888poker took its fledgling UK Poker League (UKPL) tour to the live poker hotbed that is Luton and Ian Swan will forever look back on this event with a beaming smile on his face. Swan returns home to bonny Scotland with the £560 Main Event trophy under one arm and a career-best £24,530 haul under the other.
The Main Event attracted 342 entrants and paid the top 53 finishers. A min-cash awarded £930, with a final table appearance boosting the payout to £3,250, and first-place originally awarding £34,000, although a deal would alter the top prize.
888poker UKPL Luton Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ian Swan | £24,530* |
| 2 | Andreas Orthodoxou | £25,251* |
| 3 | Muhamed Mia | £26,219* |
| 4 | Yucel Eminoglu | £11,000 |
| 5 | Shan Jiang | £7,800 |
| 6 | David Gassian | £5,540 |
| 7 | Sinead Priestley | £4,390 |
| 8 | Terence Mitford | £3,820 |
| 9 | Alex Montgomery | £3,250 |
*reflects two deals made
The nine-handed final table exploded into action with a double elimination. Alex Montgomery found himself all-in with ace-ten against Terry Mitford’s pocket queens and Swam’s ace-king. Swan flopped trip kings and improved to a full house on the river, busting Montgomery in ninth and Mitford in eighth.
Sinead Priestley, fresh from taking down the Opening Voyage event for £17,865, saw her latest deep run end in a seventh-place finish. Priestley’s ace-four ran into the aces of Andreas Orthodoxou. The in-form Priestely spiked a four but couldn’t find another, and she made her way to the cashier’s desk to collect £4,390.
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David Gassian’s first recorded live score for 18 months earned him £5,540. Down to only seven big blinds, Gassian pushed all-in with ten-eight, and Muhamed Mia called from the small blind with pocket fours. The coinflip went Mia’s way, and Gassian bowed out in sixth.
UK-based Australian Shan Jiang fell in fifth for £7,800, the UKPL Luton Main Event’s final four-figure prize. Jiang, who was the runner-up in the EPT Paris €1,650 Mystery Bounty event last month, found himself all-in for ten big blinds with queen-ten. Unfortunately for Jiang, Mia held the dominating ace-ten. Both players flopped a ten, but Jiang fell by the wayside despite picking up a gutshot straight draw on the turn.
Mia then sent the dangerous Yucel “Mad Turk” Eminoglu home in fourth, a finish worth £11,000, to leave only three players in the hunt for the title of champion. Those three players struck a deal that left £6,000 to play for before resuming the Main Event.
Swan sent Mia to the rail in third, with Mia taking home £26,219 as part of the deal. That was the last of the action because Swan and Orthodoxou made another deal that gave Orthodoxou another £2,000 and Swan the title. Orthodoxou took home £25,251 leaving Swan to collect £24,530.
Redemption for Swan
Every player celebrates winning a live poker tournament, but one feels that taking down this event was extra special for Swan. In 2015, Swan was the runner-up in the £220 Grosvenor 25/25 Series in Edinburgh and finished second in the 2017 GUKPT Edinburgh Main Event.
More recently, Swan finished third in the 888poker UKPL Edinburgh Opening Voyage and sixth in the Seniors event at the same stop. The joy stemming from taking down the UKPL Luton Main Event should more than make up for those other near misses.
Other UKPL Luton Results
Main Event players aside, Sinead Priestley got her hands on the largest payout at UKPL when she collected £17,865 for her impressive victory in the Opening Voyage tournament. Shortly after, Priestley’s fiancé, Matthew Davenport, triumphed in the £1,100 High Roller, banking £17,770. Davenport went on to clinch the Turbo Dash title for another £2,920.
| Event | Buy-in | Entrants | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Voyage | £250 | 399 | Sinead Priestley | £17,865 |
| High Roller | £1,100 | 56 | Matthew Davenport | £17,770 |
| Big Shot | £250 | 72 | Calogero Morreale | £3,808 |
| Turbo Dash | £200 | 52 | Matthew Davenport | £2,920 |
| PLO | £150 | 106 | Philip Bain | £2,730 |
| Seniors | £150 | 30 | Paul Underwood | £1,800 |
| The Closer | £200 | 29 | Amir Alam | £1,670 |
Where Does the 888poker UKPL Go Next?
The next stop of the inaugural UKPL is in a month’s time, with the tour heading to the Grosvenor Casino Bury New Road in Manchester. April 16-21 are the UKPL Manchester dates; PokerNews will have a preview of that stop in the coming weeks, so keep your browsers locked to us.