First timer wins Titan´s big tourney

12/17/2007

Luke Cahill, who hails from Manchester, England, captured first place and a $220 000 prize last week at the European Championship of Online Poker's $1 000 000 GP Main Event (ECOOP) staged by Titan Poker on Playtech's iPoker Network.

Cahill defeated a field of 992 players competing in the $1000+$60 Texas Hold'em No Limit Freezeout tournament, which was the climax of the ten-day ECOOP series. The ECOOP tournaments awarded more than $2 500 000 in total prizes.

"I was awake all night," Cahill said, shortly after he won the last hand at the twelve-hour-long online poker tournament. "I wasn't as tired as I should have been towards the end."

Cahill had only previously competed in one live tournament, having played mainly cash games. "Recently I decided to try playing tournaments," Cahill said. "I only heard about the ECOOP Main Event the day before," he admitted. Cahill now promises to devote more time to tournaments and possibly to win a satellite seat to a major mainland poker event.

"I've played only one live tournament before, and busted out on the first day," Cahill said. He says his online success can be attributed to "knowing which cards to start with, waiting for the good hands, and playing those."

"I play a few hours at a time," Cahill says of his online poker activity. "I play until bored, unless it's a tournament, when I can play for twelve hours straight."