Tim Chung Wins MPNPT Manchester Main Event for £29,900
The 288-runner £550 MPNPT Manchester Main Event crowned its champion on Sunday, awarding the bulk of the £150,000 total prize pool to the nine players surviving after two days of tournament poker at the Grosvenor Casino. In the fastest final table ever seen on the MPN Poker Tour, it took less than six hours for 27-year-old poker pro Tim Chung to climb from short stack to last man standing, toppling huge chip leaders Yiannis Liperis and Sebastian Gruszczynski in the process.
“I came to the final table without the huge stack of my friend [Liperis],” said Chung. “But I got an early double up. I then lost some back – I get a bit carried away with chips; I had good players on my left.”
After some hours of grinding (and some exceptional folds), for which his experience stood him in good stead, Chung finally took down the final hand. This latest title adds to an already healthy tournament record; Chung has $300,000 in live winnings, although he considers himself to be mainly a live cash game player.
A true “chip and a chair” comeback saw Alex Kong take the runner-up spot and £21,000 after starting the final with just four big blinds. “You’ve never played with King Kong!” he admonished his opponents, as he picked up aces and kings like they made up half a standard deck. Kong has played poker – of all disciplines and levels – for years, appearing on the first series of Late Night Poker, the show that introduced many in the UK to the game in the 1990s.
While Andreas Olympios, along with Chung, Kong and Liperis, make their living playing poker, a couple of skilled amateurs were also rewarded. Cody Wagner, a synthesis chemist, and Gruszczynski, a businessman and marketer, both put in a good showing, the latter winning the Last Longer King promotion which won him a free seat in Tallinn’s MPNPT Main Event. Outlasting all qualifiers from Betsson Group sites, he can now aim to best his £8,350 for 5th place when the tour goes to Estonia in October.
Speaking about the speed with which he took down the event, Chung said, “All my final tables are really, really quick – and heads ups, less than five minutes. This one, one hand!”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tim Chung | £29,900 |
| 2 | Alex Kong | £21,800 |
| 3 | Cieran Tighe | £16,350 |
| 4 | Yiannis Liperis | £12,350 |
| 5 | Sebastian Gruszczynski | £8,350 |
| 6 | Jari Hurri | £4,950 |
| 7 | Colin Guthrie | £5,100 |
| 8 | Cody Wagner | £3,650 |
| 9 | Andreas Olympios | £2,800 |
The MPNPT returns October 19-22 with a €150,000 guaranteed Main Event hosted at Olympic Park Casino in Tallinn, Estonia. Online qualifiers from as little as €1 are running now on all MPN Poker Tour partners.
Content by MPN Poker Tour
