GUKPT London Result, IPO Galway Nears Conclusion

Price Gets it Right in London

The opening Main Event of this year’s GUKPT came to a conclusion on Sunday and the man standing atop of the podium when the confetti fell was Oliver Price.

Having recently claimed third place and €271,200 at EPT Deauville, the young Brit added to his memorable start to 2014 with a victory worth £86,400 at GUKPT London.

After sitting down with alongside 323 players to compete for a prizepool that far exceeded the project guarantee, Price found himself facing a tough line-up at yesterday’s final table.

In a throwback to the early days of the GUKPT when famous faces were a regular occurrence, Sunday’s finale featured the likes of Mat Frankland and Ben Vinson, but when the chips were down it was Price who emerged triumphant.

The session started with a bad beat when Ben Vinson saw his quest for success thwarted when his pocket tens’ were rivered by Alan Mansbridge’s pocket eights.

Following the first beat of the day, the eliminations kept on coming as Ben Mammo, Mike Quinn and the aforementioned Frankland all faltered.

With just five players left it was time for Price to begin his bid for the title. First to feel the wrath of Price was David Laronde before Phil Souki fell by the wayside. Next to the chopping block was Andrew Christoforou and by the time Mansbridge has completed his execution the final match-up was set.

A failed deal gave Price the impetus to rake in all the hips and after a brief exchange he found the strength to make a big call with Jd 8d. Indeed, with the board showing 8c 7c 4c Ah, Price was facing a check-raise all-in from Mansbridge and after assessing the situation he made the call and scooped the pot after the 8h failed to help his opponent’s Jc 7d.

With that Price was crowned the first GUKPT champion of 2014 and handed a winner’s cheque worth £86,400.

£1,080 GUKPT Main Event Final Result:

1st – £86,400 – Oliver Price

2nd – £57,300 – Alan Mansbridge

3rd – £38,000 – Andrew Christoforou

4th – £22,600 – Phil Souki

5th – £17,100 – David Laronde

6th – £13,900 – Mat Frankland

7th – £10,650 – Mike Quinn

8th – £8,100 – Ben Mammo

9th – £6,100 – Ben Vinson

O’Shea Leads IPO Finale

Whilst the cream of the UK was battling it out in London over the weekend, some of Ireland’s finest grinders were competing for IPO glory in Galway.

Organised by BoylePoker and pitched with a buy-in of 230, the low stakes event saw 176 players take to the felt but only eight survive after two days of play.

Having cut through much of the field within just a few hours of play, Day 2 entered its final stages after Mark Strahan moved all-in with Ac Qc against Paul King’s Ad Kc. The circuit regular wasn’t able to grab a slice of luck as the board ran out 8c Kh Kd 6s 2h to put him out on the bubble just one short of the money.

With Strahan graciously accepting a free seat in the next IPO Main Event, the remaining players played on into the night until Trevor Considine hit the rail in ninth. That elimination brought Day 2 to a close and pushed John O’Shea to top the chip chart by a huge margin.

The Irish pro, who has almost $1 million in tournament earnings, managed to scoop 8,530,000 chips to sit comfortably ahead of his closest rival, Brendan Byrne (2,480,000).

The final session of the IPO Galway will get underway later today and play through to a conclusion.

BoylePoker.com IPO Galway Main Event Chip Counts:

1 – Brendan Byrne – 2,480,000

2 – Yutaka Mitsuishi – 1,505,000

3 – Pauliius Venckauskas – 1,125,000

4 – John O’Shea – 8,530,000

5 – Petras Stulpinas – 980,000

6 – Damien Feeney – 1,105,000

7 – Patrick Humphreys – 1,625,000

8 – Geoff Healy – 705,000