Here’s where you’ll find all our coverage from the UKIPT London 2024 festival

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Gaspare Sposato has excellent timing. 

The 28-year-old Italian poker pro’s timing was spot on when he decided to step away from his computer and play more live tournaments at the beginning of the year, and he’s come close to winning a title on several occasions. 

His timing was spot on when he decided to book a holiday to London with his wife and play a little poker while he was here.

He entered the UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) London Main Event final day as chip leader and throughout the final table his timing simply couldn’t have been better, whether it was picking his spots or hitting miracle rivers when he needed them.

And boy, did he need them. His heads-up battle against Bulgaria’s Atanas Pavlov was a real slobberknocker with huge chip leads passed back and forth multiple times. But unfortunately for Pavlov – an accomplished player with more than $1.4 million in live earnings and multiple victories under his belt – it was just Sposato’s time.

He topped the 725-entry event after three long days of play and will take home £107,660 after a heads-up that secured Pavlov £99,340.

“I’m feeling great. A bit tired, it was a long marathon. Heads up was a battle but really exciting,” Sposato told us when it was all over. “The final was kind of weird as we had three Italians, all of us friends, so it was quite funny.”

Indeed, Sposato – who was born in Tuscany but now lives in Malta – had to square off against his friends and fellow pros Candido Cappiello and Alessandro Pichierri, both of whom stuck around to rail him until the bitter end.

“I was only playing for the trophy. I was really close last year in Paris but I lost heads-up, and many times tonight I thought the same thing was going to happen again,” he said. “But this trophy is a present for my wife, it was her birthday yesterday. It’s a great moment to be all together with friends and enjoy it.”

The day began at noon with 13 hopefuls but they got down to a final table quickly after a flurry of early eliminations. Boris Velev, Jamie Geraghty, George Sandford and PokerStars Ambassador Alex Romero all departed within the first half hour, the latter losing a flip with pocket sevens against Alessandro Pichierri’s ace-ten off.

Things didn’t slow down when we reached the finale, either. British pro Joe Hindry – who finished third in this same event when he was a fresh-faced 20-year-old in 2016 – was the first to exit when Pichierri won another all-in-pre flip with ace-ten off, besting Hindry’s pocket sixes. 

Popular Twitch streamer and Paddy Power Poker Ambassador Conor O’Driscoll became our eighth-place finisher. After a raising war on a 2♠ Q♥ 7♥ flop, the London-based Irishman was ahead with his A♣ Q♠ against Gaspare Sposato’s K♥ 9♥ flush draw. But that all changed when the board ran out 9♠ 5♥ , giving the Italian the winner.

The tempo of play then screeched to a halt and we were seven-handed for more than three hours before Colin Macandrew’s dwindling short stack found its way into the middle. Earlier in the day, the Brit’s pocket kings were cruelly outdrawn in a battle of the blinds, but he remained patient and ultimately picked up A♠ K♥ . He jammed for 6.4 big blinds, giving Sposato a decision in the big blind with his Q♥ 9♥ . In the end, he decided that was good enough to go for the KO and made the call before connecting with the Q♠ 4♣ 10♥ 2♦ 9♣ board to send Macandrew out.

Spain’s Artus Gimenez – the reigning champ on the UKIPT as our Malaga winner in July – bowed out in the very next hand, losing a flip with his ace-ten off against Candido Cappiello’s pocket nines. His dreams of going back to back were crushed when he found no help on the runout, but don’t be surprised to see Gimenez back at another final table very soon. “This is someone that’s really in the form of their life,” said Sam Grafton in the commentary booth.

It took some bad luck in a blind vs blind battle to send Saigokul Kannan home in fifth. Action folded to the chip leader Pichierri in the small blind, and when he peeled A♣ 4♦ he set Kannan all in. The man from India woke up with A♣ 9♦ and gladly committed his 10 big blinds, only to suffer domination rotation on the 4♥ 8♠ K♥ 5♦ 6♥ runout. 

With that we were down to four: three Italians and a Bulgarian. But Atanas Pavlov, who qualified for this event online, soon chopped down the Italian contingent by a third.

Cappiello, a talented young player who has put up some big results over the past few years, opened to 200,000 under the gun with ace-king off and it folded to Pavlov who slid out a 760,000 three-bet from the small blind with pocket queens. It seemed destined that all the chips were going in, and that’s exactly what happened: Cappiello four-bet to 1.4 million, Pavlov five-bet shoved with the bigger stack, and Cappiello called for 3.69 million.

He loved the 7♣ K♦ 4♥ flop but turned away in disgust at the Q♦ turn, leaving him drawing dead. With that, Pavlov became the first player in hours to snatch the chip lead away from Pichierri. It was 9.4 million to the Bulgarian, 7 million for Pichierri, and 5.3 million for Sposato. Anyone’s game.

After a well-earned dinner break Pavlov picked off another of the Italian trio. 

Pichierri opened to 300,000 on the button with 9♣ 7♣ and Pavlov defended his big blind with A♣ 3♣ . The 5♣ J♣ 6♦ flop gave both a flush draw and when Pavlov checked Pichierri continued for 400,000. With a draw to the nuts Pavlov wasn’t going anywhere, and both players then checked the 7♠ [ turn.

The 10♣ sealed Pichierri’s fate. Pavlov led out for 325,000 the Italian raised to 1.7 million. Pavlov’s shoved, Pichierri called, and his tournament was over.

Pavlov had an enormous chip lead heading into the heads-up: 18.4 million to 3.3 million. But Sposato – who had both Pichierri and Cappiello stick around to rail him – refused to go quietly. He managed to chip up and the two clashed in an all-in pre-flop flip with Pavlov’s pocket eights hoping to hold against Sposato’s king-queen off. But a king spiked the river and the game continued, now with Sposato in the driving seat.

But Pavlov was no pushover either. He too battled back to almost even, doubling up with pocket jacks and Sposato’s pocket threes. It was at this point the two paused the action to discuss a deal, settling on £103,660 for Sposato and £99,340 for Pavlov, with £4,000, the title and trophy still on the table.

When the two got back to work, it was Pavlov who yet again began to run away it, beating Sposato down to just seven big blinds. And yet again the Italian forged a miraculous comeback, doubling up multiple times to regain the chip lead.

