Miraculous One-Outer Propels Martin Lechner to the 888poker Live Glasgow Main Event Title
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One card can change the course of an entire poker tournament, and for Martin Lechner, that’s exactly what happened today at the final table of the 888poker Live Glasgow £888 Main Event.
With four players remaining, Lechner moved all in for his last 1,545,000 on the king-high flop and was called by Richard Kellett. Lechner showed king-ten for top pair, but Kellett had him dominated with ace-king. The other two players had already folded a ten, so Lechner had just one out going to the river to stay alive. He caught the miracle, and it helped the Austrian capture the title in his first-ever 888poker Live event.
"It’s amazing. It’s my first 888 Live tournament, and I came here for the trophy. The trophy means a bit more than the money for me, so it’s really special to win the heads-up,” Lechner said after defeating Kellett heads-up to win the £57,515 first prize and end up on top of the 348-player field.
888poker Live Glasgow Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Lechner | Austria | £57,515* |
| 2 | Richard Kellett | United Kingdom | £44,745* |
| 3 | John Clements | United Kingdom | £26,950 |
| 4 | Zexuan Huang | China | £17,800 |
| 5 | Gaoyang Yang | United Kingdom | £12,110 |
| 6 | Danny Hawkes | United Kingdom | £8,790 |
| 7 | Dean Hutchison | United Kingdom | £6,790 |
| 8 | Ernst Soederkvist | Sweden | £5,500 |
| 9 | Bryan Taylor | United Kingdom | £4,580 |
*- denotes heads-up deal
“I’m really happy and, yeah, looking forward to the next 888 stop. Maybe I can join in Barcelona in May.”
Lechner was resigned to his fate in the pivotal hand against Kellett. He decided at the start of the year to take poker more seriously as a profession and travel more with his family. In his mind, his first visit to Glasgow was about to come to an end, and he accepted it. But then luck intervened.
“I was like, okay, I busted in fourth. Sometimes you just need to get lucky, and otherwise you won’t win a tournament with 400 players. With a lot of good players, as well. So, yeah, happy to hit the ten,” he said.
The soon-to-be 37-year-old had been playing poker since he was 18, compiling a record of $220,000 in live earnings. His biggest career scores before this tournament all happened in his native Austria, including a win in a €500 event last summer for €45,810. But the game had always been just a hobby for him. He wanted to change that in 2026, and the trip to Glasgow stood out on the tournament poker calendar.
“This year, I started to play a bit more professionally. For the last 18 years, it was just a hobby, a profitable hobby, but I want to focus a bit more and more on the technical part,” he said.
“I looked up, okay, what’s the next tournament? I like to travel and take my wife and my small child with me. I’ve never been to Glasgow. That’s an easy decision. Just a nice, beautiful city, playing poker besides, so it’s amazing.”
Final Table Action
The nine remaining players returned to the Grosvenor Casino Merchant City for the final table at 1 p.m. local time, chasing the trophy and £61,320 top prize out of the £264,480 prize pool. Zexuan Huang began as the chip leader with 1,960,000, while Lechner followed close behind with 1,755,000.
Bryan Taylor moved all in for 670,000 from the big blind, and Kellett called in the small blind. Taylor showed king-ten, while Kellett had ace-queen. Taylor hit top pair on the turn to take the lead, but the river gave Kellett a flush to earn him the pot and the first knockout of the final table.
Gaoyang Yang was then all in for 585,000 against John Clements and was crushed with two sevens against jacks. He spiked a set on the flop, then improved to quads on the turn to secure the fortunate double-up. Ernst Soederkvist also had Danny Hawkes crushed with jacks against tens as he was poised to double up for 540,000, but Hawkes hit a set on the turn to win the pot and bust the Swede in eighth place.
Hawkes’ ride up the leaderboard came to a crashing halt when he ran queens into Huang’s aces. Huang doubled up to more than 3,000,000, while Hawkes tumbled down the chip counts to 510,000. On the next hand, he managed to double up off Huang with an ace on the river.
