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“Good to see UK up-and-comers making a name for themselves at EPT London,” Sam Grafton joked on Twitter.

Grafton was responding to a tweet from the veteran British player, and two-time WSOP bracelet winner, Barny Boatman who took down a PLO side event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in his home town. “You know how us old folk love our bingo… #FourCardRunGood” Boatman had written above a picture of him posing with his spadie trophy.

Despite (because of?) his age, Boatman is considered poker royalty in the UK, but he was not alone among big-name pros winning titles at EPT London — something you’d expect, of course, in a multi-event schedule. But not something that happens at every stop.

However, in addition to Boatman, Byron Kaverman, Henrik Hecklen, Juan Pardo and Daniel Dvoress all won high buy-in tournaments (titles you might expect to go to established pros), while a former WSOP winner took down a £1K big one, a couple of online sensations made hay in the live arena, and at least one former Platinum Pass winner claimed a decent tournament score.

ALL RESULTS FROM EPT LONDON

Here’s a quick summary of some of the major stories from EPT London:

BOATMAN LEADS THE BRITISH CHARGE

There were 32 completed tournaments at EPT London (not including satellites), eight of which were won by players clutching a British passport. That’s pretty good going for a home nation: a quarter of the trophies stayed in the country.

Those victories included the Main Event title, which was guaranteed a British winner when Jack Sinclair went heads up with Ian Hamilton. The only doubt there was whether the trophy would stay in London or head to the West Midlands. In the end, Birmingham’s Hamilton took it down, earning the £664,000 payday and becoming the latest EPT champ.

By that point, the aforementioned Boatman was already toasting his victory in the £550 PL Omaha, which attracted 88 entries and gave Boatman a £11,270 prize. Boatman has documented tournament earnings of £3.7 million, but it’s his endurance that impresses the most. Boatman’s first recorded tournament victory came in April 1998, so he is well into his third decade.

Barny Boatman

(Worth noting too that the database from which we can harvest this information, The Hendon Mob, is named after the poker-playing crew Boatman formed.)

The other British winners at EPT London were: Christopher Turnbull (£550 hyper turbo), Jessica Pilkington (£330 women’s event), Pavel Abramov (£1,100 NLHE), Rizwan Patel (£1,050 hyper turbo), Gary Blackwood (£330 deep stack) and James Wickens (£330 NLHE).

PILKINGTON AND AMITI ENJOY LONDON SUCCESS

As noted above, Jessica Pilkington became the first woman to win a title at EPT London this year, taking down the £330 buy-in women’s event. That tournament attracted 61 entries creating a prize pool of £17,568 and successfully built on the success of WCOOP’s women-only tournaments.

Pilkington’s prize was £5,552, almost exactly what she needed to subsequently buy in to the EPT Main Event, where she continued her hot streak. Pilkington was the last woman standing in the Main Event, busting in 22nd place for a £22,500 payday — the largest of her career so far. Pilkington’s earliest recorded tournament scores date from 2013, so she has been doing this a while, but her previous biggest victory came in a tournament with a £100 buy-in, from 2013.

This has the chance to push her on to bigger things.

Pilkington was not the only woman celebrating at EPT London, however. Sonia Amiti proved to be a very popular winner of the £550 Missing People Charity Event, which drew a field of 90 entries, including a number of top pros.

Sonia Amiti

Amiti, who was playing only her fifth live tournament, is a self-confessed poker obsessive, keen to play far more on the live circuit. This breakout victory should give her the impetus and the bankroll to play far more. Read an exclusive interview with Amiti.

FAMILIAR WINNERS IN LOW BUY-INS

It’s fair to assume that Martin Jacobson has the bankroll and the abilities to play any poker tournament he pleases. He’s a two-time EPT runner up, and also won the WSOP Main Event after one of the most accomplished performances ever seen in that annual jamboree.

But in London last week, Jacobson strutted his stuff in the £1,100 buy-in UKIPT Main Event, where he beat a record-setting field of 1,458 to claim a £232,300 first prize. That’s a huge prize for a tournament of that buy-in — more than second place in the £10K High Roller got, for example.

