Michael Zhang Takes Down GUKPT London Main Event
The 11th season of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour has crowned its first champion; Michael Zhang topped a field of 435 entrants at The Poker Room formerly known as The Vic, turning £1,100 into an impressive £113,000 in London.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Zhang | £113,000 |
| 2 | Javier Gomez Zapatero | £74,000 |
| 3 | Fahd Bennani Smires | £48,900 |
| 4 | Carl Pickles | £29,400 |
| 5 | Paul Siddle | £22,200 |
| 6 | Sam Meeuse | £18,200 |
| 7 | Alexios Zervos | £14,400 |
| 8 | Muskan Sethu | £10,400 |
| 9 | Khoa Le | £7,800 |
The top 40 finishers shared the £435,000 prize pool, with a min-cash weighing in at £2,200, a final table appearance boosting this cash haul to £7,800 and the eventual champion leaving the English capital city with £113,000.
Louise Duffy, Ross Boatman, Simon Deadman and Paul Romain were four well-known stars to navigate their way to the money places, but fell short of the nine-handed final table.
2017 GUKPT London Final Table
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexios Zervos | 786,000 |
| 2 | Paul Siddle | 715,000 |
| 3 | Sam Meeuse | 1,655,000 |
| 4 | Michael Zhang | 1,424,000 |
| 5 | Khoa Le | 988,000 |
| 6 | Javier Gomez Zapatero | 1,367,000 |
| 7 | Carl Pickles | 478,000 |
| 8 | Fah Bennani Smires | 527,000 |
| 9 | Muskan Sethi | 762,000 |
It took almost an hour of play for the final table to lose its first player, that dubious honor being bestowed on Khoa Le. Le was down to 200,000 chips at the 15,000/30,000/3,000a level and got his short stack into the middle in a blind-versus-blind confrontation with Javier Gomez Zapatero.
It was ace-seven for Le against the king-eight of Gomez Zapatero and, when the latter found both a king and an eight on the community cards, Le was gone.
Shortly after Le’s demise, Muskan Sethi fell by the wayside. Sethi moved all in with ace-queen for 420,000 and Gomez Zapatero made the call with a pair of red queens. The board ran out ten-high and Sethi’s tournament came to an abrupt end.
Seventh place went to Alexios Zervos who ran into the seemingly unstoppable Gomez Zapatero. Zervos was all in for 400,000 with ace-king and needed to win a coin flip against the pocket eights of his talented Spanish opponent. Gomez Zapatero’s snowmen held and the tournament was down to six players.
Six became five with the elimination of Sam Meeuse who had been card dead for long periods of the final table. Meeuse finally found a good hand with ace-queen and moved all in for 450,000 only to run into the dominating ace-king of Zhang. The latter caught an unnecessary king on the river and Meeuse headed for the exit.
Gomez Zapatero again took up the role of executioner to send Paul Siddle home in fifth place. Siddle looked down at king-jack of clubs and decided to move all in for 650,000. Gomez Zapatero called with ace-king to put Siddle at risk of busting, which is what happened when the board double paired and Gomez Zapatero’s ace-kicker played.
With blinds now 25,000/50,000/5,000a, Carl Pickles found himself languishing in fourth place from the remaining four players, nursing a stack of 440,000. Those chips went into the middle with nine-eight of clubs and needed to catch some of the flop to beat the pocket nines of Zhang. The board four-flushed with diamonds, Zhang held the nine of diamonds, and Pickles was no more.
Heads-up was set when Fahd Bennani Smires fell in third place. Bennani Smires opened to 120,000 and then called off his remaining 800,000 when Zhang three-bet all in over the top of that raise. Bennani Smires showed ace-nine, Zhang, red eights, and when the five community cards fell with no nine or ace in sight, Bennani Smires’ tournament ended.
Zhang held a massive 7,000,000 to 1,700,000 chip lead over Gomez Zapatero, a former World Poker Tour champion, and it proved to be too much of a gap to bridge for Gomez Zapatero.
The final hand saw Gomez Zapatero raise with J♥10♥ and Zhang call with K♣5♣. Zhang checked, Gomez Zapatero led for 100,000 on the 2♣2♠8♥ flop and Zhang called. The turn was the 9♣, Zhang checked, Gomez Zapatero bet 325,000 and Zhang called again. The 3♣ river completed the board and Zhang checked again.
Gomez Zapatero moved all in for 1 million in what was an ill-timed bluff because Zhang sat there with a king-high flush and had the easiest call of his career. Zhang did call and, with that, won all the chips in play, becoming the 2017 GUKPT London champion in the process.
Next up on the GUKPT is a trip to Manchester Bury New Road between Feb. 26 and March 5 where there is another £200,000 guaranteed Main Event costing £1,100 to enter. Win your seat to it at Grosvenor Poker where new customers can claim a 200 percent up to £700 first deposit bonus.