Dean Hutchison, the 2023 WSOP finalist who won the High Roller title a few days ago, had climbed up to near 2,000,000 before tangling with Lechner in a massive pot. Kellett had opened to 120,000 under the gun, and Hutchison called on the button. Lechner then moved all in for 1,330,000 from the big blind, and Kellett folded, while Hutchison called to put Lechner at risk. It was a classic flip, Lechner’s queens against the ace-king of Hutchison, and Lechner’s pair held on to earn him the double up.
Hutchison was left with 390,000 and was eliminated a few hands later when his ace-queen was outdrawn on the river by Huang’s ten-nine. Hawkes then called off his last 745,000 with ace-jack, but Lechner showed ace-king and held on to send Hawkes to the rail in sixth place.
Lechner then picked up two aces and snap-called Yang’s shove for 900,000. Yang could only show two nines, and no miracles arrived on the board as the Mini Main Event champion busted in fifth place. Lechner was approaching 5,000,000 before making an ill-timed shove with eight-deuce against Kellett, who woke up with jacks in the big blind to double up for 1,255,000.
The affable Clements had fallen down to 190,000, good for just three big blinds, but that didn’t dampen his fun-loving mood. He put in his last chips, as well as his shoes, and doubled up off Huang with ace-jack. He was all in again for 260,000 with two sixes and racing against Lechner’s ace-king, and Lechner hit trips on the flop to leave Clements with just two outs. He spiked a six on the turn to make a full house and double up yet again, then shoved blind for 260,000 from under the gun. Lechner and Huang called and checked down the board, and Clements happened to turn over two aces to triple up as, suddenly, his chip-and-a-chair story was alive and well.
Clements then picked up two sevens to double up off Huang again, moving up to 1,720,000. Then came the crucial hand of the final table, when Lechner was left needing a miracle to survive. He opened to 160,000 on the button and Kellett three-bet to 450,000 in the small blind. Lechner called to the king-high flop as Kellett continued for 275,000. Lechner then moved all in for 1,545,000, and Kellett snap-called with ace-king. Lechner’s king-ten was crushed until hitting the one-outer on the river, turning away from the table in disbelief and putting his hands over his face as he stopped to take in his sudden change of fortune.
Lechner had moved into the chip lead as the four remaining players headed off on a break. When they returned, Huang shoved for 1,180,000 with ace-ten but ran into Kellett’s kings to fall in fourth place. Clements was left short once again when his jack-high bluff was picked off by Lechner’s two pair on the river. He then shoved for 800,000 on the button with queen-jack, but Lechner picked up ace-queen in the small blind and called. Clements couldn’t find any help this time, and his fairy-tale run came to an end in third place.
Lechner led Kellert 6,505,000 to 3,945,000 at the start of heads-up, and the two opponents agreed to a deal. Lechner took £47,215, while Kellert locked up £44,745. The trophy and £10,300 were left to play for.
Kellett spiked a full house on the turn and took the chip lead when Lechner called his bet of 1,600,000 on the river with two pair. Kellett then tried a bluff with a pair of fours, firing out 1,450,000 on the river, but Lechner called with queens and jacks to win the pot and move back in front. On the 105th hand of the final table and 19th of heads-up play, Kellett raised to 300,000 on the button, and Lechner called. Both players checked the flop before Lechner led out for 250,000 on the turn. Kellett called to see the river, where Lechner bet another 950,000. Kellett then moved all in for 3,750,000, and Lechner quickly called.
Kellett showed jack-nine for two pair, but Lechner slammed down a rivered flush to win the title and cap off his victorious trip to Glasgow.
With everything going on around him, from Clements shoving blind to the plethora of double-ups, Lechner tried not to get too distracted. “It was kind of a bit annoying, but the smallest stack just doubled and doubled, and I just tried to get a bit more to the deeper cash outs and to be a bit more relaxed and calculate it more comfortably. I was a bit annoyed over the small stacks just doubling up and doubling up, but tried to focus on my game, and of course, it worked out,” he said.
While this was Lechner’s first trip to an 888poker Live event, he guarantees it won’t be his last. “It’s amazing. It’s well-organized. It’s not like a 3,000-4,000 player field. If you have a good run, you can make it easily to the final table. So, yeah, looking forward to the next one.”
That concludes PokerNews’ coverage of the 888poker Live Glasgow Main Event. The tour next heads to Barcelona from May 14-24.
