Steven Morris Wins partypoker UK Poker Championships Super High Roller for £70,000
Steven Morris has won the partypoker LIVE UK Poker Championships £5,300 Super High Roller for £70,000. They saw off a field of 40 players to take down the five-figure score along with the trophy, in the biggest ever of the festival held at Dusk Till Dawn Casino in Nottingham.
Morris topped a field littered with top British and European poker talent, with Tom Middleton and Chris Brammer making the final table, and Dominik Nitsche, Manig Loeser, and partypoker Ambassador Marcel Luske also participating.
This results constitutes the best live result for both Morris and eventual runner-up Nishid Hindocha and will be looking for more success in both the $1,100 UKPC Main Event, which starts tomorrow, or the £2,200 UKPC High Roller which starts on Friday 23rd.
"I've been close a few times," said Morris. "I feel ecstatic to be fair, honestly. Played it last minute and the first day went pretty well coming back as chip leader. Today we just ran up a stack!
"The first day was really tough, with a tough table. I had Steven Warburton, Tom Middleton, Michael Zhang and Dominik Nitsche. With it being a really small field it was really tough. It's pretty sick; different to winning a package and playing a massive field.
"We talked about a deal [heads-up] but my short-stack game is pretty strong. I was pretty confident that if I could grind him down I'd be alright. Obviously, I hit the two-outer originally, but that's the thing - you've got to win flips and he had his own moments. It was pretty sick!"
| Place | Name | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steven Morris | United Kingdom | £70,000 |
| 2 | Nishid Hindocha | United Kingdom | £45,000 |
| 3 | Xiaoyang Luo | China | £32,000 |
| 4 | Tom Middleton | United Kingdom | £22,000 |
| 5 | Chris Sly | United Kingdom | £15,000 |
| 6 | Nicholas Todd | United Kingdom | £10,000 |
Final Day Recap
The day began with 14 players remaining, led by eventual winner Morris. With the prize pool confirmed and £70,000 awaiting the eventual winner, all players had their eyes locked on making the top six and securing a slice of the prize pool.
The first elimination was partypoker Ambassador Marcel Luske, who moved all in with pocket twos against eventual runner-up Hindocha. Hindocha turned over a set of fives, and with Luske drawing dead he was sent to the rail. He was soon followed by MILLIONS Germany 50,000 Super High Roller winner Michael Chi Zhang.
Next to go was Luke Marsh. After a pre-flop raising war between him and Morris, Marsh pushed all in with pocket tens only to be called by the jacks of Morris. This boosted Morris’ stack to around 900,000, almost 25% of the chips in play with still plenty left in the day.
However, Hindocha was hot on his heels; eliminating Fabio Sperling and then winning flush over flush against James Mitchell to move within touching distance of Morris. Manig Loeser was eliminated from the action to bring play to an unofficial final table, but there was still time for Hindocha to scoop another pot against Nicholas Todd to take over the chip lead nine-handed.
Hindocha and Morris were the only two players with seven-figure stacks when play resumed, and it took only three hands before Mitchell was eliminated against Todd in a clash of the short stacks.
With the money bubble looming, there was not a lot of action among the players as they explored the pre-bubble dynamic, but eventually Chris Brammer was sent to the rail after his pocket tens were cracked by the ace-seven of Morris.
It was an elongated bubble, with Middleton, Ben Jackson and Todd all doubling whilst seven-handed. Middleton clawed his way back into contention; at one point moving all in three hands in a row, but eventually, it was Jackson who found pocket sixes and moved all in for nine big blinds from under the gun. Middleton called with tens, and swiftly sent Jackson to the rail, securing the remaining six player a payout of at least £10,000.
Todd was the first elimination, with his king-jack losing out to the queens of Middleton after Middleton flopped a set, and Chris Sly was next to go after his queens were cracked by Hindocha. After peeling with nine-four of clubs from the big blind Hindocha check-called a bet on a two-club flop, and after the pair checked the three of hearts on the turn a club came on the river. Hindocha bet and Sly moved all in. Hindocha called with his flush and Sly was eliminated in 5th place for £15,000.
Middleton was by far the most experienced player left; with over $3m in lifetime earnings, the Brit battled with a short stack for most of the five-handed play, but eventually succumbed when Xiaoyang Luo’s queen-eight cracked Middleton’s nines, with the Chinese player turning trip eights.
By the next break, Luo held the lead and increased his stack to over two million in chips. At this stage, Morris was a clear short stack but doubled through Luo to find a way back into the contest.
Although chip leader for a fairly long period, Luo never succeeded in pressing home his advantage, and eventually Hindocha found a chink in his opponent’s armour. Both players rivered three jacks, but Hindocha’s kicker was slightly better and that left Luo short. Eventually, Luo moved all in with nine-ten from the small blind only for Hindocha to wake up with ace-ten in the big blind, eliminating Luo in 3rd place for £32,000.
Hindocha held a 2:1 chip lead at the start of heads-up play, but it was Morris who made a good, albeit lucky, start to the action. Moving all in with pocket twos against the ace-ten of Hindocha. There was a ten on the flop, but a two on the river gave Morris a miracle double up and a way back into the action.
Morris pressed ahead, only for Hindocha to double back through him with jacks against queen-eight. Hindocha perhaps should have been eliminated a little while later. Morris flopped two pair, Hindocha turned a flush, and on the river, Morris improved to a full house and put his opponent all in. Hindocha found the fold with his flush and lived to fight another day, albeit with a sub-ten big blind stack.
However, Hindocha refused to die, battling with a stick that dipped as low as six big blind at one point to double once more after rivering a flush. Eventually, shortly before 11:30pm local time, Morris clinched the victory in front of a rapturous, if not raucous, home rail.