Woman takes top prize in poker game

Poker has always been seen as a male-dominated pastime - but a woman proved to be the ace in the pack at the first Shropshire championships.

Mel Clifford lifted the title after a gruelling day of bluffing, holding and folding at AFC Telford Learning Centre.

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Mel, one of only five women in a 53-strong field, defeated runner-up Nathan Kitson in a late-night showdown.

Mel won a £200 first prize, half of which she donated to the charity benefiting from the event, Hope House children’s hospice at Morda, near Oswestry.

Mel, based in Stoke-on-Trent, had heard about the contest, believed to be the first of its type in the country, from a friend in Gnosall, near Newport, who had read about it in the Shropshire Star.

Organiser Steve Upton-Clear was delighted with the response to the championships, which ran from 4pm until well after 11pm.

“It was an excellent turnout and very hard-fought.

“The beauty of it was that we had a wide range of entrants, from very experienced poker players to virtual beginners who have played a little online and who wanted the experience of playing in a competition.”

Chips were used for bidding with no money changing hands during the event.

Players were eliminated throughout the day until the final clash between Mel and Nathan, when cool heads were needed after a stamina-sapping seven-hour session.

Steve added: “She heard about the event from a friend in Gnosall and came with a group who play regularly in casinos.”

He said that the response to the competition had given him the encouragement to think about organising similar ventures in future.

The final total to be donated to Hope House was still being calculated, he added.

By Neil Thomas