UKIPT5 Marbella Main Event Day 3: Sam Grafton Goes Back-to-Back
The 2015 UKIPT Marbella Main Event played down to its final table of eight on Saturday afternoon and there’s a familiar face among those eight finalists: British star Sam Grafton.
During Season 4 of the UKIPT, in June 2014, Grafton reached the unofficial final table of the Main Event in Marbella. Sadly for him, Grafton never got out of second gear and fell in ninth place for a €10,300 score. This season, Grafton is guaranteed a larger score courtesy of eighth place being worth €14,100, and nobody would bet against the talkative pro going all the way and collecting the €150,800 first place prize.
2015 UKIPT Marbella Main Event Final Table Chip Counts
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dario Carrion | Spain | 3,305,000 |
| 2 | Jose Angel Latorre | Spain | 6,950,000 |
| 3 | Rodrigo Rosales | Spain | 3,175,000 |
| 4 | Sam Grafton | UK | 1,035,000 |
| 5 | Isidoro Barrena | Spain | 1,570,000 |
| 6 | David Vedral | Austria | 1,920,000 |
| 7 | Jeffrey Brouwer | Netherlands | 850,000 |
| 8 | Juan Bautista | Spain | 1,750,000 |
Standing between Grafton and that princely sum of money are seven players who have reached the grand stage on merit and each of them will have a say in where the coveted UKIPT trophy ends up.
Leading the finalists into action on Sunday is Spain’s Jose Angel Latorre and his 6,950,000 stack. Latorre, a Supernova Elite at PokerStars, has more than twice the number of chips of his nearest rival and many will see this as his tournament to lose. While Latorre is in a great position, anything can and will happen at the poker tables.
In second place and third place at the start of play are two of Latorre’s fellow countrymen. Thirty-two-year-old Dario Carrion sits with 3,305,000 chips while the relatively unknown Rodrigo Rosales is hoping to put his name in lights. Roasels begins Day 4 with 3,175,000 chips.
The fourth and final Spaniard remaining is Isidoro Barrena (1,570,000) with the other finalists hailing from Austria and the Netherlands. David Vedral hails from Vienna and has 1,920,000 chips in his arsenal. Vedral told the PokerStars Blog that he is in Marbella with a group of friends, who are poker enthusiasts and likely to be get involved in the many side events taking place rather than railing his final table.
Lastly, Jeffrey Brouwer of the Netherlands is the final table’s shortest stack. Brouwer is a 22-year old economics student who is guaranteed the largest tournament cash of his career thus far regardless of how the final table pans out.
Each of the eight finalists have locked up €14,100 for their substantial efforts, not bad for four day’s work. However, one of these gentlemen will walk away with the €150,800 first-place prize and the title of UKIPT Marbella champion. Who will that be? Tune into PokerNews on Monday to find out.
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