David "Dubai" Shallow Wins WPT Ireland Main Event

January 09 2012, Matthew Pitt

David "Dubai" Shallow is the latest name to be engraved onto the impressive Champions Cup after he took down the inaugural World Poker Tour Ireland Main Event at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin.

Shallow already had one hand on the trophy before play even began on Day 4 as he had one of the largest chip leads every seen in the 10 Season history of the WPT. Thanks to eliminating two players in the same hand on the final table bubble, Shallow went into the five-handed finale armed with 6,115,000 of the 10,140,000 chips in play!

WPT Final Table Seat Draw

The final table got under way bang on time at 1500 and the players were playing out the remainder of Level 26, meaning the blinds and antes were 20,000/40,000/5,000a. It took just 35-minutes for the first player to be eliminated, that dubious honour going to Steve Watts. Ronan Gilligan had opened the betting with a raise from the button and then called when Watts moved all in from the small blind. Gilligan held to Watts' and it was off to the races. The flop meant, although he did not need to, Watts could not spike a ten because it would improve Gilligan to a straight. The on the turn failed to alter anything but a dreaded landed on the river to bust a disappointed Watts in fifth place.

He was joined on the rail shortly afterwards by Sweden's Patrik Vestlin, again at the hands of Gilligan. Vestlin had raised from the cutoff with and his Irish opponent decided to see a flop with his . The dealer put out the flop and it was obvious fireworks were going to ensue. Gilligan initially checked then when Vestlin continued he check-raised to 450,000. Vestlin responded by moving all in and Gilligan made the call. The turn was black but not a spade, the and the on the river meant Gilligan's top pair was still the best hand and he had gone from the shortest stack to chip leader!

Gilligan's domination was brought to an abrupt end though when he missed an open-ended straight draw against Mr Shallow. The latter had open-raised from the small blind with what turned out to be and Gilligan made the call with just . The money went in on a flop and when the turn and rier were the and respectively it was curtains for Gilligan and it was time for a heads-up battle between two brits, Shallow and Charles Chattha, for the title!

Heads-up Chip Counts

The first couple of early pots went Shallow's way and it looked like it was going to be a completely one-sided affair but you do not amass more than $700,000 in live tournament winnings, as Chattha has, without knowing how to claw your way back into contention. And Chattha did just that first he was unfortunate that Shallow only held when his hit a miracle flop and then he was lucky to see Shallow get a little too aggressive with when he had in the hole.

In that hand Chattha opened to 140,000 (blinds now 30,000/60,000/10,000a) and Shallow three-bet to 360,000. Chattha made his first four-bet of the final table and made it 600,000 to play and when Shallow moved all in Chattha beat him into the pot. The board kept the queens in front and Chattha not only doubled up but took a slight 5,180,000 to 4,960,000 chip lead.

The lead was short-lived though as Shallow's relentless aggression paid off. From the button he bet 135,000 only to see the Hit Squad member three-bet to 380,000. Using his aggro image perfectly, Shallow then four-bet to 825,000 and instantly called when Chattha pushed his entire stack over the betting line.

Chattha
Shallow

As Shallow proved even the loosest of players pick up premium hands from time to time! The first three cards fell , perfect for the queens of Shallow. The on the turn was no help to Chattha and neither was the as it left the queens as the best hand and resigned Chattha to runner-up finish in the WPT Ireland Main Event.

Although Shallow had won a £100 buy-in tournament back at the Summer Breeze Poker Festival in Brighton in 2005 this will count as his first major live win. The €222,280 he won is by far his largest live score but he will have to win an even larger live event if he is to best his career best tournament score of $605,655 that he was awarded for winning Event #2 of the 2010 PokerStars WCOOP where he plays as "CrabMaki". After this performance we would not bet against him having another huge score either online or live in the not too distant future.

Shortly after the tournament came to conclusion Shallow and Chattha spoke to the legendary Jesse May. Thanks to the WPT for the video:

WPT Ireland Final Table Results

David Shallow chose the nickname "Dubai" whilst plying his trade on Betfair. You could get your poker career off to a flying start with out exclusive promotion on Betfair Poker where two lucky players will win a $1,400 seat to Betfair Poker LIVE London. Check it out!

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