Anthony Jones, a 42-year-old warehouse supervisor from Romford, Essex, cashed in the first prize of $1 million dollars at the Ladbrokes Poker Million tournament last Friday. The Ladbrokes Poker Million is the number one European televised poker tournament with a total prize pool of $1,935,000. Almost half of the prize money was contributed directly by Ladbrokes Poker.
Tony Jones, married with three children, won the tournament as an outsider, after qualifying online through a free roll tournament. Winning one million dollars with a zero investment looks like a pretty healthy return on investment to us! Especially taking into account Tony had only been playing poker since December 2003.
The thrilling finale lasted 5 hours, and ended with a head-to-head showdown between Tony Jones and the bookies' favorite, Soccer AM co-presenter Helen "Hells Bells" Chamberlain, who finished second place, taking home *just* $400,000. Martin "Pokerklubben" Wendt, who entered the final as chip leader, finished third place for $200,000.
Tony said: "I came here thinking I was making up the numbers and to win the competition is overwhelming.” Tony doesn't have any plans to make a career as a professional poker player, but he did indicate his days as a warehouse supervisor are numbered.
We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Tony with his astonishing win, which will most likely have a huge positive impact on the popularity of (online) poker in Europe.