“What a heads-up battle we’re witnessing,” said commentator David Lappin. “It’s back and forth, back and forth.”

But as great as Sposato and Pavlov were playing, time – and increasing blind levels – are undefeated. Stacks got shallow and it was just a matter of time until we had a deciding collision, even more likely when blind levels were reduced from 30 to 15 minutes.

The final hand saw Sposato pick up pocket sevens and set Pavlov all in for his last 4 million. The Bulgarian called with ace-eight off but it was the Italian who won the flip.

If you want to catch up on the action you can watch how it all went down on the PokerStars UK YouTube channel.

That’s a wrap from UKIPT London 2024, we’ll see you in Nottingham in November.

UKIPT LONDON 2024 MAIN EVENT RESULTS

UKIPT London £1,100 Main Event
Dates: August 4-12, 2024
Entries: 725
Prize pool: £696,000

Final Table Player Profiles

Learn more about the nine finalists in the UKIPT London Main Event.

Seat 1: Joe Hindry (United Kingdom) – 665,000

Joe Hindry, 30, is a professional poker player from London.  The most local player to make the final table, he plays live cash games and “lives down the road” so The Hippodrome Casino is very familiar.   “I used to play with my dad as a kid,” said Hindry, having been steeped in poker from an early age and turned the game into a career.

“I always liked the UKIPT before,” he continued. “It was the one I would always go to – I final tabled this event when I was 20 so nine, ten years ago and that was the one that really kick-started my journey. I came third then so hopefully I’ll win this one!”

He has since surpassed his £37,110 third place prize here with wins in the Venetian Deepstack and GUKPT, but should he claim the trophy at UKIPT London 2024 it will be his biggest ever cash.

Seat 2: Conor O’Driscoll (Ireland) – 715,000

Twitch streamer Conor O’Driscoll is used to challenges, having completed a $2K to $20K bankroll challenge live on stream in 2022. But this UKIPT London Main Event was particularly testing for the London-based Irishman. “Well,” he says, when asked how the event has gone so far. “I entered five times…”

But look at him now. O’Driscoll, a Paddy Power Ambassador, has reached yet another big final table, something he’s been doing with increasing frequency of late.

O’Driscoll’s largest live score came from a fifth-place finish in the 2021 GUKPT Grand Final for £43,900, but this year alone he took down a live event for £32,000 and online he finished third in a $109 PKO Sunday Million for $42,935, not including bounties.

Concerning this UKIPT London Main Event, he said, “It would mean the absolute world to win.”

Seat 3: Saigokuk Kannan (India) – 4,660,000

Saigokul Kannan, 32, from India, discovered poker as a teenager while studying mechanical engineering in the USA. “I love math,” he said, a subject linking the game and his professional interests. Though he was a pro player for a spell, he is now a consultant with an MBA, and no longer has the time to play as much.  Poker and travel go together for him – especially as he cannot play in his country of residence, Dubai.  He had originally planned to play the upcoming EPT Barcelona but did not get his visa in time and switched plans to come to UKIPT London, which he says has “worked out really well.”

Kannan ended Day 1B as chip leader and continued the chip-collecting fairly smoothly during Day 2 (though admitting to a fortunate match-up with queens cracking aces at one point).  He prefers cash games, but says that online tournaments are growing in popularity, especially in India. Of this live Main Event, Kannan said, “The event is amazing – I love it. If I win, maybe I’ll consider going pro again. (My wife won’t like it).” 

Seat 4: Candido Cappiello (Italy) – 2,645,000

Only victory will do for Italy’s Candido Cappiello, a talented young player who has put up some big results over the past few years. But despite some very close calls, a live title still eludes him. “I really want to get the trophy,” he says.

The 24-year-old from Bari has already been playing for around five years and is now a regular in high stakes online tournaments, as well as on the PokerStars live circuit. Last year he finished third in the €2,200 High Roller at the France Poker Series (FPS) for a career-best €181,680, and only a fortnight ago he finished runner-up at the Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series $1,100 IPO Master in Cyprus for $108,000.

Now, at UKIPT London, Cappiello is once again in a great position to take down a title, using the experience he’s gained from his recent high-pressure final tables. “A win would make me very happy,” he says.

Seat 5: Artus Giménez (Spain) – 2,500,000

Artus Giménez, from Terrassa in Spain, has had quite a summer already.  He is the most recent UKIPT/ESPT winner, having taken down the €1,100 Malaga Main Event in June for €145,000.  During the same festival, he finished fifth in the €2,200 High Roller for €22,200, which made for an incredible run of three back-to-back Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller final tables.

Giménez prefers online play to live because of the ability to multi-table, and said, in Malaga, that his own play, “could be professional or amateur, depending on the day…”

Seat 6: Gaspare Sposato (Italy) – 3,165,000

Gaspare Sposato, a 28-year-old professional poker player from Italy, is having a great run – and a great holiday – in London.  Originally from a small island in Tuscany, he lives in Malta currently and has started to branch out into live events from a mainly online background.

 “Poker is my life right now,” said Sposato. “I mostly play online but this year I started playing more live tournaments, for example EPTs. I am enjoying it.”  He is already planning his trip to EPT Barcelona. 

As for the UKIPT, Sposato said that his experience had been, “Really, really good. London is a really lovely place to play and the tournament is great, the structure is great, the field is really good.  I am here with my wife, so: perfect tournament!”

Seat 7: Atanas Pavlov (Bulgaria) – 615,000

Though Bulgarian Atanas Pavlov starts the final table as the short stack, he is happy about his run at UKIPT London and “open minded” about the possibilities the final presents.  The 34 year old has a business and management degree and worked for Barclays for seven years before quitting to go into business for himself – and play poker on the side.  He learned poker at university and has been playing in a more serious manner since 2017.

Pavlov won a satellite to play his initial starting flight (which didn’t work out), then fired two more bullets in the Main Event; his persistence has paid off and he said that he was very happy with his performance after an admittedly “so-so performance in Vegas” this summer.

Now splitting his time between living in London and Vienna, Pavlov’s next major tournament will be at EPT Cyprus in October.

Seat 8: Colin Macandrew (United Kingdom) – 2,125,000

Colin Macandrew, from Bournemouth, used to run an IT company full time, which rather limited his tournament poker options. Now at 56, he has reduced the former and stepped up the latter, playing four or five major events a year.  2024 has already been a good year: he won the Nottingham £2,200 WSOP-C High Roller for £60,000 in March and has come to London purely for the UKIPT Main Event.

