In 2002, Barny Boatman narrowly missed out on winning his first bracelet in a $2,000 buy-in pot-limit hold'em event, losing heads-up to Jay Sipelstein. More than a decade later he rectified it by besting a field of 2,247 to defeat Brian O'Donoghue in a three-hour, back-and-forth heads-up match to win gold and a $546,080 first-place prize.
Boatman is now looking to add a Full Tilt Poker UKIPT Main Event title to his résumé.
The Full Tilt Poker Galway Festival, which is happening now on west coast of Ireland, will culminate next week with the Main Event, €2,000 UKIPT High Roller and €10,000 UKIPT Super High Roller, all of which PokerNews will be on hand to live report. In the meantime, we thought we’d take a look at the preliminary events completed thus far, which includes a win by FTP ProfessionalGus Hansen, who emerged victorious in the highly publicized Event #8 €1,000+€100 UK vs. Ireland Heads-Up Championship.
While that competition was heated for a bit, by the time the final four rolled around the Irish were mathematically eliminated. Even through the UK won 44 points to Ireland's 36 points, the Irish got a little hope when Hansen, who is Danish mind you, switched allegiances from the UK to Ireland.
Hansen first defeated the UK's Max Silver 2-1 in the semi-final, before taking on Dave Nicholson in the best-of-five final. It was as heated as could be as both players took two matches, and it came down to the fifth for all the glory. Fortunately for Hansen, and his newfound Irish allies, he was able to clinch victory. Hansen, who donned green hat and draped the Irish flag over his shoulders, literally toasted a Guinness as he took down the €16,151 first-place prize and the title.
“There were no walks in the park,” Hansen said after winning the title. “I played twelve hours yesterday and twelve hours today. I didn’t sleep last night and haven’t eaten anything today."
Event #8 €1,000+€100 UK vs. Ireland Heads-Up Championship
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
Gus Hansen
Ireland — adopted
2
Dave Nicholson
United Kingdom
€10,767
3
Kevin Williams
United Kingdom
€4,486
3
Max Silver
United Kingdom
€4,486
Here’s a video from the UK vs. Ireland Heads-Up Championship:
People playing today include two of the new UK & Ireland Full Tilt Ambassadors in Ben Jenkins and Martins Adeniya. Also involved are Hendon Mobster and new WSOP bracelet winner Barny Boatman as well as another bracelet winner in John Duthie. Tournament phenom Max Silver is playing as well, as are Kevin Williams and wily poker veteran Keith 'The Camel' Hawkins.
It’s another beautiful day in sunny Galway so what better way to spend it than inside the Full Tilt poker village playing in a €1,000,000 guaranteed main event?
Full Tilt ambassadors Martins Adeniya and Ben Jenkins will be featuring today, alongside UK stalwarts Barney Boatman, a recent WSOP bracelet winner, and Roy Brindley.
Another Full Tilt ambassador, Dermot Blain is still playing on the final table of the High Roller so will make an appearance on the second day along with fellow ambassador Sinem Melin.
Swedish online superstar Victor Blom flew in to Ireland last night with Liv Boeree. Liv is playing today and we expect to see Blom in action tomorrow.
Also coming up later will be the six-handed final table of the €2,000 High Roller event. Christopher Day leads that event with Full Tilt Ambassador Dermot Blain and former UKIPT winner Sergio Aido also in the mix. Pokernews will be covering that event as well so go here for updates on that event.
The Full Tilt Poker United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) Galway Festival continues today with the premiere tournament of the stop — the €1,000,000 Guarantee Main Event! The first of two starting flights is scheduled to kick off at Noon local time, and it's expected to be a big day. Not only will some big names be in action like FTP ProfessionalGus Hansen and Full Tilt Poker AmbassadorMartins Adeniya, but the final table of the €2,000 UKIPT High Roller — which includes FTP Ambassador Dermot Blain — will play out across the room. You can follow that action at 2 p.m. local time by clicking here.
Hansen has kept busy not only playing poker (including a runner-up finish in yesterday's €35+€5 Daily Grind tournament), but also by playing a plethora of other games — billiards, Pacman, etc. — in the FTP Galway Players' Lounge. He also took time out of his "busy" schedule to accept the keys to the city from Galway Mayor Padraig Conneely.
We're not sure who else to expect tomorrow, but we wouldn't be surprised to see either Sinem Melin or Ben Jenkins, who round out the FTP UKIPT Ambassadors. Here's some more information on each of the ambassadors:
Martins Adeniya
Adeniya first discovered a love of poker while studying business at the University of Bath and quickly worked his way up from low-stakes home games to multi-tabling $10/$20 NL Hold’em online. After earning over $180,000 for a third place finish in the FTOPS Main Event, Martins decided to focus 100% on poker and has since become a familiar face on the live circuit with multiple WSOP and EPT cashes under his belt.
Dermot Blain
Blain is one of Ireland’s best-known professional players, bursting onto the poker scene with a stunning triumph in the 2009 APPT Macau Main Event netting him just over $540,000. His record also includes a fifth-place finish in the 2011 WSOP Europe Main Event for more than $365,000 and lifetime live tournament earnings of over $1.3 million.
Ben Jenkins
Jenkins has played professionally since 2009, with career highlights including a chop of PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up and a number of significant final table appearances. A keen sports fan, Ben is delighted to have the opportunity to represent both Full Tilt Poker and the British poker community on this year’s UKIPT tour.
Sinem Melin
Melin is one of Britain’s rising female poker stars, having final tabled both the 2011 UKIPT Brighton Main Event and the 2013 GUKPT London Main Event. She loves to follow high-stakes poker action both online and live and is very proud to act as a Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassador for UKIPT Season 4.
“These Tour Ambassadors will help redefine what it means to represent a poker site,” said Dustin Iannotti, Full Tilt Poker’s Senior Manager of Pro, Celebrity & VIP Marketing. “These players are working with us to create exciting new live experiences that will leave UKIPT players with memories that extend well beyond the felt.”
Action is set to kick off in a little over an hour. While you wait for our live coverage to begin, check out Laura Cornelius' video tour of the Full Tilt Poker UKIPT Galway Festival venue: