Sam Holden, a 23-year old former student of Canterbury and ace poker player, finished in the 55th place in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2012, collecting a large cash prize of $128,000. Last year, Holden had won as much as $800k in the WSOP 2011 Main Event.
Sam Holden, who has graduated from the University of Kent, played against a field of 6,600 players, hoping to emerge as the champion and win the large prize of $8.5 million. But he was eliminated in the 55th position as his eight pair was no match for his opponent’s three five cards.
Finishing 55th in WSOP 2012 Main Event, however, is Sam Holden’s second Las Vegas win. Last year, he reached the Main Event’s final table, scooping up a cash prize of $782,115, which equals £500,000. He was the last UK player standing in both cases, but still, Holden feels that this year’s Main Event tournament is something special.
He said that it was a different experience as he was playing as a known player and the amateur players fared very badly against him as they always thought that he was bluffing. However, the professional poker players knew better because they knew his style of playing even before he started playing against them.
Further sharing his experiences, the UK poker pro said that he enjoyed taking part in the WSOP Main Event because he knew more people this year and had plenty of poker buddies. He said that he “had a good idea of how to manage this three-week ‘business’ trip to Vegas.”
Holden had won some cash before taking part in the Main Event. He had won a cash prize of $24,000 in another poker tournament. He doesn’t appear to be disappointed that he was eliminated in the 55th place. He said that it wasn’t really bad luck because he had won several all ins before the final hand and had a very short stack of chips. He said that he had been very lucky at the WSOP during the past two years.
Sam used to play a lot of poker when he was studying forensic science in Canterbury. Ever since he became a professional poker player, he has won as much as £1 million playing both online and live poker.
The giant online poker company 888.com signed a sponsorship deal with Holden following his WSOP success of last year.