Of his progression to the final table, which he starts as a middling stack, he said that his stack had had its ups and downs.  “You’ve got to ride your luck, haven’t you?” he mused, saying that all tournaments need a bit of luck to win. Taking down this one would present Macandrew with his biggest live result to date.

Seat 9: Alessandro Pichierri (Italy) – 4,655,000

Alessandro Pichierri has already racked up over $1 million in tournament winnings over the last decade, including an eighth place finish in the ESPT/UKIPT Malaga High Roller in June (so this is not the first time he’s shared a final table with Artus Giménez!). The 30-year-old from Brindisi in Italy came across poker while at university and has converted his love of the game into a profession. 

Pichierri dedicates most of his time to the online game, but does sometimes venture into the live arena (but only in tournaments).  Off the tables he’s a sports fan and recommends the TV series ‘One Piece’.

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SIDE EVENT RESULTS

While every UKIPT stop is headlined by its flagship events — the £1,100 Main Event, £2,200 High Roller, and £330 Cup — there are always plenty of fantastic side events running throughout the festival.

Click here to check out all side event results.

Below you’ll find their winner’s photos:

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Pre-curry pitstop leads to unexpected Silver Pass win for London local

It’s a busy, bustling Saturday night in old London town and most people are out and about with their partners, family and friends. 

Earlier this evening, Cameron Hunt was just one of the throng, on his way to meet his pals for curry. But he had to make a pitstop at the Hippodrome Casino en route. That’s because Hunt, a 27-year-old local, had to play a single hand of Crazy Pineapple.

“I only expected to be here for a minute,” he says, as the all-in shootouts PokerStars runs daily for players with synced live and online accounts tend to wrap up quickly. 

But when Hunt flopped the nuts with a set of nines, his plans changed. “I flopped the nuts which obviously I was happy about, but then the turn brought in the straight and the flush so I was not expecting to be good,” he says. “I was thinking top set wouldn’t be good eight-handed.”

It was, however, much to the chagrin of his two opponents who had also made lower sets. 

Hunt ended up taking it down to win a coveted Power Path $2,500 Silver Pass. His mates are going to have to wait as Hunt has been busy posing for photos, doing this interview, and finding out just what the heck he has just won.

“I’m not familiar with [Power Path] at all,” he admits. “I think it’s $2,500 worth of tournament entries, right?”

The truth is a Silver Pass can be whatever the player wants it to be. We explain to Hunt that he can use it for a trip to any upcoming PokerStars regional tour event, where he and a guest will also be put up in a hotel and get money for expenses, and suggest he start thinking about where he might like to visit.

Hunt has only played one event this week – Tuesday’s £220 Ambassador Meet-Up Game – so it just goes to show you don’t have to be a Main Event or Cup player to win one of these shootouts. He rarely plays tournaments, preferring £1/£2 cash games here at the Hippodrome.

“But I live in London so I thought I’d come down as it seemed like good value,” he says. 

You can say that again.

How PokerStars’ Power Path helped an introvert find community

It’s easy for us to wax lyrical about how amazingly run PokerStars live events are. But there’s another equally important side to these events – the fun, social, community side – that’s so much easier for a player (in this case, a Power Path qualifier) to explain.

Michael Gilbert, a 29-year-old SEO professional from the Manchester area, considers himself to be an introverted guy. He mostly plays online poker (he used the first of his two Silver Passes to get a SCOOP package) and the idea of coming down to London on his own to play poker with hundreds of strangers isn’t one he’d usually ponder for long. Perhaps you’re in a similar boat.

But Gilbert has been calling the past few months his “social summer”. He feels healthier than ever, has found ways to manage the depression he’s lived with for most of his life (at one point so severe that he dropped out of university), and is now determined to get out more and connect with others. 

“That’s one reason I chose to use my Silver Pass on this UKIPT London trip instead of getting online tickets,” he tells us on a break from the £330 Cup.

It’s easy to forget that all of this – his $2,500 Silver Pass package including multiple tournament entries, hotel and expenses – came from a free $0.50 Power Path ticket, one that every PokerStars player receives daily. Yet the Power Path live event experience has still far surpassed what Gilbert expected. 

“I’m definitely going to use the Passes for live events rather than online tickets,” he says. “I enjoy playing online a lot, and if you’re stuck for time it makes sense to choose online. But to travel is great and the venue and all the perks you get as a Power Path qualifier have been lovely.”

“There’s so much value in it,” he continues. “I didn’t even think about that stuff when I was told about what I’d won: two tournament tickets and some expenses. But there’s all the bonus stuff that I hadn’t expected: the liaison support, all-in shootouts etc. To have a player liaison contact me and make sure that I’m comfortable and all the rest, it was so helpful and calmed my nerves down.”

This isn’t Gilbert’s maiden live event. It isn’t even his maiden UKIPT London, having won a package to this event back in 2018. But it seems to be the first poker event where he’s allowed himself to come out of his shell, and he’s loving it.

“If you’re going into an event and heading straight to the table without talking to anyone, you’re probably not going to find that community and bonding,” he explains. “If you go to something like the Player Party but you’ve not spoken to people, it can feel intimidating.

“But I’ve made so many friends and got to know so many people, it’s been lovely. We went out for drinks after the Player Party last night so that was nice. There’s a level of community to it.”

Poker is just a hobby for Gilbert. You’ll usually find him playing the Sunday Million a couple of times a month alongside some $44 and $22 tournaments, two or three tables maximum. Still, he’s had some great results including a win in the Blowout Series in January 2021.

But it’s not his only hobby. An avid fan of live music, Gilbert’s social summer has also included around a dozen concerts and three music festivals, with another one still to go. 

He’s also getting into decorating, having just completed the purchase of his first flat. The UKIPT London Main Event didn’t work out for him, but his Pass also gave him entry to the Cup where he’s still in with a shot of a cash to put towards furniture and a house-warming party.

We’re sure the new friends he’s made this week at UKIPT London can’t wait to attend.

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WELCOME TO THE HIPPODROME’S DREAM STREAM STUDIO

There’s no denying the popularity of cash games live-streamed from the belly of big casinos. 

