button in SafariLondon Proves Bryan Taylor's "Lucky Charm" on His Way to the 888LIVE High Roller Title
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Bryan Taylor had some extra motivation today on his way to winning the 888LIVE London £2,000 High Roller title.
The father of a close personal friend had recently passed away, and Taylor received a message from him before the start of the day: just win it. “My friend, his dad passed away, and he was burying him today. He asked me, 'Just win it for him,' because when he was watching me play, it took away the pain from losing his father. So it’s quite emotional. I’ve been through the same process. Loads of different emotions,” Taylor said in a touching tribute after defeating Andrew Hulme heads-up.
“I thought I played really well today and maybe deserved to win. I don’t know if you ever deserve to win, but I feel as though, based on my play, I put myself in the best position. In this game, you can do all the correct things and get beaten, and you can do all the wrong things and win. But it was nice to just go play my best game today and come out with a trophy in the end. That was something that I’m very, very proud of.”
2026 888LIVE London £2,000 High Roller Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryan Taylor | United Kingdom | £42,410 |
| 2 | Andrew Hulme | United Kingdom | £28,320 |
| 3 | Martin Kopernicky | Slovakia | £18,460 |
| 4 | John Duthie | United Kingdom | £13,000 |
| 5 | Arthur Conan | France | £9,580 |
| 6 | Chris Balmforth | United Kingdom | £7,110 |
| 7 | Neil Wallace | United Kingdom | £5,470 |
| 8 | Youness Barakat | Italy | £4,520 |
| 9 | Tomas Dailidonis | Lithuania | £4,100 |
Taylor Caps Off His Scorching 2026
The Scottish native overcame a stacked field of 80 players from across the UK and Europe to earn the £42,410 top prize. Taylor was already on an incredible run so far this year. He arrived at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino this week ranked first on the NPL year-long leaderboard, and second to Brandon Sheils in the High Roller League. He had made 22 final tables so far in 2026, including winning the GUKPT High Roller here in April and finishing ninth in the 888LIVE Glasgow Main Event in March. He also finished ninth in the record-breaking Goliath in August out of more than 14,000 entries.
Taylor’s poker roots, though, go back more than 20 years. After making a living at the game for so long, his 2026 performance didn’t give him any more confidence than he already had.
“To be honest, I’ve been playing poker for over 20 years. So I don’t need confidence. I just believe in myself. People didn’t really know me until a couple of years ago because I never played tournaments, but I’ve been making a good living at the game for a long, long time,” he said.
“I won’t necessarily take a lot of confidence from this. I’ll take a lot of pride from this, but I think, don’t try and get too high and don’t try and get too low, because the game finds a way of kicking you in the teeth a lot, and I feel as though it’s been happening to me recently, where I’ve been getting some really good spots and just coming up short. So just taking my stride and just keep going and trying to do my best, that’s all I try and do.”
Simpson, Navarro Fall Short of the Money on Day 2
Day 2 began with the 18 survivors from Day 1 joined by 16 new arrivals, bringing the total field to 80 players and a prize pool of £136,800. Only the top 10 would make the money, and among the first bustouts were Julien Sitbon, Philippe Souki, 888 ambassador Lucia Navarro, last year’s 888LIVE London Main Event champion Gang Wang, and Sheils. Start-of-day chip leader Ben Philipps took a big hit when he ran queens into Neil Wallace’s aces, and John Duthie then flopped a full house to finish him off.
Duthie also flopped a flush against Ian Simpson’s trips as the 888 ambassador busted two spots off the money. Pascal Pflock was the unfortunate bubble boy when he lost a race with ace-ten against Chris Balmforth’s fives, securing a payday for the remaining 10 players. Taylor won a big flip against Alexios Zervos when he rivered a flush, leaving Zervos with less than two big blinds. He was eliminated shortly after in 10th place, and the nine-handed final table was set.
Hulme Runs Away From the Pack at the Final Table
Duthie, the UK poker legend, began the final table as the chip leader with 1,650,000, while Hulme followed in second place. Hulme scored the first knockout when he hit top two pair to bust Tomas Dailidonis in ninth place. Taylor then flopped a set and got Youness Barakat to call off his last chips on the turn, while Wallace ran queens into Hulme’s kings to fall in seventh as the man popularly known as “Stato” began building a big chip lead.
Hulme wasn’t done there, picking up queens shortly after to bust Balmforth in sixth as he went into five-handed play with nearly half the chips in play. Arthur Conan had slipped to just two big blinds when he busted to Taylor in fifth, and Hulme then called Duthie’s preflop shove with two eights and beat Duthie’s ace-deuce to score another knockout and move up past 5,500,000.
Taylor Turns The Tide on His Way to the Title
The momentum, however, quickly swung over to Taylor when he was all in with two aces and up against Hulme’s jacks. He doubled up into a virtual tie atop the leaderboard, but Hulme then picked up right where he left off by rivering a straight to eliminate Martin Kopernicky in third. He took a 4,610,000 to 3,350,000 lead over Taylor into heads-up.
The heads-up match, though, was dominated by Taylor. He got away with a big river bluff to take over the chip lead, and he continued his relentless climb until Hulme was down to less than 2,000,000. Hulme finally shoved for 1,805,000 with ace-four, and Taylor called with ace-five. Taylor hit a pair on the flop, and Hulme couldn’t catch up on the river, so he had to settle for second place.
"I've Got Absolutely Nothing to Lose"
The talent-laden field, full of players much more famous than himself, forced Taylor to be at his best today in order to beat them. “These fields are absolutely stacked with great players. I mean, just look at the legends that were on our table, like John Duthie and Stato. These guys are, like, world famous. They’ve got a caliber in this game,” he said.
“So you just need to play one hand at a time and just try to get some good spots. I feel like I was aggressive at the right points. I probably had some nice hands at the right points, as well. So I think it’s a combination in poker. You need so many things to go well for you. And they went well for me today.”
Up next for Taylor is the Main Event tomorrow. But if he was nervous about playing the biggest event of the festival, he didn’t show it. For Taylor, he’s already come out on top this week with this trophy. “London’s been very good to me. I won the high roller here. My fiancée is from London, so I don’t know if it’s a lucky charm. But every time I come here, I seem to do well. I’ve got absolutely nothing to lose now,” he said.
“I’m just going to enjoy the Main Event and try and bag for Day 2. Once I bag for Day 2, try and get in the money. When you get in the money, try and get to the final table. When you get to the final table, try and win it. That’s kind of the process that I go through every single tournament. So I’ll just treat it like another day, won’t get too down on myself if I don’t win and obviously just try my best.”
That concludes PokerNews' coverage of the £2,000 High Roller. Live updates from the Main Event begin tomorrow with Day 1b starting at noon local time, so be sure to tune in for all the action.
