Simon Jones Crowned 'Greatest Poker Player in the Universe' in UCOP
The 2017 Universal Championship of Poker at MPN (formerly known as the Microgaming Poker Network) wrapped up recently with Simon Jones capturing the honors of “Greatest Poker Player in the Universe,” a rather grand title indeed.
The third annual UCOP comprised 59 events from Sept. 10-24 with €750,000 in prize pool guarantees, which represented a €250,000 increase from last year’s guarantees. The 2017 UCOP was the biggest one to date, awarding more than €810,000 in payouts throughout the series.
A unique aspect of the UCOP is the €10,000 leaderboard which in addition to financial incentive — a €5,000 cash bonus for winning — also provides its players the opportunity to compete for the distinguished title of “Greatest Poker Player in the Universe.”
Simon Jones Wins UCOP Leaderboard
Professional poker player and sports psychology lecturer Jones grinded out the series and came out on top. He wasn’t originally going to play so many events, but early success provided motivation to compete for the leaderboard.
“I hadn't actually planned on playing the whole UCOP series but I'd been doing really well on the MPN the previous couple of months," he said. "Plus the size of the fields in the network tournaments mean you have a realistic chance of getting close to the money a decent chunk of the time, so I decided to see how the first few days went before committing myself."
Those first few days went well enough to give Jones early momentum and he kept it going throughout the series.
“I had a couple of third place finishes and other deep runs to put me in the top five. Then a €5.4K win in Event #32 catapulted me to the top spot. I really wanted that trophy and I’m chuffed to actually win.”
The win that all but locked up the top leaderboard spot for Jones came halfway through the series in Event #32: €200+€15 NLHE Freezeout which offered a guarantee of €30,000. Jones received more than €5,000 for that win and another €5,000 along with a trophy for maintaining the top spot on the leaderboard.
“The poker industry’s most thrilling tournament series comes to a close once more, with another huge increase in prize pools compared to the previous year," said Alex Scott, Head of Product (Network Games) at Microgaming. “Congratulations to Simon on becoming the Greatest Poker Player in the Universe… for now!”
Great Players Leaderboard
In addition to an action-packed schedule with generous guarantees and the €10,000 series leaderboard, MPN also added a €5,000 leaderboard for UCOP players who streamed their tournaments during the series.
This unique bonus competition was won by Mark ‘Weazel’ Rubbathan who racked up 7,350 points while streaming on his Twitch channel to top the Great Players Leaderboard and pocket some extra cash.
Be sure to check in with MPN for promotions and information about future series. You can also get in on the action by signing up for one of the 27 poker rooms in the MPN network which includes Betway and betsafe. Make sure to sign up through PokerNews to get your first deposit bonus.