From celebrity-filled line-ups making headlines to producing some of poker’s hottest talking points (does anyone still play jack-three?), these streams introduce countless players to the game.

Until recently, though, they’ve all been beamed to our screens from America. But that’s about to change.

The Hippodrome Casino in the heart of London’s Leicester Square is the latest poker room to build its own live-stream studio – a state-of-the-art set-up in a cosy room in the PokerStars cash game area.

“I’m delighted with it,” says Kerryjane Craigie, PokerStars Ambassador for women in poker and Director of Poker at the Hippodrome. “I get goosebumps, I’m really so excited about it.”

The first seeds for the studio were planted in Craigie’s mind around four years ago when talks of a refurb began. It was decided that the PokerStars card rooms would have a permanent home on the historic casino’s third floor, and there the perfect room awaited.

“I asked if that room could be designed a certain way because I saw that in the future that room could be a studio,” says Craigie. “I’m biased but I’ve been skipping around that room, even when we only had one wall up.”

The studio had its debut run on Thursday (August 8) with the final table of the £2,200 UKIPT London High Roller providing an exciting maiden stream. Everything ran without a hitch – despite the final touches only being finished recently. “We only got lights and air conditioning 10 days ago,” says Craigie, chuckling.

It’s not just Craigie we have to thank for the room and all the future entertainment it will provide. It took a team to bring her idea to life, as well as great support from those above her. “I’m super blessed here at the Hippodrome,” she says. “As a decision maker in your department, if you’re convinced something is going to work, they let you run with it.”

The poker team are still working on the schedule, but from here on out you can expect every Hippodrome event to have feature and final table live streams, as well as cash game action. 

“It will start on Friday and Saturday nights after EPT Barcelona so we can get all our ducks in a row,” says Craigie. “Then we’ll welcome our regulars and anyone who wants to play cash on stream in the UK – because you can’t do that anywhere else.”

Expect fun nights hosted by PokerStars Ambassadors and plenty of recognisable faces from the UK poker scene and beyond, as well as broadcasts from the £100K-guaranteed Women’s Winter Festival in November.

But for now, sit back, relax, and enjoy live action from UKIPT London, direct from the Hippodrome Casino’s dream stream studio.

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HUGE DAY AHEAD

Finding a place to work in the Hippodrome Casino this morning (Saturday, August 10) was a bit like trying to find a seat in a Leicester Square pub on a busy Friday night: very difficult, but thankfully, not impossible.

That’s because the UKIPT London venue is full to the brim with poker action and bustling with players with big dreams, so strap yourselves in for a long day.

Headlining proceedings is Day 2 of the £1,100 Main Event, where 108 of the 725 entries will open bags today and battle their way towards the final table. Victor Pinna leads the charge, topping all four starting flights with a staggering stack of 882,000 chips (players started with 30,000). Pinna amassed his haul in last night’s Turbo Day 1D run.

The only player to make Day 2 with close to Pinna’s stack is Atanas Pavlov (867,000), but over half a million chips are also in the hands of Vitalie Grecul, Jack Hardcastle, and Day 1B’s chip leader Saigokul Kannan.

Barny Boatman is the highest-stacked of the PokerStars Ambassadors to make Day 2 (288,000); Marle Spragg bagged up 237,000 and Adam McKola 189,500. Alex Romero, fresh from his runner-up spot in the High Roller, has 98,000.

The plan today is to play down to a final table (or as close as we can get, anyway). You’ll be able to watch the action from the Hippodrome’s brand-spanking new stream studio from 16:15 onwards, beamed live on Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg’s channel, Lex Veldhuis’s channel, and PokerStarsUK YouTube. Follow the key action from the rest of the tournament floor live on PokerNews.

Prizes have now been confirmed with all 108 Day 2 players already in the money. The min-cash is worth £1,700, but here’s a look at what the finalists will play for:

1. £127,600
2. £79,400
3. £56,700
4. £43,600
5. £33,600
6. £25,900
7. £19,900
8. £15,350
9. £11,800

• Chip counts: Day1A | Day1B | Day1C | Day1D
• Combined Day 2 players with seat draw
• Prize pool and payouts

The reason the tournament floors are so busy today is that the £330 UKIPT Cup — the tour’s most affordable flagship event — kicks off. We’re expecting a huge turnout for that one.

Now that we’ve found a comfy place to work, we suggest you find a comfy place to read and watch as we’ve got a huge day ahead.

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Chan lands Silver Pass in dramatic All-In Shootout

Look, we get it. There are only so many times you can read us banging on about the incredible perks PokerStars puts on for its players at its live events before you bang your head against a wall. 

We hope you can tolerate one more, though, because this story’s a doozy.

It had everything. A suspenseful start, a dramatic middle, and a happy ending for all involved. But before we can tell it, we need to explain the perk in question.

PokerStars runs daily All-In Shootouts for players who link their online and live accounts, giving away thousands of dollars worth of tournament packages in the form of $109 tickets and $2,500 Power Path Silver Passes. That means the vast majority of UKIPT London players have a shot at leaving with a free trip to a future event of their choosing. 

Today’s final saw nine players gather around a table, all of whom had won their way through a preliminary shootout to win their seats. The problem was, there were 10 seats. The missing finalist was given two minutes to arrive before the cards would leave the dealer’s hands, with or without them. 

That 10th player arrived in the nick of time and the crazy pineapple hand began. Each player was dealt three hole cards before the dealer spread a flop: A♥ J♦ 2♣ .

One by one they then discarded a card, and the dealer laid a turn (J♥ ) and river (K♠ ). Eight players flipped their cards. Some had air, others had underpairs, and one had an ace.

But Jeremy Chan had a monster.

“They were like, we encourage slowrolls so I was like, OK, I’m going to let the other guy get a little excited,” he tells us. “I knew I was winning so I wanted it to get a little tense, you know? It was fun.”

But then his opponent flipped the Q♥ J♣ . He had a straight.

Chan waited a moment before revealing his hand: Q♣ J♦ , followed by a disappointed “Ayaaaahhh”.

With identical hands, it was time for a heads-up hand. But before we got to that, the two shook hands and did some business, settling on a £500 consolation prize for the loser that they would pay themselves, ensuring each left with something.

This time the flop fell 2♣ 5♥ 3♣ and both chucked away a card. Chan had A♦ 5♦ , good for top pair. “When he wasn’t liking his hand I was pretty confident with the five,” he says.

