Terelle Tavares Goes Wire-to-Wire at 888poker UKPL Coventry (£27,518*)
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The second and final day of the 888poker UK Poker League (UKPL) Coventry £560 Main Event saw 47 players out of a total field of 303 entries return to the Grosvener Casino inside the Coventry Building Society Arena. Terelle Tavares started the day with the most chips out of anyone, and some ten hours later, he had all the chips available in the tournament after defeating Vitor Paiva heads up.
"I feel quite relieved. I made a few mistakes, but I feel like I played well. It feels nice, and well deserved," Tavares shared with PokerNews after he had received his first-ever live poker trophy.
"I had a good feeling from my Day 1b, and especially when I started the day as chipleader and continued for most of the day as chipleader, I felt like it was in the bag. Luck was on my side as well, as you can see with that last hand, beating queens with ace-seven."
Tavares was awarded £27,518 for his victory, the largest slice of the guarantee-smashing £143,925 prize pool, after a three-way deal with Paiva and third-place finisher Wayne Peach. Paiva secured £23,213 to add to his bankroll, while Peach walked away with a sum of £20,109.
888poker UKPL Coventry £560 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terelle Tavares | United Kingdom | £27,518* |
| 2 | Vitor Paiva | United Kingdom | £23,213* |
| 3 | Wayne Peach | United Kingdom | £20,109* |
| 4 | Wantao Tang | United Kingdom | £10,650 |
| 5 | Adam Wilkinson | United Kingdom | £7,340 |
| 6 | Matthew Wright | United Kingdom | £5,330 |
| 7 | Ryan Mandara | United Kingdom | £4,170 |
| 8 | Harry Sandford | United Kingdom | £3,670 |
| 9 | Mark Wates | United Kingdom | £3,170 |
*Denotes three-way deal
Tavares Takes Off in Early Stages
With the field returning only a few eliminations away from the money, Tavares was able to put plenty of pressure on his opponents in the early phases of Day 2. During his first stint at the feature table, during which James Alner became the unfortunate bubble boy, Tavares retained his chip lead. After eliminating Graham Carter (26th - £1,140) and Serghei Zgalovci (20th - £1,270), Tavares had a shared chip lead with Wantao Tang when the two-table redraw took place.
Not satisfied with having to share the top spot, Tavares continued busting players. Keith Tuckley (15th -£1,570) was sent to the rail before Tavares burst the final table bubble by knocking out Day 1d chipleader Qing Feng Zheng in tenth place for £2,660, ensuring his position at the top of the counts was unchallenged at the start of the final table.
Keeping Composed Through Adversity
Tavares kept cruising during the early phases of the final table, knocking out UKPL Edinburgh champion Harry Sandford in the process, but his momentum came to a screeching halt when he attempted a triple-barrel bluff against Paiva when six players remained. Tavares lost the vast majority of his chips and was left as the shortest stack at the table.
"This is probably one of the highest buy-ins I've played recently. This is probably about the limit that I'd be willing to spend, to be fair. I felt like, being only one bullet in, I'm not greedy. I looked at the prizes and thought, 'You know what? I've had a couple of good days. If that's what it's meant to be, that's what it's meant to be.' I'm not one to really get too frustrated. I crack on and play."
Staying composed, Tavares quickly doubled back up and soon found himself among the final three contenders, who quickly agreed to a deal. In the meantime, Paiva had built a huge lead, and despite Tavares eliminating Peach in third, he was still looking at a two-to-one deficit at the start of the heads-up, which quickly grew to three-to-one.
However, the unphased Tavares kept battling and soon doubled with jack-ten against ace-three, evening out the stacks. Only a few hands later, Tavares cracked Paiva's queens to secure his first-ever tournament victory and by far his largest recorded live score.
When asked, Tavares revealed he had no shortage of plans for the large sum of money he had just won. "I'm going to do a little bit of saving and pay a few bills off. I've got a holiday coming up, and obviously, Christmas is coming up, so the family will have a nice Christmas."
That concludes the PokerNews live report for the 888poker UK Poker League Coventry, and marks the end of the 2025 UKPL season. However, the UKPL has already been confirmed to return next year, once again sponsored by 888poker. The first stop will take place from February 17 to 22 in Luton, while Blackpool, Reading, and Manchester are also on the calendar. The UKPL Grand Final will once again take place in Coventry in November.
In the meantime, there will be plenty of poker action to be enjoyed elsewhere, so head over to our live reporting hub for all the latest from major tournaments from around the world.
