You can’t blame Fabien Dunlop for getting a little overzealous.
Having come out of relative obscurity to play to the Main Event Final Table of the World Series of Poker Europe, Dunlop was looking great going into the heads-up showdown, holding nearly a 3-1 advantage over his savvy competition, J.P. Kelly.
Presumably sweating bullets composed entirely of smaller sweat bullets, Dunlop was caught with a weak kicker early in the heads up play, allowing Kelly to suddenly double up and establish parity between the two players.
Dunlop and Kelly exchanged blows for a while, with the final major exchange coming in a nightmare scenario for Dunlop, as his suited J-2 of diamonds were thoroughly dominated by Kelly’s K-8 of the same suit. When diamonds came on the flop the dream was truly dead, and only moments later Kelly was trying on jewelry.
Kudos to Dunlop for an impressive run—passing players like Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, who bowed out at 15th—and even more impressive £84,512 win, but especially to Kelly who has now won a WSOP bracelet on both sides of the Atlantic this year, after winning in a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament in Las Vegas this year.