The 7♥ turn and 5♠ river were dealt and Chan’s opponent sighed, announcing “Only a deuce”.

Chan had that beat with trips and the Silver Pass was his. But who is Chan? Is he an online qualifier like yesterday’s winner, Johnny Brown?

“No,” says Chan, laughing. “If you wanted a satellite story, this is not the one.”

Chan’s a poker pro from Malaysia who came to London to study five years ago, and it was here he discovered the game. “I went back to Malaysia but I come back often and the last two trips have been very good for me,” he says.

“I was not expecting to win this, this is a 1/10 chance and the previous round was a 1/10 chance too. We play poker, it’s all about the odds and for me it’s about not expecting too much.”

He’s still in the UKIPT London Main Event and now feels like he’s freerolling. “I’ve already got my money back,” he says with a big smile. “But we’ve still got plenty to play.”

Bedford football manager promises team a treat if he wins big

Right now there are 30 guys in Bedford frantically refreshing the live updates from the UKIPT Main Event. And if they’re not, they should be. 

The man they’re following is Liam Doyle, a Power Path Silver Pass winner in town to play his maiden live tournament. And if he can pull off a big result in London, those 30 guys are in for a real treat.

“I’ve told the boys if I win this tournament they don’t have to pay their £5 weekly subs for the rest of the season, and maybe next season as well,” says Doyle, who manages a Bedford-based Sunday League football team called Hawkins FC with around 30 players on the squad. “So they’re all rooting for me.”

Not only is this Doyle’s first live tournament, the $2,500 Silver Pass is by far his biggest poker win, surpassing a $400 online score. When he pulled up his seat in the Main Event he was feeling the nerves (“My heart rate is definitely going…”) but now that he’s dragged in a couple of pots, he’s settling in for a deep run. 

So keep hitting the refresh button, guys.

Doyle is a 45-year-old self-employed technology recruiter and lives with his wife of 15 years, Michelle, in Bedford, not far from London. He always uses his free $0.50 Power Path tickets (PokerStars players receive one per day) and spun it up into a Pass on his third attempt in a $109 Step 4.

“I remember folding pocket queens on the final table,” he says. “I was the second smallest stack and in the next hand the smallest stack went out and I came in 6th place to win the pass.”

Because of his proximity to the Hippodrome Casino, he opted not to use part of his Pass for hotel and expenses and instead took the remainder (after his £1,100 Main Event entry) as cash.

Once again, it highlights the flexibility of the Power Path passes. You really can make it your own.

“I left some online and then took some cash out and spent it on other stuff – probably my food shop for the week, nothing too exciting,” he says.

A great result, Doyle tells us, would be to make it through the day and secure his first tournament cash. An even better result would be to reach Sunday’s finale when Michelle will come down to join him.

“When I told her I’d won the pass she didn’t really understand,” he says, chuckling. “She’ll be excited if I win this tournament though.”

Whatever happens in the Main Event, Doyle’s London trip is far from over. His Silver Pass also grants him a £330 UKIPT Cup ticket which he’ll play tomorrow, and then there are the crazy pineapple all-in shootouts for qualifiers with more Silver Passes up for grabs.

“I saw the other online qualifier, Johnny, he’s got loads of chips, hasn’t he? That’s amazing,” Doyle says, referring to Johnny Brown, who we interviewed yesterday. Brown, also a Power Path qualifier, not only won another Silver Pass on his Main Event dinner break in the shootouts but then went on to bag a healthy stack for Day 2. 

Maybe the PokerStars Blog luck will rub off on Doyle too. If so, we’ll speak to him again later. 

Keep refreshing guys.

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Immovable object Frere stops Romero’s relentless force in High Roller

The UKIPT London’s £2,200 High Roller champion is Belgian player Mallory Frere, who outlasted a total field of 122 to take home £59,940 from the £234,240 total prize pool. He saw off final opponent PokerStars Ambassador Alex Romero heads up after a short-stack comeback in an epic heads-up battle.

When you’ve watched as many final tables as PokerStars Ambassador and commentator Alex Romero has, you pick up how to navigate your way through final tables. The Spaniard – himself a finalist at EPT Monte Carlo in 2022 – put on a clinic in the UKIPT London High Roller, steamrolling through the field like an unstoppable force.

But sometimes an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. Mallory Frere from Belgium would not budge heads-up, coming back from 5:1 chip disadvantage heads-up to take down the title and £59,940 first-place prize. 

When the final table began, you’d have been forgiven for thinking this final table was a PokerStars meet-up game. Three PokerStars Ambassadors – Sam Grafton, Kenny Hallaert and Romero – joined perennial performer Antoine Saout in the stacked line-up.

But the most recent addition to Team PokerStars was the first to fall. Hallaert – a talented pro and live events specialist who joined the team to provide a voice for the players – was taken out by Romero when his ace-seven was pipped by Romero’s king-queen. That was quickly followed by the departure of Andrew Hulme, leaving Grafton as the short stack.

He waited patiently for a spot as his stack diminished and was ultimately all in with king-jack suited against Romero’s ace-queen. Grafton flopped a flush draw but found no further help, sending the face of UKIPT London to the cage to collect £9,700.

Saout – who like Hallaert is a former WSOP Main Event finalist – was the next to fall. Ajay Kejriwal opened before Romero three-bet, and the Frenchman looked down at ace-king-off. He jammed only for Kerjiwal to five-bet shove, and Romero let his rags go. Kerjiwal had pocket aces and Saout exited in sixth.

Down to five, Romero really ran away with it. At one point, he possessed almost quadruple the chips of his closest competitor. Running good and playing fantastic – that’s a dangerous combination.

But as unlikely as it seemed, Romero’s force could be stopped. After the eliminations of Henrik Veldhoem, Shaun Walbridge, and Kerjiwal, Romero and Frere squared off for what we stupidly assumed would be a short match. Romero had 3 million chips to Frere’s 600K and all the momentum.

But Frere refused to fall, even when Romero put the squeeze on and extended his lead even further. Over two levels the Belgian battled back to even and the tournament’s superb structure meant some deep-stack play was on the cards. It ran well into the early morning hours before Frere took the lead and sealed the deal with pocket kings against Romero’s sixes.

All eyes are now on the Main Event, with two starting flights running today. 

