Thomas Sanderson Crowned PartyPoker Tour London Main Event Champion
A delighted Thomas Sanderson has won the PartyPoker Tour London Main Event for £27,780 after a five-handed ICM deal. Capturing a career-best prize is always a joyous occasion, but it was extra special for Sanderson, who received a ticket for this event via the rake he produced from grinding SPINS online at PartyPoker. Walking away with £27,780 essentially for free is an incredible result.
The 399-strong field created a £177,555 prize pool that the top 62 finishers shared. Michael Rosaman, Will Kassouf, Stephen Bean, Dara O'Kearney, and Dean Clay were among those who finished in the money place but fell short of the nine-handed final table.
PartyPoker Tour London Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Sanderson | United Kingdom | £27,780* |
| 2 | Antonis Poulengeris | United Kingdom | £17,680* |
| 3 | Siwash Zahmat | Netherlands | £14,510* |
| 4 | James Marshall | United Kingdom | £15,080* |
| 5 | Kartik Kartik | India | £15,450* |
| 6 | Danny Tran | United Kingdom | £7,350 |
| 7 | Andre Leal | Portugal | £5,650 |
| 8 | Max Burney | United Kingdom | £4,450 |
| 9 | Purev Sanjurev | Mongolia | £3,405 |
*reflects a five-handed ICM deal
Mongolia's Purev Sanjurev was the final table's first casualty. Sanjurev three-bet all-in for ten big blinds with ace-nine, and was looked up by Kartik Kartik, who cold-called in the big blind with pocket aces. The initial raiser folded, the board ran safe for aces, and the PartyPoker Tour London Main Event was down to eight players.
Eighth-place went to Max Burney. He lost all but 3.5 big blinds when his ace-queen lost to the pocket nines of Antonis Poulengeris. The last of his stack went into the middle with king-six, with Poulengeris's ace-nine coming out on top.
The final seven were reduced to six with the untimely demise of Andre Leal. If that name rings a bell, it is because Leal won the £150 Mini Main Event a few days ago. Leal's last action in the Main Event was to three-bet all-in for 15 big blinds with king-ten of hearts after Poulengeris had opened with ace-jack. Poulengeris put in the calling chips, flopped an ace, and Leal couldn't catch up.
The players gained a little more elbow room when Danny Tran exited in fifth. Down to less than ten big blinds, Tran jammed with queen-four from the button, only for James Marshall to wake up with pocket tens in the big blind. Marshall flopped a set to leave Tran drawing thin. The turn and river failed to come to Tran's rescue, and his deep run ended.
Shortly after Tran's demise, the remaining five players agreed to a deal that left the trophy and an additional £9,000 for the eventual champion. India's Kartik Kartik found himself on the sidelines and out of the race for the title after a cruel clash with Poulengeris. All the chips went piling into the middle of the felt on a nine-seven-three flop. Kartik held pocket queens, but Poulengeris had the pocket rockets! There was no two-outer on the turn or river for Kartik, and he bowed out.
Poulengeris sent yet another player to the showers with a powerhouse pocket pair. Marshall open-shoved for 27 big blinds from under-the-gun with ace-jack. Everyone folded to Poulengeris in the big blind, who quickly called with pocket kings. A king on the flop and another on the turn meant Marshall had been eliminated to quads.
Dutchman Siwash Zahmat became another Poulengeris victim, sending the tournament into the heads-up stage. Zahmat moved all-in with ten-seven for a meagre five big blinds, with Poulengeris making one of the easiest calls of his career with pocket aces! No miracle run-out, and Zahmat was gone.
Poulengeris held a 12,000,000 to 6,900,000 chip lead over Sanderson at the start of heads-up, and the way he was picking up monster hands, everything pointed to a Poulengeris victory. However, Sanderson had other ideas.
Sanderson clawed his way level, then forged a lead for himself when he got paid off with his Broadway straight after Poulengeris made a slightly lower straight. The final hand saw Poulengeris open, Sanderson jam all-in, and Poulengeris call all-in. Poulengeris showed ace-eight of clubs, Sanderson the dominating ace-queen, and a few moments later, Sanderson improved to an unnecessary Broadway straight to claim the title and a £27,780 top prize.
The 2026 PartyPoker Tour kicks off in Sheffield on January 27. From there, the tour heads to Seville in March, Madrid in May, and Manchester in June. Stay tuned to PokerNews for schedules, news, and updates from all those legs.
Lead image courtesy of Nunzia Esposito and the PartyPoker LIVE Tour
