32Red Poker Master Crowned and a local charity benefits

January 13, 2006 (London, UK) – Hot on the heels of sending Stuart Rutter to the exclusive Monte Carlo Millions, the UK’s favourite Poker Room, 32Red Poker has this week crowned its Poker Master for 2005.

As the climax to a year-long series of tournaments, the 32Red Poker Masters Grand Final took place on Sunday 8th January. No one expected the winner to be Chris Hall, aka NoflopsHomer, who only joined 32Red Poker a matter of hours before the Grand Final began!

In one of the internet’s most exciting tournaments, the 32Red Poker Masters Grand Final had a guaranteed prize pool of no less than $32,000, to be shared between the top 15 finishers. But the star prize for the winner, as well as the $8,960 cash prize, was a week-long holiday for two at the home of gambling – Las Vegas.

161 players took part in Sunday’s Grand Final, and the nail biting action at the tables carried on late into the night. After 3 hours of play, NoflopsHomer managed to see off his last remaining challenger, gonagetya100, to win the amazing first prize.

23-year-old Chris from Stafford, England, has been playing poker online for a year now, but this was his biggest win to date. After completing his triumph, Chris said:

“I sat looking at the computer in shock for ten minutes. Then I woke my parents up, who thought that our car had been stolen! They didn’t believe me when I told them how much I’d won.

Chris was fortunate enough to bump into another 32Red Poker player while playing at a live poker tournament at the Broadway Club in Birmingham the previous evening, where Chris was unlucky to finish one place outside the final table. However, after hearing about the 32Red Poker Masters Grand Final, Chris decided to try his luck at the 32Red Poker tables that Sunday evening – and he was more than happy that he did, describing it as, “an absolutely great time.

Chris intends to start celebrating his big win with his friends this weekend, and is now planning to take his Las Vegas trip in June, so he can hopefully take part in the WSOP.

Another top 10 finisher, David Hicks, who collected $1440 in the Grand Final, has very generously donated $500 of his prize money to a local charity. When told of this, 32Red’s CEO Ed Ware immediately offered to match it and the $1,000 will be donated to a charity for disabled children in Gibraltar. David said of his donation:

“I would just like to repay a little of the generosity that 32Red has shown to me.