British player wins World Series of Poker Europe Main Event title

Britain’s James Bord captured the Main Event title at the World Series of Poker Europe on Tuesday, coming from behind during a nearly 12-hour final table at the Empire Casino in London.
 
Bord, 29, is from Stanmore and considers himself a professional poker player. A boisterous crowd of friends and British supporters cheered Bord to victory.
 
Bord topped a field of 346 players who paid £10,000 each to play in the no-limit hold’em European championship. He collected £830,401 for first place, which is equal to about $1.3 million. Bord also earned with his first World Series of Poker individual event champions bracelet.
 
The final table of nine players included residents of France, Great Britain, Monaco and the United States. Bord began the day fifth in chips.
 
He was behind most of the final day, until he was heads-up against Italian-born Monte Carlo resident Fabrizio Baldassari.  Bord won a huge pot late to take a slight chip advantage and closed out his victory a short time later when his pocket 10s defeated Baldassari’s pocket 5s. 
 
Bord worked for international banking giant Citigroup before embarking on a poker career.
 
Prior to the World Series of Poker Europe, Bord had cashed six times at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, including a sixth-place finish earlier this year in the Deuce-to-Seven Lowball championship. 
 
Bord is best known among his peers as a cash-game player. 
 
“I never thought I would win a bracelet,” said Bord, who became the first British player to win the Word Series of Poker Europe Main Event.  “Being so close, you just never know when it’s going to come again. And it’s even more special to win it in my hometown. It’s just something very special.”

Photo of James Bord courtesy of the World Series of Poker