£1,100 Main Event
Day 2 Completed
£1,100 Main Event
Day 2 Completed
Out of a field of 645 entries, only 16 players from seven different countries are still in contention to become the 2022 PokerStars UKIPT London £1,100 Main Event champion. The lion's share of the £619,200 prize pool will be up for grabs when a winner is crowned on Sunday, April 10, 2022.
Best positioned to win the first UKIPT Main Event in nearly five and a half years is the UK's Joshua Boulton with a stack of 3,350,000. He is well ahead of the next contender after pulling away of the pack once the final two tables were set. Julien Sitbon sits in second place with 2,385,000 in chips followed by fellow Frenchman Antoine Saout with 2,185,000.
London resident Alexios Zervos also resides in the overnight top five with 1,580,000 and Dongze Hao follows right behind with 1,535,000. According to the table chat, Hao mentioned that he has been playing cash games for many years but this event is just his second tournament ever.
Most of the hopefuls are hailing from the UK and that also includes the former EPT Main Event finalist Kully Sidhu and PokerStars ambassador Ben Spragg. They navigated through the final stages with shorter stacks and finished with 840,000 and 540,000 respectively.
Seat | Table 1 | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Rickie Vedhara | United Kingdom | 1,315,000 | 44 |
2 | Alexios Zervos | Greece | 1,580,000 | 53 |
3 | Liudas Didenka | Lithuania | 345,000 | 12 |
4 | Ben Spragg | United Kingdom | 540,000 | 18 |
5 | Lukas Dimsa | Lithuania | 890,000 | 30 |
6 | Lorenc Boci | Albania | 810,000 | 27 |
7 | Julien Sitbon | France | 2,385,000 | 80 |
8 | Antoine Saout | France | 2,185,000 | 73 |
Seat | Table 2 | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
1 | James Rann | United Kingdom | 905,000 | 30 |
2 | Joshua Boulton | United Kingdom | 3,350,000 | 112 |
3 | Kully Sidhu | United Kingdom | 840,000 | 28 |
4 | Dongze Hao | China | 1,535,000 | 51 |
5 | Ben Slack | United Kingdom | 970,000 | 32 |
6 | Sorin Pruteanu | Romania | 735,000 | 25 |
7 | Michael Ramiro | United Kingdom | 320,000 | 11 |
8 | Robert Boon | United Kingdom | 590,000 | 20 |
The penultimate tournament day started with 128 hopefuls all aiming to secure a min-cash of at least £1,684 for their efforts. It didn't take long to get to the money as the bubble was reached within the first two levels. Among those to bow out until then were the £2,200 High Roller champion Jack O'Neill, Sylvain Loosli, Kevin Allen, David Docherty, and Antoine Labat.
For team PokerStars, the bad fortune struck several times as four of the six red spade representatives came up short of the payouts. Parker Talbot ran bad early on and bowed out against Alexios Zervos when his dominated ace was only good on the flop. Steve Enriquez followed shortly after and PokerStars Senior Twitch & Ambassadors Associate failed to get there when nursing a short stack. Two away from the money, Ido Alon ran with queens into the kings of Alexander Zeligman.
On the money bubble itself, local regular Antonis "Tony" Poulengeris stuck his last three and a half blinds in from the cutoff with ten-nine suited and ended up second-best to the queen-nine of initial raiser Antoine Saout. This set the stage for a frantic period in which the all-in showdowns kept coming every other minute.
Saout established himself near the top of the leaderboard after knocking out Atanas Pavlov and Sam Grafton was then knocked out within two hands against Ahamed Mohamed.
Only 37 players remained in contention on the dinner break after six hours of play. Just before that, the fireworks at the tables sent Nikolay Ponomarev to the rail and the action thereafter continued in similar fashion.
Notable casualties in the final stages of the night included Yucel "Mad Turk" Eminoglu, Ori Hasson, and Henrik Hecklen. Zeligman then came up short of the final two tables when his slow-played aces were flushed away by Joshua Boulton's king-nine suited and he bowed out in the next hand. No more elimination took place and the sweet sixteen then wrapped up for the night.
The action on the final day will continue at noon local time with blinds of 15,000-30,000 and a big blind ante of 30,000. Stay tuned right here on PokerNews to find out who will lift the title at the iconic Hippodrome Casino in the heart of London.
Remaining Payouts
Place | Prize (in GBP) | Place | Prize (in GBP) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | £119,270 | 9 | £11,028 |
2 | £74,539 | 10 | £8,520 |
3 | £53,245 | 11 | £8,520 |
4 | £40,960 | 12 | £7,102 |
5 | £31,511 | 13 | £7,102 |
6 | £24,242 | 14 | £5,920 |
7 | £18,644 | 15 | £5,920 |
8 | £14,341 | 16 | £5,146 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joshua Boulton |
3,350,000
-50,000
|
-50,000 |
|
||
Julien Sitbon |
2,385,000
85,000
|
85,000 |
|
||
Antoine Saout |
2,185,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
|
||
Alexios Zervos |
1,580,000
-170,000
|
-170,000 |
Dongze Hao |
1,535,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
Rickie Vedhara |
1,315,000
-35,000
|
-35,000 |
Ben Slack |
970,000
-55,000
|
-55,000 |
|
||
James Rann |
905,000
-45,000
|
-45,000 |
Lukas Dimsa | 890,000 | |
Kully Sidhu |
840,000
115,000
|
115,000 |
Lorenc Boci |
810,000
-40,000
|
-40,000 |
Sorin Pruteanu |
735,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
Robert Boon |
590,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
Ben Spragg
|
540,000
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
Liudas Didenka |
345,000
-30,000
|
-30,000 |
Michael Ramiro |
320,000
-55,000
|
-55,000 |
The final 16 players have bagged and tagged their chips for the night. They will be back at noon on Sunday, April 10, to determine a champion.
