button in SafariDaniel Smith Takes Down the 2026 PartyPoker Tour London Main Event
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Welshman Daniel Smith helped himself to a career-best score of £22,500 after winning the 2026 PartyPoker Tour London Main Event. Smith was one of 190 entrants in the £500 buy-in tournament. Three days after play began, Smith was the last player standing and the recipient of the largest slice from the £100,000 prize pool.
The top 28 finishers in the Main Event saw a return on their investment. Matthew Harniman, who had earlier won the £1,000 High Roller for £8,000, was among the in-the-money finishers. As was Conor O'Driscoll who busted in 15th place.
PartyPoker Tour London Main Event Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Smith | Wales | £22,500 |
| 2 | Christopher Yong | United Kingdom | £15,000 |
| 3 | Barry Donovan | Ireland | £10,000 |
| 4 | Deniz Orhan | United Kingdom | £7,750 |
| 5 | Matthew Horn | United Kingdom | £6,250 |
| 6 | James Korek | United Kingdom | £5,000 |
| 7 | Ivan Meister | Kazakhstan | £4,000 |
| 8 | James Marshall | United Kingdom | £3,250 |
| 9 | Vikrum Mehta | United Kingdom | £2,500 |
The nine-handed final table began with Smith holding the chip lead, followed by Christopher Yong and Barry Donovan. It was those three players who ultimately finished in the top three places.
Vikrum Mehta was the final table's first casualty, losing a coinflip with king-jack of clubs versus Smith's pocket sevens.
Eighth place went to James Marshall when his ace-nine failed to hold against Yong's king-ten of diamonds. Marshall had only recently returned home from the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, but immediately returned to the grind.
Another coinflip resulted in Ivan Meister bowing out in seventh. Meister three-bet all-in with his short stack while holding pocket sixes. Donovan, the initial raiser, called with ace-king and spiked a king to send Meister to the showers.
James Korek's sixth-place finish came with a career-best £5,000. Korek's final action in the Main Event was to three-bet all-in for 16 big blinds with ace-queen of diamonds after Smith had min-raised in late position with pocket deuces. Smith called the extra chips, and his pocket twos improved to a full house by the river.
Smith took a short break from sending foes to the rail to allow Yong to dispatch Matthew Horn in fifth place. Horn's stack went into the middle on an ace-jack-ten all-club flop while holding ace-four. Yong called with queen-ten and improved to a straight courtesy of a king on the turn.
Four-handed play ended with the elimination of Deniz Orhan, the champion of the PartyPoker Tour Manchester Main Event last year. Yong opened on the button with ace-six before calling Ohran's nine big blind shove that he made with king-eight. Neither player paired either of their hole cards, and Ohran was gone.
The Main Event advanced to the heads-up stage following Donovan's demise. Donovan led out on a draw-heaving nine-eigh-seven-jack turn that showed two diamonds before calling Yong's shove. Donovan held king-six of diamonds for a myriad of outs, but Yong held queen-ten for the nut straight. The river bricked and heads-up was reached.
Yong held a 6,890,000 to 2,605,000 chip lead thanks to him securing Donovan's stack, but the stacks were flipped when Smith's pocket nines remained best against Yong's sixes.
Almost exactly an hour later, Smith made it 250,000 at the 50,000/100,000 level with king-jack of clubs, Yong ripped in his 2,000,000 stack with king-seven of diamonds, and Smith called. An all-club flop left Yong drawing dead and resigned him to a £15,000 consolation prize. Once the formality of the turn and river being dealt, Smith was announced as the champion before making his way to the cashier's desk to collect £22,500.
PartyPoker Tour London Results
Expand the table below to see the full results from the PartyPoker Tour London festival.
Ben Skinner took down the £150 Mini Main Event for £14,300, a tournament where PartyPoker ambassador Jaime Staples finished seventh for £2,000. Rebecca Hardisty, Staples' fiancée and a PartyPoker Tour ambassador, triumphed in the £60 Crazy Pineapple event for a £550 score.
Next Up: Glasgow
The PartyPoker Tour heads north of the border to Glasgow, Scotland for the sixth leg of its 2026 tour. Between August 3-9, the tour will call the Alea Glasgow home.
A £500 buy-in Main Event is the showpiece tournament on the schedule. It comes with a £100,000 guarantee on its prize pool. Satellites to the Main Event are available during the live festival, and online at PartyPoker from only £0.20.
Last August, the PartyPoker Tour Glasgow Main Event drew 256 entrants and created a £111,821 prize pool. Zhen Zhen came out on top and banked £22,500 after defeating Kyle Scott (£14,270) heads-up. The likes of David Lappin, Dean Lyall, Jaime Staples, and Kevin Frame also reached the final table.
Lead image courtesy of Nunzia Esposito. Live updates from poker.pro were used to create this article
