GUKPT result

In the early hours of Monday 21 May, Dave Smith became the latest player to lift a Grosvenor UK Poker Tour trophy, at latest tournament, held in Brighton.

Smith defeated Neil Carr after a heads-up battle that lasted a little over an hour.

In the final hand Dave called Neil’s all-in reraise on a 5-4-T all diamond flop. Neil, holding 6-2 of diamonds had already made his flush, but Dave’s 9 of diamonds, Ten of hearts holding improved when the Ace of diamonds fell on the turn.

Dave, appearing in his second GUKPT final was chip leader throughout day one of the tournament and maintained his chip equity for much of day two. Having finished 5th in Cardiff’s Leg 3, he was aiming to go one better and in winning Leg 5 he has jumped straight to the top of the GUKPT Leaderboard on 216 points.

Carr, who had been bought into the tournament by brother Trevor as a birthday present, was playing in his first live poker tournament. He seemed to take it in his stride without showing any nerves or pressure in front of the TV cameras.

The runner-up, who is also an International Master at Chess, commented in his post match interview that it was the best birthday present he could have hoped for – certainly better than the pair of socks he got last year.

Labrokes Poker Million winner Rajesh Modha finished in third place and long time chip leader Albert Sapiano was fourth after losing the majority of his chips to Smith with A-7 versus A-T on an A-T-2 flop. Albert, who is a regular cash player at The Vic, has only recently started playing tournaments.

The final featured another player who also did well in Cardiff in the shape of Welshman Roberto Romanello. This time he did not manage to better his 3rd place finish in Leg three, but finished in a creditable 5th place after entertaining the crowd and aggravating his opponents with his trademark trash table talk.

Mazhar Nawab, the last remaining online qualifier was 6th. He has only been playing poker for just over a year, but has shown he has a great aptitude for the game, with a string of good finishes in tournaments over the last 6th months. This was the highest profile event he has finaled in to date.

James ‘Flushmeister’ Dempsey, the only local on the final table finished in 7th place, while Barnsley’s John Exley took the 8th spot. Hendon Mobster Barney Boatman’s completed the final table line up, but was disappointed to have lasted only two hands.

The Tour now takes a two month summer holiday. The next leg takes place in Newcastle in late July.

Final results:
1st: Dave Smith, £95,100 + £10,000 & Grand Final seat
2th: Neil Carr, £50,300
3th: Rajesh Modha, £33,600
4th: Albert Sapiano, £24,400
5th: Roberto Romanello, £18,300
6th: Mazhar Nawab, £15,200
7th: James Dempsey, £12,200
8th: John Exle, £9,200
9th: Barney Boatman, £6,100