Alex Montgomery Destroys the Final Table to Win the UKPC Masters Main Event
Table Of Contents
The UK Poker Championships (UKPC) Masters Main Event crowned its champion at Dusk Till Dawn, and Alex Montgomery is the man who wrote his name into the tournament's history books. Montgomery left 936 opponents in his wake as he collected the UKPC Master Main Event trophy and a £92,500 score. That princely sum is Montgomery's second-largest haul, narrowly trailing the £100,000 he scooped for a runner-up finish in the £2,000 GUKPT Grand Final Main Event in 2023.
The UKPC Masters Main Event drew in 937 entrants, who fought tooth and nail for a slice of the £500,000 prize pool. Some 143 players finished in the money, including Chris Da-Silva, Yucel Eminoglu, Steve Jelinek, Will Kassouf, Ben Dobson, Michael Rosaman, Brandon Sheils, and Calogero Morreale.
Day 2 ended with only 111 hopefuls still in the mix. Jamie Holland found himself at the top of the tree, with Tom Waters propping up the chip counts.
UKPC Master Main Event Start of Day 3 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jamie Holland | 16,825,000 |
| 2 | Alex Montgomery | 14,500,000 |
| 3 | Jamie O'Brien | 13,025,000 |
| 4 | Rick Trigg | 9,575,000 |
| 5 | Tariq Mahmood | 9,000,000 |
| 6 | Mitchell Jennings | 8,375,000 |
| 7 | Yannick Seabrook | 5,975,000 |
| 8 | Daniel van Geete | 5,100,000 |
| 9 | Daniel Merridale | 5,025,000 |
| 10 | Keith Johnson | 4,000,000 |
| 11 | Tom Waters | 2,400,000 |
It didn't take too long for the nine-handed final table to be set. Daniel Merridale and Jamie O'Brien falling. O'Brien was third in chips at the restart, yet busted in tenth. O'Brien made an ill-timed all-in bluff on a draw-heavy board only to discover Montgomery had turned a king-high straight.
Montgomery then sent Keith Johnson, the recent GUKPT Luton champion, to the sidelines in ninth, and he continued demolishing the field by taking the scalp of eighth-place finisher Tariq Mahmood.
Start-of-Day 3 chip leader Jamie Holland was the next finalist to feel Montgomery's wrath; Holland's ace-seven was beaten by the champion elect's queen-jack.
Popular grinder Rick Trigg was eliminated in sixth, and not at Montgomery's hands; Daniel van Geete was Trigg's executioner. A short-stacked Trigg jammed with king-four, and van Geete had one of the easiest calls of his career, having woken up with a pair of aces in the hole. A king on the turn gave Trigg some hope, but the river bricked and he was gone.
The final five became four when Montgomery resumed his role as a one-man wrecking ball. His ace-five trumped the king-eight of Mitchell Jennings. The rich became richer when Montgomery's queen-eight out-flopped the king-jack in Yannik Seabrook's hand before Montgomery found pocket queens in a hand where van Geete three-bet all-in with king-ten. The ladies held, and heads-up was set.
Montgomery's 67,800,000 stack dwarfed the 25,900,000 Tom Waters sat behind. Waters had managed to navigate to the one-on-one battle despite being by far the shortest stack at the start of the final day.
Waters got lucky early into the heads-up clash, his ace-five besting Montgomery's dominating ace-seven. He then took a narrow lead after Montgomery got a little frisky on a paired flop, only for Waters to call with two pair.
However, normal service resumed during the 800,000/1,600,000 level. Montgomery completed, and Waters checked. An eight-deuce-four flop saw Waters check-raise a 2,000,000 bet to 6,500,000, which Montgomery called. Waters ripped it in on a jack turn, which put two diamonds out there, and Montgomery called. Montgomery flipped over five-four of diamonds for third pair and a flush draw, with Waters revealing five-three for an open-ended straight draw. A black king on the river eliminated Waters and crowned Montgomery the UKPC Master Main Event champion.
UKPC Masters Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Montgomery | £92,500 |
| 2 | Tom Waters | £61,500 |
| 3 | Daniel Van Geete | £41,500 |
| 4 | Yannik Seabrook | £26,500 |
| 5 | Mitchell Jennings | £18,800 |
| 6 | Rick Trigg | £13,500 |
| 7 | Jamie Holland | £10,000 |
| 8 | Tariq Mahmood | £7,500 |
| 9 | Keith Johnson | £6,000 |
It's been quite the month for the Waters household. Waters scooped £61,500 for this runner-up finish, while his wife, Charlie Waters, was the second-place finisher in the GUKPT Luton Main Event in late August, a result worth £38,250.
Impressive as that may be, Montgomery deserved all the accolades. Not only did he come out on top of a star-studded field, but he also decimated the field on the final day's play, eliminating all but one of his eight final table opponents to emerge a worthy winner.
UKPC Masters Results
The crowning of the UKPC Masters Main Event champion brought the curtain down on a fantastic festival. Other champions included Daniel Bedson and Keith Johnson, who both triumphed in £1,100 High Roller events, winning £28,500 and £18,000, respectively.
| Event | Entrants | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £560 Main Event | 937 | £500,000 | Alex Montgomery | £92,500 |
| £1,100 High Roller | 108 | £103,680 | Daniel Bedson | £28,500 |
| £1,100 High Roller | 47 | £50,000 | Keith Johnson | £18,000 |
| £280 Warm Up | 410 | £100,000 | Jorge Palomino | £16,230 |
| £60 Opener | 319 | £15,312 | Colin Myott | £2,797 |
| £120 Deep Stack | 145 | £13,920 | Florin Ciubotaru | £2,755 |
| £60 Mega Stack | 370 | £12,960 | Clinton Thomas | £2,455 |
| £120 7-Max | 72 | £6,912 | Daniel Turner | £2,245 |
| £60 8-Max | 121 | £5,808 | Mohammad Ramezani | £1,860 |
| £120 PLO | 38 | £3,648 | Anonymous | £1,158 |
| £120 Bounty | 62 | £5,952 | Paul Gillott | £907 |
Next up at Dusk Till Dawn is the £150 buy-in, £100,000 guaranteed DTD125. It runs from September 23 to 28. The prize pool includes nine seats to the upcoming WSOP Circuit Main Event, each worth £1,100.
Speaking of which, the WSOP Circuit UK is scheduled for November 14-24. PokerNews will share the full WSOPC UK schedule as soon as it becomes public knowledge.