Final table results:

1 Mallory Frere (Belgium) – £59,940
2 Alex Romero (Spain), PokerStars Ambassador – £37,600
3 Ajay Kejriwal (United Kingdom) – £26,800
4 Shaun Walbridge (United Kingdom) – £20,600
5 Henrik Veldhoem (Germany) – £15,900
6 Antoine Saout (France) – £12,200
7 Sam Grafton (United Kingdom), PokerStars Ambassador – £9,700
8 Andrew Hulme (United Kingdom) – £8,000
9 Kenny Hallaert (Belgium), PokerStars Ambassador – £6,700

Full high roller results

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AFTER A DECADE OF CHILLING, THE CHAMP IS BACK

We catch up with a Power Path qualifier who became a UKIPT champion in 2015, then completely vanished from the scene. That win remains his only live cash, so what has he been up to in the nine years since?

It was only his second-ever live tournament.

Back in 2015, Sam Mitten-Laurence won a £160 qualifier into the UKIPT Nottingham Main Event and then outlasted a 914-entry field to win one of the largest prizes in UKIPT history: £182,000.

But while green at the gills when it came to brick-and-mortar poker, Mitten-Laurence was no fish out of water. The then-24-year-old had turned pro at 18 and had racked up 22,000 tournaments on PokerStars under the screename ‘KevinThorn’.

“It was a life-changing score,” Mitten-Laurence says, but while many of us would consider taking that windfall and becoming a fixture on the live circuit, the Brit retreated back to the online tables. “£1Ks were still a big buy-in for me, I was a small-stakes player at the time,” he continues. “So it wasn’t an efficient thing to play.”

By 2018, however, he found himself getting burned out. He decided to travel the world, spending time in South Africa, Central America and Asia while taking a few years off poker. “It’s basically been 10 years of chilling,” he says.

Towards the end of his travels, PokerStars launched Power Path in June 2023. It proved to be the perfect time for Mitten-Laurence, who was just getting back into the game. “I was getting the free $0.50 Step 1 tickets every day, and used one to go through all the steps,” he says.

That run resulted in him winning a $2,500 Silver Pass six months ago. He was sitting on the Pass for a while, unsure of which stop to play. But the flexibility of Power Path Passes is incredible for players, and Mitten-Laurence – who moved to London a few months ago – opted to play the £1,100 Main Event and then cash in the rest of his prize for tournament buy-ins.

It’s only his third live tournament.

Despite the time off and now preferring to play cash games, the 33-year-old has kept up with the game’s ever-evolving strategy. “I wouldn’t say it has passed me by,” he says. “But it’s definitely different.

“I always wanted to get back into live poker. Maybe after this event. Let’s see if it goes as well as the last one.”

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LONDON AND THE F***ING UKIPT

Power Path qualifier Johnny Brown is already freerolling thanks to a bit of Crazy Pineapple…

That was the end goal for Matt Damon’s character Mike McDermott in Rounders, but it was where it all started for UKIPT London qualifier Johnny Brown.

The 39-year-old from Peterhead, Scotland took a trip to Sin City in 2010 for his dad’s 50th birthday where he dabbled in some cash games at the Mirage and splashed around in a tournament at Bellagio. 

Brown – who works as a controls engineer for a company that provides equipment to offshore drilling companies – caught the poker bug and hasn’t been able to shake it since, regularly competing in low-stakes events online.

“I’ve never really had any poker results to shout about though,” he tells us. 

That is until he won a Silver Pass through the PokerStars Power Path. 

When the promotion started it was Brown’s goal just to reach a $109 Step 4. If you’re not familiar with Power Path, players are unable to buy in at the fourth and final stage. Instead, tickets must be won in through the previous steps or special promotions.

Brown managed to win his way into Step 4 tournaments seven times, but always missed out on a package. 

But you know the saying: the eighth time’s the charm. On his eighth attempt, Brown finished in the top eight places and bagged himself a Silver Pass worth $2,500, which he’s chosen to use here in London. 

“When I realised I had the Silver Pass locked up, I couldn’t believe it,” he says. The prize gave him a Main Event entry (£1,100) plus a week’s accommodation and expenses for travel. 

“It’s probably my greatest achievement in poker.”

Not in life though. That’ll be Brown’s one-year-old son. “He has completely changed my life and the way I think about stuff,” he says. “He’s awesome. I’ve been with my wife for 15 years, married for nine. She’s amazing, and supports anything I want to do including trying to take poker more seriously, so I’m incredibly lucky.”

Brown is just one of many online qualifiers making their way to London for this event. Best of luck to all of them.

Who knows? Maybe London and the f**king UKIPT will be where their journey starts.

UPDATE: BROWN WINS SECOND SILVER PASS

What are the odds? The first qualifier we speak to has gone on to win a second Silver Pass, taking down today’s qualifier All-In Shootout.

Johnny Brown won his heat to claim a seat at the final. The format of these shootouts — which take place at every PokerStars Live event — is simple: A table of players receives three cards face down, a flop is dealt, and they discard one card. The dealer burns and turns the turn and river and players flip over their cards. The best hand wins.

Brown had picked up a pair of tens alongside another lesser card, which he chucked on the A♣ Q♠ 6♦ flop. His tens were an underpair, but if he could find another ten he would surely have the best of it.

Bingo. The 10♠ hit the turn followed by the 3♥ river and Brown flipped over the 10♣ 10♥ for the win.

“It’s pretty sick, I’m freerolling already,” he told us right after the win.

We ask Brown where he might use this fresh Silver Pass (“Maybe Nottingham, or Paris or Monte Carlo”) but for now, he’s focused on the Main Event and parlaying his first Pass into a cash.

“It’s been really good, I was down early but I’m back up to starting stack,” he says when we ask for an update. “Unfortunately, I’ve now got Barny Boatman on my left. It’s cool to speak to someone who has that much experience, somebody I’ve watched on TV for 20 years.”

You don’t have to look far to see the perks of the Power Path. One pass can quickly lead to another, and you get to play with legends of the game.

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LET THE GAMES BEGIN

Before you say it — Yes. We know the festival has already been running since Sunday. But PokerStars Blog has only just arrived in London, so consider this our welcome ceremony.

Welcome to the UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) London, live from the Hippodrome Casino. Our coverage from the tournament floor may just be kicking off, but this festival is already in full swing.

