GUKPT Main Event: James Martin Grabs the Title

James MartinGrosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) Main Event dropped its curtain on Sunday night as a new champion, James Martin grabbed the title. Martin defeated long time poker pro Jeff Kimber in battle heads-up of £550 buy-in main event to grab a handsome prize money of £22,640. One more fact which makes this win special for Martin is that he started his final day as an underdog with second least chips on the final table. This time GUKPT main event saw a total of 165 entries which is one of the biggest turnout in the history of the event. Considering 2013 World Series of Poker (WSOP) taking place in Las Vegas, this number of participants is a good number for any event.

All players started their game very cautiously and used all their poker skills to avoid an elimination.  First player who left the table almost after two hours was Paul Dunne. He busted out as his pocket 8’s fell short in front of champion’s pocket 10’s. Board didn’t help him either. Second player to hit the rail was David Lloyd, His pocket tens didn’t help him as Timotheos Timotheou’s Ace and Queen. The flop favored Timotheou as two Queens showed up in Flop Draw and rest were of no help to Lloyd. Next player to leave was John Burberry. His run came to an end as he lost his last hand to Alex Zeligman.

After Burberry’s elimination, the final table didn’t see another player leaving his seat for another one hour. But it was Alex Zeligman’s turn now to meet the cashier at his desk as he finished at sixth place. The next two elimination came fast. First it was Timotheou who got eliminated by the only female player on the table, Ellie Biessek and then Adam Howlett who fell prey to Jeff Kimber.

Biessek got busted at third place after playing tremendously well on the final table. Martin played executioner for her. After that it was just Martin and Kimber to battle it out for the title. The heads-up was concluded just after one hand as both the player have already agreed to split the remaining prize pool so that both the players will take minimum of £18,000 and rest of the prize money is left for the titleholder.

It was Martin’s day as both the players were all in preflop. Martin’s Ace-Jack proved to be superior than Kimber’s pocket tens and won him the GUKPT Main Event.

Final Table Results.

Rank Player Prize Money
1. James Martin  £22,640
2. Jeff Kimber  £18,000
3. Ellie Biessek  £10,520
4. Adam Howlett  £6,390
5. Timotheos Timotheou  £4,950
6. Alex Zeligman  £3,920
7. John Burberry  £3,090
8. David Lloyd  £2,270
9. Paul Dunne  £1,650