ‘Yo-Yo’ Thew – who recently won the 2011 £1,000 ($1,627/€1,132) Monte Carlo event at his home town’s Dusk Till Dawn venue for £62,500 ($101,661/€70,765) – and Middlesex pro Tony ‘Tikay’ Kendall to the title and £3,300 ($5,369/€3,736) in prize money.

However, Hurst didn’t leave with the biggest cash prize as, once the final table had become three-handed, he, chip leader Carl Taylor and Dan Royle agreed to a deal that ensured Taylor left with £4,000 ($6,508/€4,528) – no matter the final outcome.

That left Hurst and Royle with £3000 ($4,881/€3,396) each as the remaining trio battled it out for an additional £300 (£488/€340) and the title.

Unexpectedly, Taylor was the first out in third place to leave Hurst and Royle heads-up for the spare £300 and the all-important bragging rights gained by winning the event.

But it wasn’t too long before the Sheffield Wednesday Football Club fan had seen off Royle, though, when his J-5 held strong on a board that had left him with the high card.

The next date on the calendar is the Sky Poker Tour Grand Final at Nottingham’s famous Dusk Till Dawn venue on September 10-11, when there will be a guaranteed prize pool of £40,000 ($65,085/€45,286).