The 26 year old mounted an improbable comeback from being the short stack with three players left – including noted pro Antonio Esfandiari – to beating Jeremiah Fitzpatrick heads-up to win $368,593 and the bracelet in Event 36, $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout.
“This is a big deal for me,” said the West Sussex native. “I stopped playing cash games a few years ago to play tournaments and obviously this is a real pinnacle of success.”
The wild final table featured Esfandiari, WSOP bracelet winner Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Joe Tehan, Roberto Romanello and Thiago Nishijima but the real highlight was the fans who were in attendance.
McCorkell and Romanello brought the Brits while Nishijima drew a thick crowd of Brazilian fans.
“It was amazing,” said McCorkell. “I think everyone at the final table loved it. It added to the atmosphere. The WSOP just said it was the highest rated live stream ever so obviously the fans liked it as well.”
Rowdy Rail Hoists Shoes
The rowdy British fans were so loud that players from different tournaments eventually complained about the noise.
Unperturbed the English fans chanted, sang and hoisted their shoes in support of McCorkell. They even survived a couple of their members getting booted from the Amazon Room.
Noted English poker pros Chris Moorman, James Dempsey and Toby Lewis were on hand to see their comrade receive the first U.K. bracelet of the summer.
“We take it really seriously,” said McCorkell. “When we come out to the WSOP we expect to win. It’s been a little disappointing in that respect but there’s still a long ways to go.”
Last year players from the United Kingdom won three WSOP bracelets and cashed for nearly $10 million overall.
A few days removed from his bracelet win, McCorkell is ready to return to the tables at the 2012 WSOP.
“I took a couple days off but I’ll be back on Monday and I’ll try to win another bracelet,” he said.
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