Lead Headline

Former IT consultant Darren Annis has won his very first GUKPT, beating heads-up specialist Jeff Kimber to take down the Thanet leg and £41,900.

The field of 132 was considerably smaller than most GUKPT main events but with veterans like Julian Thew and double bracelet winner JP Kelly terrorising the tables, any soft spots were hard to come by. 

With 11 players left in, it looked as though WSOP/WSOPE final tablist James Akenhead was yet again going to make a major final table but after losing most of his stack in a race, Akenhead had to settle for a little more than his buy-in back.

On the final table, all the momentum seemed to rest with Jeff Kimber, who ended up with a slight chiplead over Annis going into the final heads-up and seemed primed to take down his second GUKPT title.

As expected Kimber ground down his opponent’s stack to take a 3/1 chiplead and Annis frustratedly pushed all-in with A-4, only to find himself dominated by A-J. However it was to prove a turning point in the match as Annis lucked out with a 4 on the river.

Ten minutes later Annis was celebrating a shock victory as his A-J turned a straight on a K-Q-Q-T-5 board.