Peter McCusker Crowned 2025 APAT World Amateur Poker Champion

Nightfall Until Daybreak in Nottingham was packed to the rafters final week as a result of the Novice Poker Affiliation & Tour (APAT) was on the town for the 2025 World Championship Of Novice Poker (WCOAP).

Identified within the bustling APAT group as “the Worlds,” the WCOAP is the APAT competition that each budding poker participant goals of profitable at. Not solely do the highest three finishers in every occasion seize a coveted gold, silver, or bronze APAT medal, however the worthy champion additionally receives a WCOAP bracelet to cherish.

Probably the most eagerly wanted medal and bracelet is, doubtless, these that include triumphing within the World Novice Poker Championship, the WCOAP’s Primary Occasion. This 12 months’s WCOAP Primary Occasion attracted 475 gamers from far and huge, who created a £79,800 prize pool. The highest 71 finishers noticed a return on their funding, with a min-cash weighing in at £350, a remaining desk look boosting that prize to £1,800, and the eventual champion scooping £13,000.

2025 APAT WCOAP Primary Occasion Remaining Desk Outcomes

RankPlayerPrize 1Peter McCusker£13,000 2Jonathan Rees£8,500 3Kevin Smith£5,500 4Mark Langdale£4,000 5Anonymous£3,300 6Nicolas Bowyer£2,800 7Gary Colclough£2,400 8Edward Johnson£2,100 9Edward Tilbrook£1,800

Two Edwards, Tilbrook and Johnson have been the nine-handed remaining desk’s first casualties. They took residence £1,800 and £2,100, respectively, for his or her efforts. Gary Colclough bowed out in seventh for a career-best £2,400 earlier than Nicolas Bowyer got here unstuck in sixth for £2,800, which was additionally a career-high. Bowyer was the reigning champion; reaching back-to-back remaining tables was an incredible achievement.

A participant wishing to stay below the shroud of anonymity busted in fifth for £3,300, leaving the 2025 WCOAP Primary Occasion on the medal bubble. Mark Langdale was the unlucky soul who popped that bubble, busting in fourth place. Though disillusioned to not financial institution an APAT medal, the £4,000 in prize cash will go some technique to numbing the ache.

The ultimate trio of gamers locked horns and fought it out for the title of beginner world champion. Kevin Smith, who completed sixth within the 2017 APAT UK Novice Poker Championship, noticed his newest deep run finish in a third-place end price £5,500 and a bronze medal.

Smith’s premature demise left Peter McCusker heads-up in opposition to Jonathan Rees. Welshman Rees had locked in his 12 APAT money and was on the lookout for his second victory. Nonetheless, McCusker had different concepts, and he in the end got here out on prime after an unimaginable one-on-one battle, taking him £13,000, a WCOAP bracelet and an APAT gold medal in what was his first recorded money on his Hendon Mob profile. Rees needed to make do with an £8,500 comfort prize and a silver medal, however the APAT common definitely will get one other shot at glory in upcoming APAT occasions.

PokerNews’ Personal Daniel Williams Strikes APAT WCOAP Gold

There have been loads of acquainted faces within the winner’s circle of different APAT WCOAP Championship occasions, together with PokerNews’ Daniel Williams. The PokerNews Industrial Supervisor – Group & Engagement guru turned off his laptop computer and jumped into the £140 WCOAP 6-Max Championship. A number of hours later, Williams emerged victoriously with the title, gold medal, bracelet, and £4,000 in chilly, arduous money in tow.

Different champions included current World Poker Awards winner Jonathan Raab, winner of the Thriller Bounty Shootout Championship for £2,253, and Ky Hutchison, who received the PLO8 Championship for £3,745 whereas having fun with a deserved break from his high-flying job within the training sector.

A particular point out should go to Jonathan Douglas-Davies, who received two occasions. First, Douglas-Davies received the £140 2-7 Triple Draw Championship for £2,640 earlier than following that up with a win within the £70 Combined Triple Draw Lowball occasion for one more £777.

Here is a desk with all of the 2025 APAT WCOAP ends in full.

EventEntrantsPrize PoolChampionPrize £200 Primary Event475£79,800Peter McCusker£13,000 £350 NLHE Excessive Roller86£25,594Samuel Coltman£6,080 £140 NLHE 6-ax Championship134£15,437Daniel Williams£4,000 £140 PLO Championship121£13,939Andrew O’Neill£3,900 £140 8-Recreation Championship130£14,352Matthew Parker£3,850 £140 PLO8 Championship113£13,018Ky Hutchinson£3,745 £140 PLO8/Stud8 Championship82£9,053Matthew Leather-based£3,090 £140 PLO 4/5/6 card Championship85£9,792Mohammed Fatemi£3,050 £70 NLHE Mini Main322£17,929Ben Haynes-Tate£3,000 £140 TORSE Championship88£9,715James Buck£2,915 £140 NLHE Bounty Championship209£14,045Melanie Parker£2,826 £140 2-7 Triple Draw76£8,390Jonathan Douglas-Davies£2,740 £140 Worldwide Crew Championship48£5,520England£2,720 £70 Loopy Pineapple159£8,853Sanjeev Kumar£2,363 £140 Thriller Bounty Shootout Championship81£9,331Jonathan Raab£2,253 £70 Win The Button147£8,185Anonymous£2,210 £140 Combined Recreation Restrict Championship54£5,962Charles Mason£2,210 £70 NLHE/PLO Championship121£6,737Stephen Sharpe£1,875 £140 NLHE Combine Max Championship74£8,525Rui Vieira£1,670 £70 NLHE Closer109£6,069Andrew Murphy£1,415 £70 NLHE Turvo127£7,071Scott Meredith£1,345 £70 Combined Triple Draw77£4,287Jonathan Douglas-Davies£777

Your subsequent probability to compete in an APAT occasion is between September 5-7, when the APAT Weekends Portsmouth takes place. Later in September, between the Nineteenth-Twenty first, APAT Weekends Glasgow runs, main into the APAT German Novice Poker Championships in Rozvadov between October 1-5.

Matthew Pitt

Senior Editor

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the UK, and has labored within the poker business since 2008, and labored for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he grew to become the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from reside reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his function of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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