Jonny Gray Wins 2015 GUKPT Blackpool Main Event For £69,000
The 2015 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) Blackpool Main Event has its champion and that champion is none other than Jonny Gray, who is now £69,000 better off than he was last week after topping the field.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonny Gray | £69,000* |
| 2 | Yiannis Liperis | £61,000* |
| 3 | Arthur Harvey | £32,200 |
| 4 | Colin Gillon | £20,900 |
| 5 | Lukas Dimsa | £14,300 |
| 6 | Yucel Eminoglu | £10,700 |
| 7 | Dennis Troake | £8,500 |
| 8 | Andrew Hulme | £6,900 |
| 9 | Neville White | £5,750 |
*Denotes a heads-up deal.
Gray almost became a GUKPT winner in April 2014 when he finished as runner-up to Andrew Teng in Edinburgh. This weekend, Gray made amends for that close call by defeating Yiannis Liperis in heads-up play, after the pair struck a deal, to get his hands on his first major live title.
Day 3 began with 18 players, a number reduced to 17 within minutes of the restart. Miikka Toikka, the reigning GUKPT Goliath champion, was the shortest stack with around 12 big blinds, and they went into the pot with him holding the 4♥4♠. Yucel "Mad Turk" Eminoglu called with the A♣Q♦, and, after the five community cards fell A♣8♣9♥8♥10♣, Toikka's run was over.
Shortly after Toikka's demise, a double elimination sent Matt Davenport and Chris Scholes to the rail and Colin Gillon to the top of the chip counts.
Davenport pushed all in with the A♦6♦ for 10 big blinds, and Scholes attempted to isolate him with an all-in bet of his own for 29 big blinds with the A♠Q♥. It was a plan that could have worked had Gillion not woke up in the small blind with the K♠K♣ to make the call. A final board reading 9♠Q♠2♠9♣8♦ saw the kings hold, and the player count was reduced to 15.
Craig Applegate fell in 15th place, and he was followed to the sidelines by Dave Seagar, Paul Worsley, Waheed Ashraf, Gareth Acreman, and Kiat Lee, with the latter's exit setting the final table.
Blinds at the final table started at 6,000/12,000/1,500, and some of the players were relatively short on chips. One player, Neville White, whittled down to 330,000, and he pushed those chips in with the A♦K♥, but ran into Eminoglu's A♣A♥. No help arrive for White on the 8♦9♦9♠7♠6♥ board and he was out.
Andrew Hulme then fell in eighth place when his K♠10♦ lost a race versus Eminoglu's 9♠9♥, before a short-stacked Dennis Troake and his 5♣5♥ failed to get there versus Gillon's 9♣9♠.
Sixth place went to Emingolu, who shipped 10 big blinds in with the A♣8♠ and Lukas Dimsa looked him up with the dominating A♠J♣. The 2♠K♠J♠ flop left Eminoglu drawing very thin, with the 4♣ turn leaving him drawing dead. The inconsequential 10♠ completed the board and Eminoglu's demise.
The final five became four with the exit of Dimsa, who five-bet all in with the A♣Q♣ and was called by Gray and his A♠K♦. Neither Dimsa nor Gray improved on the 9♣3♥7♣7♥8♦ meaning Gray's king kicker played, and Dimsa crashed out.
Four-handed play spanned 40 minutes and ended with the elimination of Gillon. An all-in raise of 252,000 from Gillon was three-bet to 500,000 by Gray, and when Liperis folded, the cards were revealed. Gillon showed the A♠10♦ and Gray the J♦J♥. The K♥Q♥10♠ flop gave Gillon a sweat, but that's all he had because the 7♥ turn and 5♠ river missed him to send him to the rail.
Heads-up play was set when Arthur "The Colonel" Harvey fell in third place. He pushed all in for 400,000 on the 6♥7♥6♣ flop holding the J♦7♠ and Liperis called with the 6♥3♣ for trip sixes. The J♣ turn gave Harvey some outs, which failed to materialize on the river where the Q♦ landed.
Gray went into heads-up action with a 3,180,000-2,325,000 chip lead, but that did not stop him discussing a deal with Liperis. Those negotiations failed, and heads-up play began.
After 30 minutes of play, during which time the chip lead exchanged hands a couple of times, the players opted to take £61,000 each and play for the remaining £8,000.
Liperis began forging a lead for himself and had Gray down to 10 big blinds at one stage, but Gray fought back valiantly — flopping a boat and turning quads helped. Then at 1:15 a.m. on Monday morning, Gray moved all in and Liperis called off his 17 big blinds. Liperis flipped over the Q♣9♣ and was racing versus Gray's 6♠6♥. A sixes-friendly J♣5♠2♣K♠K♥ board sent Liperis home in second place and left Gray to be crowned the 2015 GUKPT Blackpool champion.
Next up for the GUKPT is the season-ending Grand Final. This takes place at The Poker Room, above the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London between Nov. 22-29. You can qualify for it at Grosvenor Poker which if you download via PokerNews, you can grab a 200-percent, up-to-£1,200 first deposit bonus.
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