blonde poker

 
Michael Lott, from Liverpool, representing local pub The Royal Oak, beat over 1,000 people to be crowned Pub Poker Champion 2007'. In a national final, Michael took the game down winning the first prize of a $5,500 Ladbrokes Poker Cruise package for himself and a guest as well as his lucky pub landlord.

Michael, who has been playing poker for three years and has the alias of 'tolekim', represented his local pub in the Pub Poker Grand Final that took place on Sunday 9th December at the Ladbrokes Casino in London. Qualifying as a wildcard for the live tournament, Michael came face to face with nineteen other finalists from as far afield as The Shetland Islands. All of the players have spent the last month competiting in the $5 weekly online tournament. Players that made the final won a poker kit for their local including table, cards and chips set, but Michael also won a place on the 2008 Ladbrokes Poker Cruise.

Asked this morning how he felt about his win, accountant, Michael chuckled, "Lady Luck must have been by my side. I'd been playing in the Sunday tournament for four out of the five weeks and although I did OK, I never got the win I needed or accumulated enough points to make it through to the final. So I was surprised to say the least, when Laddies emailed telling me that I was one of the five wildcards chosen from over 1,000 players to compete in the final. Now, I'm the winner of a cruise package for two and my pub landlord too. I'm ecstatic, I've been trying via the other satellites for months to win a Ladbrokes cruise package, so this really is a very welcome early Christmas present for my wife Julie and I"

Michael hasn't told his pub landlord yet of the win, but joked that he was looking forward to a few bottles of bubbly on the house to celebrate. Altogether over 500 pubs and over 1,000 players entered this year's Championship and there will be more opportunities for pubs to enter the 2008 tournament where they can win Ladbrokes Pub Poker Packs or, of course, the coveted title of Ladbrokes Pub Poker Champion.

Samantha Alleyne, PR Manager for Ladbrokespoker.com said, "The online tournament itself has been brilliant and the live final really was the icing on the plate for players who had won a seat having played in the weekly Sunday tournament. It truly was a great end to our first ever online Pub Poker tournament. After the success of this year's Championship we expect even more entries next year."