Full chip counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.
Ben Slack was the initial raiser from under the gun to earn calls from Joshua Boulton on the button and Dongze Hao in the big blind. There was no action on the flop and the followed on the turn. Hao checked and Slack now bet 75,000 for his two opponents to call.
The river completed the board and the action now checked to Boulton. He made it 175,000 to go and two folds later, cemented his status as the chip leader.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joshua Boulton |
3,400,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
||
Dongze Hao |
1,550,000
-175,000
|
-175,000 |
Ben Slack |
1,025,000
-175,000
|
-175,000 |
|
Lukas Dimsa defended the big blind against the open raise by Julien Sitbon and checked the flop. Sitbon continued for 45,000 and Dimsa check-raised to 175,000 for Sitbon to fold.
Antoine Saout then made it 50,000 to go and Benjamin Spragg ripped it in from the button for 430,000. Lorenc Boci in the big blind seemed interested and asked for a count but folded. Saout came to the same conclusion as Spragg chipped up some without showdown.
Over on the other table, Joshua Boulton has leaped into the lead by some margin. In a large pot against fellow big stack Dongze Hao, he called a three-bet and then check-called twice before checking the the river. Hao checked behind and Boulton tabled the for top pair to claim the pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joshua Boulton |
3,200,000
600,000
|
600,000 |
|
||
Julien Sitbon |
2,300,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
|
||
Antoine Saout |
2,200,000
-150,000
|
-150,000 |
|
||
Dongze Hao |
1,725,000
-600,000
|
-600,000 |
Lukas Dimsa |
890,000
115,000
|
115,000 |
Ben Spragg
|
545,000
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
Antoine Saout raised the cutoff and Alexios Zervos defended the small blind. Once they headed to the flop, Zervos check-raised a bet of 80,000 by Saout, the Frenchman folded and was shown the by Zervos.
Lukas Dimsa then raised to 50,000 and Saout flat-called. They headed to the flop on which Dimsa bet-folded to a raise by Saout.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Antoine Saout |
2,350,000
-50,000
|
-50,000 |
|
||
Alexios Zervos |
1,750,000
350,000
|
350,000 |
Lukas Dimsa |
775,000
-125,000
|
-125,000 |
Seat | Table 1 | Chip Count | Table 2 | Chip Count |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Rickie Vedhara | 1,350,000 | James Rann | 950,000 |
2 | Alexios Zervos | 1,400,000 | Joshua Boulton | 2,600,000 |
3 | Liudas Didenka | 375,000 | Kully Sidhu | 725,000 |
4 | Benjamin Spragg | 550,000 | Dongze Hao | 2,325,000 |
5 | Lukas Dimsa | 900,000 | Ben Slack | 1,200,000 |
6 | Lorenc Boci | 850,000 | Sorin Pruteanu | 710,000 |
7 | Julien Sitbon | 2,400,000 | Michael Ramiro | 375,000 |
8 | Antoine Saout | 2,400,000 | Robert Boon | 600,000 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joshua Boulton | 2,600,000 | |
|
||
Julien Sitbon |
2,400,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
||
Antoine Saout |
2,400,000
-400,000
|
-400,000 |
|
||
Dongze Hao | 2,325,000 | |
Alexios Zervos |
1,400,000
550,000
|
550,000 |
Rickie Vedhara |
1,350,000
255,000
|
255,000 |
Ben Slack |
1,200,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
|
||
James Rann |
950,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
Lukas Dimsa |
900,000
385,000
|
385,000 |
Lorenc Boci |
850,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
Kully Sidhu |
725,000
260,000
|
260,000 |
Sorin Pruteanu |
710,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
Robert Boon |
600,000
-225,000
|
-225,000 |
Ben Spragg
|
550,000
-80,000
|
-80,000 |
Liudas Didenka |
375,000
-145,000
|
-145,000 |
Michael Ramiro |
375,000
-345,000
|
-345,000 |
Alexander Zeligman slow-played a big hand and that back-fired in a big way. With just a medium-sized pot to the river, he checked and then snap-called a bet worth 330,000 by Joshua Boulton. The latter tabled the for a flush and Zeligman mucked the for aces and sixes.
One hand later, James Rann raised to 50,000 in the cutoff and Dongze Hao called on the button, Zeligman called all-in out of the small blind for 35,000.
Rann led the flop for 60,000 and Hao called. The turn and river were checked and Rann turned over for a straight. Zeligman was ousted with the and Hao's were exposed only briefly.
The remaining 16 players will now redraw to the final two tables and some 26 minutes remain at the current blinds.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joshua Boulton |
2,600,000
400,000
|
400,000 |
|
||
Dongze Hao |
2,325,000
-150,000
|
-150,000 |
James Rann |
960,000
385,000
|
385,000 |
Alexander Zeligman | Busted | |
|
Julien Sitbon had raised from under the gun to get called by Lorenc Boci. Only a small pot emerged until the river on which Boci opted to lead for 160,000.
Sitbon mulled over his decision for a bit and mentioned "I don't like this, I really don't like this." Some ten seconds later he made the call and Boci revealed the . Sitbon had that beat with the for a full house to rake in the pot and further climb on the leaderboard.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Julien Sitbon |
2,350,000
225,000
|
225,000 |
|
||
Lorenc Boci |
950,000
-350,000
|
-350,000 |