Mikita Badziakouski and Ben Tollerene win big London

The two high-roller regulars closed out the two biggest events at the 2019 British Poker Open.

The inaugural British Poker Open is in the books, with high-stakes pros, Mikita "fish2013" Badziakouski and Ben "Ben86" Tollerene taking down the last two events at the Aspers Casino, London.

The £52,000 No-limit Hold’em event generated 18 entries, for a £900,000 prize pool. As the field was small, only the first three spots were paid, with £486,000 for the winner. The final three was made up of an American, a German and a Belarussian, clearly showing poker is a global game, and it was probably one of the toughest three-handed tables in the world - the three remainings have almost $80 million in combined winnings.

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David Peters was the first two bust in the money, taking home £144,000 after finishing third. He left Christopher Vogelsang and Mikita play it out, and eventually, it was the latter, who came out on top. The German had to settle for second, which earned him £270,000 this time.

Final results

The 10th and final event in the series saw Ben Tollerene raising the trophy, after beating PokerGO [4] founder Cary Katz heads-up.

The field was only twelve-entry strong in this event, meaning only the last two walked away with a prize. However, the heads-up was pretty intense, as the pay jump between second and first was almost £500,000.

After the runner-up of the £52,000 event, Chris Vogelsang busted in third place, Ben started the heads-up with a 10-1 chip lead over Cary, projecting a quick finish. Katz, however, thought otherwise and after several double-ups, he found himself with 2/3 of the chips in play.

Tollerene scored a double up with K-9 against pocket threes to turn things around, and in the final hand, he made a straight holding J-T against the Ace-six of Katz's to close out the event.

“Everything kind of worked out," Tollerene said after the win. "I got a lot of bluffs through. The heads up was going great and then, you know, it’s so swingy when it’s that shallow. It shifted back and then I was able to win two flips in a row and I won.”

"This event, and this series, was very tough and I don’t have all the confidence in the world against these guys," he added. "If this was PLO I would’ve felt much more comfortable but whenever I do play hold’em I put in time to study and be well prepared.”

Final results