“Home Field Advantage” Ends Poker Player’s 11 Year Tournament Dry Spell

Playing at home is the ultimate advantage in any competition, and for Dean Lyall that came in handy today at the final table of the 888poker Live Glasgow Main Event.

The Glasgow native went on a tear at the final table, knocking out the final six opponents and defeating Daniel Johnson heads-up to become the event’s inaugural champion and earn the £58,130 top prize.

“It’s great to come back here and be able to win. Home field advantage really came in for me there. Delighted to win, finally,” Lyall said after prevailing over the 407-player field.

888poker Live Glasgow Main Event Final Table results

Lyall’s last tournament win came more than a decade ago when he won a £200 event here at the Grosvenor Casino Merchant City. But since then, he’s established himself as one of Scotland’s top players. He’s amassed more than $1.6 million in live earnings, putting him in sixth place on Scotland’s all-time money list, including two previous turns under the poker spotlight.

Last summer, Lyall made the final table of the $25,000 High Roller at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, ending up in third place for $760,000. In 2018, he made it to heads-up for a bracelet against Jean-Robert Bellande in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed event but had to settle for a runner-up finish.

Lyall had the most experience and accolades among the nine players who made it to the final table. It didn’t hurt that the deck was in his favor, as well.

“I mostly relied on just getting good hands, to be honest, more than anything,” he said. “A lot of good hands, really. That was it.”

Lyall’s Path to Victory

Lyall began the final table in fourth place with 1,195,000 as Johnson took a big chip lead into the event’s final day with 3,455,000. After Johnson took out “GK” and William Haughey as the first two eliminations of the day and moved up past 5,000,000, more than double his closest challenger at the time, Lyall took care of the rest.

Lyall picked up queens against Zbigniew Wieczorek’s nines to bust Wieczorek in seventh, then won a race with nines against Jack Moore’s ace-jack as Moore was sent to the rail in sixth place. Lyall then caught up with Johnson after picking up another monster hand.

Harry Cattanach had opened on the button and Lyall three-bet to 360,000 in the small blind. Cattanach came back with an all-in shove for 1,840,000 and Lyall snap-called, turning over two aces. Cattanach could only show ace-king and didn’t find any miracles on the board to bust in fifth place. Lyall took over the chip lead shortly after before Michael Broadhurst shoved for 510,000 in the small blind. Lyall woke up with ace-queen in the big blind and put another opponent at risk, holding up on the board and taking the pot with ace-high to send Broadhurst out in fourth.

Martin Byrne was Lyall’s next victim. After Johnson opened on the button, Byrne moved all in for 890,000 in the small blind. Lyall called in the big blind and Johnson got out of the way. Lyall turned over two nines and Byrne was left looking for an ace with ace-six, but Lyall again held up to bust Byrne in third place and set up a heads-up duel with Johnson.

Lyall led 7,115,000 to 5,135,000 at the start of heads-up, and with the blinds just 40,000-80,000 and both players having more than 60 big blinds, the prospect of a long match loomed. But Lyall made sure everyone could go home early. He took a big chip lead when Johnson tried a bluff with seven-high and Lyall called him down with two pair. Lyall then raised to 160,000 on the button and Johnson shoved for 3,655,000. In what was a recurring theme today, Lyall snap-called with two kings as Johnson turned over two sixes. Johnson couldn’t find a third on the board and finished runner-up, earning Lyall the distinction of becoming the first 888poker Live champion in his native country.

The final table took just over three hours to go from nine to one, short enough for Lyall to make plans for what to do with the rest of his day. “Maybe go get some food, then play online. We’ll see,” he said.