In football in particular, the words 'Scotland' and 'win' are often deemed strangers, yet when the location is the International Casino in Aberdeen, our beloved neighbour becomes odds on favourite to taste victory. And with last week witnessing the debut of the highly acclaimed Aberdeen Open, that's exactly what happened as businessman Euan Dubar struck gold in, yes you guessed it, Aberdeen.
A mini-festival of sorts, the Aberdeen Open feature two games in Hold'Em and Omaha and catered for a broad range of wallets with buy-ins from £25 to the £200 Main Event.
With 73 players taking there seat at the felt, the opening £50 No Limit Hold'Em one rebuy event was deemed a roaring success by all. Although Stuart Wilson and Andrew Begg came close, the festival's first ever winner would be one Mr Chow Li who took home £1,330 for his troubles.
1st Chow Li -- £1,330
2nd Andrew Begg -- £1,200
3rd Stuart Wilson -- £1,200
4th Raymond Innes -- £1,200
5th Martin Sim -- £530
6th Mike Reasbeck -- £400
7th Bruce Davidson -- £330
8th Debbie Masson -- £270
9th Ivor Brown -- £190
Next up was the Omaha. Although attracting a diminished crowd of 34, the tournament was played out in good spirits with the wonderfully named Baoli Zhao triumphing for £1,800 in spondoolies.
1st Baoli Zhao -- £1,800
2nd Stuart Wilson -- £1,080
3rd Joe Hamilton -- £540
4th Sam Ieong -- £180
Onto the Main Event, a £200 No Limit Hold'Em Freezeout, it was Euan Dunbar who fended off 73 players to take home the mouth-watering £8,000 first prize, beating Les Clark and Deryck Barnes in to second and third respectively.
With five players remaining, a deal was done, with Euan Dunbar snapping up the trophy. A dominant force throughout, Euan's only scare of whole tournament came mid way through Day 1 when he hit his 6 outer on the river; his suited A-K beating Q-Q with all the chips in the middle preflop. After the event, Euan stated that he was "delighted to have come out on top against the toughest field ever assembled in Aberdeen".
With the final table commencing at 8.30pm, the key hand of the night saw Euan's pocket threes clash with Hamid Motagian's A-J on a Jack high flop, all the money flying in on the raggy flop to see a huge pot go Euan's way. From here on, he never looked back, and at just after midnight, he was crowned the Aberdeen Open Champion.
1st Euan Dunbar -- £8,000
2nd Les Clark -- £4,000
3rd Deryck Barnes -- £4,000
4th Graham Doherty -- £3,500
5th Darren Wood -- £2,500
6th Mark Dolan -- £1,200
7th Paul Thomson -- £900
8th Hamid Motagian -- £600
9th Scott Graham -- £600
10th Dave Coull -- £600
Finally, on the very same day, Roy Rimmer took down the £75 No Limit Hold'Em Freezeout event to bring an end to a well-received festival and inaugural Aberdeen Open. Rimmer won £1,050 worth of bacon.
1st Roy Rimmer -- £1,050
2nd Alan Robertson -- £730
3rd Steven Gray -- £500
4th Chris Goymer -- £120
With a good time had by all, cardroom manager John Taylor and International Director George Tester were said to be elated with the casino's first outing into the festival word and were optimistic that the Aberdeen Open would be making a welcome return. Fingers crossed that Euan is given the opportunity to defend his crown this time next year.