Man wins tournament at Women's Winter Festival with no controversy

A man has won an event at the PokerStars Women's Winter Festival at London's Hippodrome Casino, and there was no controversy whatsoever at the result. The UK's Yon Jairo Suaterna, a native of Columbia and a long-time UK citizen, took down the win in Saturday evening's special £220 NLH '50/50' event, earning a £7,556 score.

Suaterna entered as the teammate of the UK's Rosemary Halbach in the 50/50 tourney, so named because the field was half women and half men. The tournament's rules allowed each woman to select a male teammate for the event, with both players then ponying up the £220 entry to enter the turbo-paced freezeout event. 

Team 'last longer' finds Kade giving Silver Pass to runner-up

Sixty-four women and their 64 teammates entered the tourney, with all 128 players participating on an individual basis for the title won by Suaterna. There was a team element to the tourney as well, with each of the 64 teams competing on a team-last-longer basis for a pair of $2,500 PokerStars Silver Passes for the winners. Prominent Canadian pro Vanessa Kade (pictured above) and her teammate, Elliot Hackney, claimed those Silver Passes after Hackney knocked out one of the other surviving pair's players, Bernadette Daley, as the field neared its final table.

Hackney soon knocked out his teammate Kade and went on to a third-place finish in the freezeout. Moments after busting out, Kade gifted her own $2,500 Silver Pass to Daley, who gratefully accepted the bonus prize.

Summer Zemel and the rest of the field enjoyed a spirited 50/50 format.

Suaterna busts Bluston for the win

The nine-player final table began with six men and three women, but the women's luck ran poor from there, and Kathleen Padovani, Maria Lachana, and Candice Nice were all among the first four players to exit. The finale quickly played down to a duel between Suaterna and the UK's Gary Bluston following Hackney's third-place elimination.

The duel lasted just a few hands. With stacks quite short and Suaterna holding more than a 2-to-1 edge, the last of Bluston's chips went in pre-flop in a hand where Bluston moved all in with and Suaterna called with a dominating . The runout was suspenseful, however, as the river card of a board gave Bluston a straight, but it also gave Suaterna the winning flush.

Women's Winter Festival £220 NLH 50/50 final-table results

^{Photos courtesy of PokerStars/Danny Maxwell}