Friday, March 14, 2008

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Tabatabai wins South Africa event

John Tabatabai

By Sarah Polson

John Tabatabai strayed a little far from his London home recently to win his first major tournament in South Africa as he took down the All Africa Poker Tournament.

John Tabatabai was thrust into the poker spotlight in late 2007 after he came in second at the World Series of Poker Europe £10,000 Main Event. After that he took on the 888.com U.K. Open, where he won one of the heats and came in third in a semifinal round.

His most recent placing before heading to South Africa was at the PartyPoker European Open IV where he came in third in one of the heats.

According to a press release from the All Africa Poker Tournament, Tabatabai claimed that coming in second in the WSOP Europe was the best and worst experience of his life.

He loved the challenge of facing such great players, but second place was heartbreaking.

At the All African Poker Tour event, Tabatabai left no doubt that he deserved that first-place spot. According to the All Africa Poker Tournament officials, the cards he had early in the tournament would have eliminated a lesser player well before the final table.

But the final table made up for all his hard work by giving him great hands and friendly flops at the right time. He ended up eliminating all nine of the other final-table players single-handedly to win the event.

Tabatabai had high praise for the All Africa Poker Tournament organization, the dealers and the players after his win. He won't be able to defend his title in May at the next All Africa tournament, but he told officials he'll try to be at the next one after that.

His next poker adventure will take him to San Remo, Italy, for the European Poker Tour event taking place April 1-5.

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