Michael Crawford, not aka Frank Spencer, did find The Knack for success like his more famous theatrical namesake though when he took down the 25/25 Series in Edinburgh from 9-12 October.
With 232 runners over the three opening flights producing a £46,400 prize pool at the Maybury Casino, it was Crawford who bagged the biggest slice after agreeing a heads-up deal with Colin McConaghy to take the title and an additional £1,410 to runner-up McConaghy's £1,000 after an earlier four-handed deal saw the remaining four players each guaranteed £7,000.
At the start of day two Richard Dewar led the way on 182,900 chips, with David Gallagher second on 178,500 and John Stirling third on 175,100.
Neither Dewar nor Stirling survived to reach the final table, where Gallagher entered the action with an appreciable lead of 1.4m chips to Richie Doonan's next-best of 1m. Crawford started the final table in third place on 812k, with Chris Craig fourth on 551k and Andy Rooney next on 462k. McConaghy began in sixth place on 415k, with Maj Iqbal on 404k, Billy Mundh with 345k and Gavin McGuire the short stack on 341k.
Iqbal was the first to exit after shoving all-in with AC-6C after McConaghy's opening raise of 51.5k. McConaghy made the call with pocket nines and hit his set on the board to eliminate Iqbal in ninth place.
Surprisingly Gallagher was the next out after losing his chip lead and opening for 85k before shoving all-in with K-Q after Crawford three-bet to 245k. Crawford called with pocket queens and with no help from the board Gallagher went out in eighth.
Mundh was responsible for the next exit after his AH-7H improved to a flush draw on the flop against Rooney's pocket kings. A blank on the turn gave him a sweat but a heart on the river sent Rooney out in seventh.
Doonan exited in sixth place after being left short-stacked after an earlier pot and moving all-in blind next hand. Mundh called with A-4 which proved enough against Doonan's 10-6.
And McGuire befell a similar fate to depart in fifth. After losing a big pot against McConaghy, he moved all-in next hand with A-10 and again went up against McConaghy, who called with 4H-2H. The AD-KH-3S flop seemed harmless enough and the AC on the turn left McConaghy drawing to a five on the river for the straight. And sure enough the poker gods looked kindly on him and McGuire exited in fifth.
With just the four players left a deal was soon agreed and it was one that kept the dealers at the Maybury happy. With £30,910 left to play for each player agreed to take £7,000, with £500 going to the staff and £2,410 left on top for the winner.
First of the four to exit was Mundh, who shoved all-in after Craig three-bet to 420k with kings after Mundh had opened to 175k with A-J. No ace on the board and Mundh departed in fourth.
But Craig was soon the next to depart after he called Crawford's all-in with A-Q only to find himself in a world of pain against A-K. The K-Q-4 flop made little difference other than to reduce Craig's drawing opportunities and with blanks on the turn and river he missed out on the heads-up duel for the remaining money.
With McConaghy on 800k to Crawford's 5m that duel appeared as if it would soon be over but with McConaghy grinding his way back into the contest the payers agreed to deal after about 30 minutes' play, with Crawford netting £1,410 to McConaghy £1,000.
25/25 Series Edinburgh
1 Michael Crawford £8,410
2 Colin McConaghy £8,000
3 Chris Craig £7,000
4 Billy Mundh £7,000
5 Gavin McGuire £2,410
6 Richie Doonan £1,810
7 Andy Rooney £1,440
8 Davie Gallagher £1,160
9 Maj Iqbal £970
