Gabriel Tuna was the big fish at the WPT National London from 3-6 July, swimming away with the prize catch of £22,000 and the title.

In the heads-up battle at the Aspers Casino Westfield in Stratford, Tuna – who had been the chip leader when 26 players returned for the final day – went into the duel with a 5.9m to 5.1m chip disadvantage against Svetlin Ivanov, who had hit draw after draw to move from a super short stack to chip leader.

But Tuna battled back and eventually sealed the deal with an unlikely ace-high offering when the chips hit the middle on a 5D-2C-3C-10C board with Tuna slightly ahead with AD-8C. Ivanov had plenty of outs though holding KC-JS for a better flush draw but the 6S on the river helped neither player and sent Ivanov to the rail with a consolation prize of £15,165.

The final nine in London was a great mix of qualifiers and pros, novices and recreational players, with Anooj Sareen the chip leader on 2.14m. Tuna was second in chips on 1.95m, with Mantas Zeringis on 1.92m and James Greenwood with 1.14 million, closely followed by Ivanov and APAT WCOAP main event champion Tristan Chaplin, both on 1.01m. Mo Shanehzan had 870,000 chips, with Partypoker qualifier James Charlton next on 605,000 and Quoc Nong the short stack at the table with 415,000.

First to exit was Chaplin losing a big flip holding AC-KS against the pocket nines of Shanehzan, who was the next man to depart after being caught out with pocket eights by Tuna. No sooner than Shanehzan had bitten the dust there was another casualty when Nong shoved with just three big blinds holding AC-7C but was dominated by AD-KH.

Greenwood exited in sixth after losing most of his stack in a small blind against big blind shove from him with 6C-7S that Charlton called with KD-9H, which improved to a pair of kings on the turn and trips on the river. The rest of Greenwood's chips went in with JH-3C and he was again called by Charlton with pocket nines that held.

But Charlton's tournament was not to last much longer after he four-bet all-in pre-flop with AS-KH and was called by Ivanov with AH-QH. Ivanov stood up expecting to be left with a ‘bowl of rice’ but sat back down on the 4S-QC-3H flop and offered thanks to a higher power after an eight on the turn and five on the river sent Partypoker qualifier Charlton home.

That left Tuna on 4.4m, Sareen on 3m, Zeringis on 1.8m and Ivanov on 1.8m. And Zeringis became the next to bow out when his shove with 10 big blinds holding AD-2S was called by Tuna with KD-KQ, which improved with a king on the flop to take his stack to about 5.5m.

Sareen missed out on the heads-up showdown for the title after his stack was decimated by Ivanov, who hit a flush on the river to beat Sareen's flopped top pair, and then demolished by Tuna when his QS-6S held after a blind shove from Sareen with 10S-2C.

That left Ivanov and Tuna to battle it out for the title, with Tuna hitting back from his small chip disadvantage to become WPT National London champion.

WPT National London
1 Gabriel Tuna £22,000
2 Svetlin Ivanov £15,165
3 Anooj Sareen £9,760
4 Mantas Zeringis £7,230
5 James Charlton £5,410
6 James Greenwood £4,360
7 Quoc Nong £3,600
8 Mo Shanehzan £2,900
9 Tristan Chaplin £2,160