The £220 Ambassador Meet-Up Game on Tuesday (August 6) was a resounding success, breaking records in both attendance and pure, unadulterated fun levels. Scroll down in this post to read more about that event.

The £2,200 UKIPT London High Roller is also heading towards the business end, with just a quarter of the 122 entries remaining at the time of writing. Plenty of big names are still in the hunt including Niall Farrell (who we believe – having done zero research – might be the only EPT/UKIPT/WSOP/WPT champion). Then there are the PokerStars Ambassadors Sam Grafton and Kenny Hallaert repping the red spade.

The event boasts a £234,240 prize pool with the top 17 players reaching the cash. There’s sixty grand up top – here’s a look at the payouts:

1 £59,940
2 £37,600
3 £26,800
4 £20,600
5 £15,900
6 £12,200
7 £9,700
8 £8,000
9 £6,700
10-11 £5,600
12-13 £4,900
14-15 £4,200
16-17 £3,700

But it’s the £1,100 UKIPT London Main Event we’re here for. 

Day 1A took place back on Sunday (August 4), giving everyone the chance to find a Day 2 bag without needing time off work. A total of 59 players took that shot with just nine players making it through (and into the cash), led by Haoran Cai. He ended the day with 453,000 – nearly a quarter of the chips in play.

Today it’s Day 1B and once again players begin with a stack of 30,000 and will play down to ~15 per cent of the field (all of whom will be in the money). A maximum of two entries per flight are allowed throughout the first 10 40-minute levels.

But if you can’t make it down, don’t worry. You’ll have two opportunities tomorrow: Day 1C begins at noon (that’s 12:00 for you digital folk) while a turbo Day 1D flight with 20-minute levels kicks off at 19:00. 

It’s early in the day (play began at the later-than-usual 14:00) but we’ve already got the likes of EPT Paris champ Barny Boatman, UKIPT Player of the Year 2023 David Docherty, and PokerStars Ambassadors Felix Schneiders, James Hartigan, Adam McKola and Elliot Hackney out in the field. 

Stay tuned to PokerStars Blog for the rest of the festival as we’ll bring you the latest news, player interviews, and stories from the floor.

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PONOMAREV BEATS AMBASSADORS TO CLAIM MEET-UP GAME TITLE

Reporting by PokerStars Media Coordinator Jen Mason.

The combined attraction of over a dozen PokerStars Ambassadors – streamers, pros, influencers, and commentators – brought a mammoth 265 entries into the United Kingdom and Ireland Poker Tour’s £220 Bounty at The Hippodrome Casino.

The winner was Nikolay Ponomarev, who picked up £5,010, £700 in bounties and an added £1,100 UKIPT Main Event Seat, outlasting every Ambassador in the field.

After the Meet-Up snacks and drinks in Lola’s Bar, the serious business of busting the Ambassadors and collecting the Bronze and Silver Passes on their heads began. Early exits for Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg (eliminated by Stewart Downes) and James Hartigan (Huw Rhys Jones) started the open season.

In the end, only two Ambassadors were to make the money, the likes of Sam Grafton, Barny Boatman, Georgina “GJReggie” James, Marle Spragg and Alex Romero hitting the rail before the money.

The two Silver Passes, worth $2,500, went to Gurminder Jandu and James Conteh and could come in handy with the Main Event Day 1B coming up on Thursday. Jandu also picked up a Bronze Pass ($109) as did eventual third-place finisher Juan Manuel Avila. This was the last one available, won for busting the longest-lasting PokerStars Ambassador, Nick Walsh, in fifth.

Last night’s Pot Limit Omaha winner, Renato Lordao, also made the final table, making it increasingly worth his while to have made the trip from Brazil especially to play UKIPT London.

Three-handed, stacks were almost even, but after busting Walsh with queen-nine vs. ace-jack (all in preflop), Avila failed to crack the pocket aces of Ponomarev and left in third place. Heads up took several levels to determine a winner, the average stack being just 13 big blinds when Ponomarev finally sealed the deal vs. Jack McDermott and took the trophy, first place prize money, £700 in regular bounties and a £1,100 Main Event seat he intends to use here in London.

Final table results:

1 Nikolay Ponomarev – £5,010 plus £1,100 UKIPT Main Event seat
2 Jack McDermott – £3,120
3 Juan Manuel Avila – £2,230
4 Vygintas Zemonis – £1,710
5 Nick Walsh (PokerStars Ambassador) – £1,320
6 Craig McCorkell – £1,010
7 Jenson Golds – 840
8 Renato Lordao – £700
9 David McConachie – £580

Full £220 Ambassador Meet-Up Bounty results
Gallery

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ACTIVITIES GUIDE

Tuesday 6 August – 8pm – Ambassador Meet Up Game at Lola’s (see top of article)

Thursday 8 August – Live Music – Food and Drinks in Player’s Lounge

Friday 9 August – 8pm – Players Party. (Chance to buddy up for the 50/50 event at the Women’s Winter Festival) – Terrace Floor

Thursday 8 August to Saturday 10 August – All-In ShootOut (AISO) on 4th floor – Cash Game area

Thursday 8 August to Saturday 10 August – AISO. During the dinner breaks. 4th floor – Cash Game area. $109 Sunday Million Ticket for the winner of each AISO. Silver Pass for the winner of each daily final. (x3 Silver Passes in total).

ABOUT UKIPT LONDON

The beloved UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) returns to London in August 2024 for nine days of exhilarating poker action.

From August 2-11, the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square will host the iconic tour — the first stop since its summer holiday in Malaga in June.

Previous UKIPT London winners include Spain’s high roller superstar Sergio Aido and last year’s champ Dylan Bradley, who took home £71,650 after defeating a 374-entry field.

KEY DATES

UKIPT Cup: August 10-11 – £330

UKIPT Main Event: August 4-11 – £1,100

UKIPT High Roller: August 7-8 – £2,200

FULL SCHEDULE

While every UKIPT stop is headlined by its flagship events — the £1,100 Main Event, £2,200 High Roller, and £330 Cup — there are plenty of side events plus cash games running 24 hours a day.

You’ll find the full UKIPT London schedule here.

VENUE INFORMATION

UKIPT London is taking place at London’s Hippodrome Casino.

