'Should I bluff now?': Fire alarm interrupts win at PokerStars Open

For someone who's "not allowed to play poker," Tuan Le sure puts on a show at the tables. He just won the PokerStars Open Manchester Main Event for £149,200 for his largest live tournament score ever and second PokerStars 'Spadie.' 

A total of 927 entrants took part in the £1.1K Main Event. The guarantee of £1M was honored despite falling just short of the runners required to reach that number.

Le brings his own flair to the game, and hopes the new trophy earns him some respect from the ones who matter most.

'I'm not allowed to play poker'

After his career high score, Le discussed his plans for the future, though traveling for big events outside his home country still seems unlikely. 

"Me missus hates poker," explained Le. "I'll play the biggest events in the UK, but I can't travel abroad. The trophy, I needed that. I had to bring that home so I can carry on playing, otherwise, I'm done for."

"Me missues hates poker."

With a trophy to take home and a big payday, he hopes it's enough to earn some goodwill.

"The money's a bonus, but I don't play for the money," said Le. "I don't play cash games. I'm not technically good; I know that. These guys ask, 'How many bigs you got?' I have no idea. Hijack? I actually don't know where that is. I know UTG and the button, but that's it. But I enjoy it. This gets me away from the wife and kids. This is my vice; I'm a gambler."

A big flip - 'I like to gamble'

Early on in the final day, with multiple short stacks at the table, Le found himself in a massive flip for his tournament life that showcases the attitude he brings to the poker table.

With blinds of 75K/150K/150K, Mohamed Kerkeni raised to 350K from the cutoff with . Le three-bet 1,075,000 from the big blind with . Kerkeni didn't think long before jamming 7.2M chips in, and he had Le slightly covered. 

"I knew he had ace-king," said Le. "There was a tiny bit of me hoping he had pocket jacks. But when he shoved quite quickly, he didn't have aces or kings. I knew it was a flip. Normally, I would have snapped it, but he covered me, and there were a few short stacks there. It wasn't ICM pressure, I just wanted to carry on playing."

Le won the flip in the biggest pot of the tournament.

Le called, the board ran out , and Le made a queen-high straight to take a dominant chip lead over the field. With only 25.56M chips in play, Le had 14.9M of them after that hand. 

Heads-up play interrupted by a fire alarm

Le entered heads-up play with about a 1.5:1 chip lead over Christopher Brammer, but stacks were deep and there was plenty of play left. After just over 30 minutes of heads-up battling, the two players agreed on an even chop and left £15K and the trophy to play for. 

Shortly after that deal, Le was on the river deciding whether to pull the trigger on a bluff when alarms rang out throughout the building. Everyone was to be evacuated. 

Tuan Le waited out a fire alarm to win his second PokerStars tournament.

Danny Maxwell Photography - DMP

"I was about to bluff when the fire alarm went off. I thought, 'Shit, should I bluff now, or after we come back from the fire alarm?' I said, 'Let's do it now in case he comes back after analyzing the hand a bit more.' So I did a little cheeky bet, and I'm glad he folded."

The two players exited the building, waited out in the rainy Manchester cold, and Le came back in to finish the job. 

Facing a 4:1 deficit and rising blinds, Brammer moved all in with for about 6.5 big blinds. Le called with , flopped top pair, and had Brammer drawing dead on the turn to win the tournament. 

He may claim to not know how many big blinds he has, but he surely know how many PokerStars trophies he has: two. And this one was the biggest one yet.

PokerStars Open Manchester final table payouts

*Denotes a heads-up deal

^{All photos courtesy Danny Maxwell/Rational Intellectual Holdings LLC}