Jacobson wasn’t the only well-known player taking on, and beating, smaller buy-in fields. Alexandru Papazian has $3.7 million in live tournament earnings, plus two World Series bracelets, and has also taken down a €25K High Roller on the European Poker Tour. But Papazian’s big triumph in London came in a £2K 6-Handed tournament on the final day of the festival, which earned him £51,200.

All the big names came out to play that one, actually, and the final table also featured Dominik Nitsche, Ramon Colillas and Gianluca Speranza, who finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Papazian tops the Romanian money list, and his opposite number over the border in Moldova was also doing the business in London. Pavel Plesuv has $5.8 million in tournament earnings, putting him comfortably ahead of anyone else in his home country, and Plesuv picked up a £154K score for winning the £3K Platinum Pass Mystery Bounty event in London. That total doesn’t include bounties, so Plesuv actually got a whole lot more.

Plesuv is a former Platinum Pass winner, and another one of those, Atanas Pavlov, also won a title at EPT London last week. Pavlov picked up £ 72,100 for winning the £2K Deep Stack, again on the last couple of days of the EPT London festival. Pavlov, who actually cashed the first PSPC in 20th place, is in a decent run of form, having won a huge $2,500 tournament in Vegas in the summer.

FULL COVERAGE FROM EPT LONDON

Did you read everything from the EPT London festival? Here’s your chance to catch up on what you missed, including full details of Ian Hamilton’s Main Event triumph, Adam Miller securing High Roller success and Henrik Hecklen taking down yet another major, this time in the £50K High Roller.

  • ADAM MILLER ENDS MAIDEN EPT IN STYLE WITH £10K HIGH ROLLER VICTORY AND £312K
  • HAMILTON ROARS BACK FROM THE DEAD TO CLAIM EPT LONDON TITLE AND £664K!
  • FORMER DELIVEROO CFO ADAM MILLER ON HIS EXCELLENT EPT DEBUT
  • PEDRO “PVIGAR” GARAGNANI IS ON A LIVE POKER MISSION
  • ‘GJREGGIE’ ON HER 8-GAME SUCCESS AT EPT LONDON
  • SIX OF THE BEST: SAM GRAFTON’S TIPS FOR MOVING UP THE STAKES
  • FLORENCIO CAMPOMANES PREPARES FOR PSPC WITH EPT LONDON HIGH ROLLERS
  • ALEJANDRO ‘PAPO MC’ LOCOCO ON THE WHIRLWIND START TO HIS POKER CAREER
  • MYSTERY SOLVED AS HANNES JESCHKA PULLS PLATINUM PASS AT EPT LONDON
  • THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT. THE ‘FUTUREOFME’ IS ALEX KULEV
  • AMITI DOWNS THE PROS FOR FAMOUS WIN IN MISSING PEOPLE CHARITY EVENT
  • THE ‘ALMOST’ ALL-IN ISSUE: HOW IT PLAYS OUT, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE?
  • RAMON COLILLAS ON FINALLY GETTING TO DEFEND HIS PSPC TITLE
  • EPT LONDON DRAWS PLAYERS FROM ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD
  • THE COMMUNITY UNITES FOR MISSING PEOPLE CHARITY EVENT
  • MIKE “IMYOURBLUFF” HARB BRINGS THE BANTER TO EPT LONDON
  • POKER PLAYERS ADD THEIR NAMES TO LONDON’S FOOTBALL HERITAGE
  • EPT LONDON: CHANGE OF PLANS FOR DRAKE AS QUALIFIER BUILDS INTO DAY 2
  • TOM “MAJIN” HAYWARD ON HIS FIRST EPT AND WHY HE’S DONE SAYING NO
  • HECKLEN TURNS SHORT STACK INTO LATEST SUPER HIGH ROLLER TRIUMPH
  • EPT LONDON GOES BACK TO THE JAZZ AGE AT GATSBY-THEMED PLAYERS PARTY
  • TWO-TIME PLATINUM PASS WINNER JENNIFER CARTER ON LONDON, LOCKDOWN AND THE PSPC BEACON OF HOPE
  • IOSIF SPULBER FLIPS OUT, WINS PLATINUM PASS AT EPT LONDON

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