Address: The Hippodrome Casino London, Cranbourn St, London WC2H 7JH, United Kingdom
Telephone number: +44 20 7769 8888
Dress Code: Smart casual
Minimum Age: 18
NB: Photo ID is required for entry and all players must be members of the Hippodrome Casino

AMBASSADOR MEET-UP GAME

Get ready for an electrifying poker experience at UKIPT London as PokerStars announces a fun-filled Ambassador Meet-Up Game on Tuesday, August 6th at 8 pm.

Following the massive success of Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg and Parker “Tonkaaaa” Talbot’s meet-up game at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), this event promises to be a thrilling addition to the festival with its fun and engaging Mystery Bounty format.

The meet-up tournament is a £220 buy-in Bounty Freezeout Event… with a twist.

What makes this event particularly exciting is the opportunity for players to knock out ambassadors and win big. Imagine the adrenaline rush as you take down a player and claim their bounty chip for £100 cash. 

But that’s not all – KO’ing a PokerStars Ambassador also earns you a special envelope containing either a Power Path Bronze Pass worth $109 or a coveted Silver Pass worth $2,500. With two Silver Passes and several Bronze Passes up for grabs, every Ambassador knockout brings the possibility of a substantial reward.

Moreover, the tournament winner will also bag themselves a seat in the prestigious UKIPT Nottingham Main Event on top of the first-place prize money! Yep, the stakes just got higher.

But the excitement doesn’t end with the poker action. As players are eliminated, the atmosphere will shift to a lively social scene with free drinks and nibbles available as you mingle with fellow players, PokerStars Ambassadors, and Team Pros. It’s a perfect setting to share stories, learn tips, and build connections within the poker community.

Expect to rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in poker, including Lex Veldhuis, Sam Grafton, Barny Boatman, Joe Stapleton, James Hartigan, Adam McKola, Rory Jennings, Georgina “GJ Reggie” James, Nick Walsh, and Kerryjane Craigie. 

Mark your calendars – you won’t want to miss it!

Here’s the key info:

• NLHE Bounty Freezeout – Ambassador Meet-Up
• £220 buy-in
• 8 pm on Tuesday 6th August at the Hippodrome Casino
• £100 cash when you KO a player
• Extra Power Path envelope when you KO an Ambassador
• First-place money plus a UKIPT Nottingham seat up top!

HOW TO QUALIFY

Did you know you can win a full package to UKIPT London covering your £1,100 Main Event seat and £400 expenses on PokerStars?

Here’s how:

Every week leading up to the event (which runs August 3-11) there will be three Seats and Expenses qualifiers with a buy-in of £109:

• 1 Seat and Expenses GTD, on Tuesday @ 21:20 CET
• 1 Seat and Expenses GTD, on Thursday @ 21:20 CET
• 3 Seats and Expenses GTD, on Sunday @ 21:20 CET

But you don’t have to pony up £109 to enter — you can get in for much cheaper.

Daily feeder tournaments to the qualifiers begin as low as £1.10 and run from 16:00 CET every day. These lead to an £11 feeder that then takes you to the £109.

There are also £5.50 daily direct feeders to the £109 from 18:15 CET.

WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR?

After three days of play and a dominating final table performance that saw him eliminate five of the final eight, Newcastle’s Dylan Bradley became the UKIPT London 2023 champ — and £71,650 better off.

“It’s great, it’s nice to win,” he told us immediately after the victory. “I just ran well on the final table, to be honest. It was nice when everyone was so short, I just got to raise every hand. It was an ideal set-up.”

His heads-up opponent, 38-year-old electrician and barber/cafe owner Stephen Cherry, also hailed from Newcastle, giving us an all-Geordie heads-up.

“It was actually quite nuts,” said Bradley. “There can’t have been that many Geordies in this and yet we both came in the top two.”

This was Bradley’s first live tournament cash, and therefore his first title. 

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” he said as he prepared to take his winner’s photo. “It’s nice to get the trophy. I might start to play more tournaments now!”

Click here to read everything from last year.

LATEST FROM THE UKIPT

MALAGA

Artús Giménez has won the Estrellas Poker Tour and UK & Ireland Poker Tour Málaga’s €1,100 Main Event in June, taking home €145,000 after a heads-up deal with Tomasz Wrobel. The event was the largest ESPT field ever seen outside of Barcelona.

A delighted Giménez has, in his words, “played his best possible poker” to emerge victorious after a four-day fight to – and through – the final table.

“I will need a couple of days to process it,” Giménez said of his victory, telling the interviewer that he had “run very good all tournament”, with a couple of big Day 3 hands pushing him up to the lead.

Here’s everything that happened in Malaga.

IRISH OPEN

The record-breaking Irish Open Main Event 2024 took place in March and was won by Tero Laurila, who took home €292,685 for his efforts following a three-handed deal.

Check out our Irish Open coverage hub.

EDINBURGH AND BRIGHTON

We had not one but two PokerStars Team Pro champions on the UKIPT in 2023.

First, Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg captured his first major live title, defeating a 352-entry field to win the £1,100 UKIPT Brighton Main Event for £69,120 in September.

The PokerStars Team Pro told us after his victory: “It’s unbelievable. I’m lost for words. I’m genuinely really emotional. I didn’t think I would be because there was such a good atmosphere at the final table, it didn’t feel like a final table.

“I no longer feel like an online guy who plays a bit of live. I’m just a poker pro.”

Catch up on everything that happened at UKIPT Brighton here.

Then Fintan “easywithaces” Hand did the same, taking down the 220-entry UKIPT Edinburgh for £44,200.

“It’s always nice winning any poker tournament. It’s nice whether it’s for $500 5k or 44,000 pounds,” said Hand.

“And that’s my biggest score ever. I’ve not played a lot of live poker. So, to win a tournament and beat my best score is fantastic. And the trophy is bloody beautiful. It’s lovely.”

Here’s our Edinburgh coverage.

EVERYTHING ELSE

UKIPT OFFICIAL SITE
The PokerStars Live official page, with everything you need to know about the tournament series in London.

FULL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
There are 25 events across the UKIPT London tournament series. Here’s the day-by-day schedule.

DOWNLOAD THE POKERSTARS LIVE APP
All the info you need on your mobile device from the Apple iStore or Google Play for Android.

POKERSTARS BLOG ON TWITTER
Follow us on Twitter.

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