Sam Mitten-Laurence Wins UKIPT5 Nottingham Main Event and £182,000
Nottingham, UK - 19 April, 2015
The last, greatest share of the £1,000,000 prize money in the UK & Ireland Poker Tour’s Nottingham Main Event has been awarded, along with the Season 5 title to 24 year old poker pro Sam Mitten-Laurence, who takes home £182,000. His last remaining opponent Trevor Pearson was, impressively, a finalist in the UKIPT Nottingham Main Event last year, and went one better than his third place finish (worth £89,900) in 2014 today, capturing the runner-up prize of £110,000.
The final table also featured the 2014 Irish Open Champion Patrick Clarke and four PokerStars online qualifiers, one of whom had won his seat via a £1 rebuy satellite (8th place finisher Luke Perrott who turned £5 into £17,320).
The £1,000 + £100 Main Event attracted 1,026 entries, with players representing 41 countries, and has run at Dusk Till Dawn since April 12th, its innovative extra start day on Sunday enabling those with working-week commitments to return for Day 2 the following Saturday.
The final table alone awarded over half a million pounds. To reach it, however, the hopes of victory of 29 players had to be dashed, and these included the start of day chip leader’s. David Clarkson knew how it felt to go from robusto to busto in a UKIPT Main Event, having done just this at UKIPT5 London in just two hands, and this time around he suffered a similar fate. Some cracked kings and a run-in with Kestutis Kristapaitis’ aces and he had to settle for 31st place and £4,330.
Also finishing in the money pre-final were Kristapaitis himself (24th for £5,090), last season’s UKIPT Leaderboard winner Dara Davey (21st for £6,070), UKIPT4 London champion Sergio Aido (16th for £8,070) plus the official final table bubble, 9th place finisher Adam Kossew, who picked up £13,540. Juan Benito who finished 22nd deserves an honourable mention for having also made the final table last time around, finishing 6th for £38,400.
The final table line-up (in seat order):
Krzysztof Jacyk, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, 2,830,000
Kuljinder Sidhu, United Kingdom, 5,010,000
Luke Perrott, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 2,310,000
Patrick Clarke, Ireland, 2,770,000
Sunil Pancholi, United Kingdom, 2,305,000
Sam Mitten-laurence, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 3,570,000
Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 975,000
Richard Jones, United Kingdom, 4,570,000
Click here for profiles of the finalists.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxrimFRPN3ZPSzc3dURoQzBUOEE/viewAlthough Kuljinder Sidhu started with the lead, it was Sunil Pancholi who turned the tables early on, outflopping Sidhu’s pocket kings with A-J to double through and take it from him. Richard Jones put a stop to Pancholi’s ascent with a double through of his own (aces vs. A-Q), and after Luke Perrott busted in 8th place, Pancholi found himself in turn short stacked and shoving with
-Ts. Sam Mitten-Laurence called with jacks and busted him in 7th (£24,200).
In quick succession Sidhu (6th for £32,000) and Krzysztof Jacyk (5th for £44,700) were eliminated, the latter doubling up Nottingham final table veteran Pearson before leaving the felt. Meanwhile Sam Mitten-Laurence was creeping up on recently ascendant chip leader Patrick Clarke, finally winning two big pots in succession (the latter a race with A-Q offsuit vs. the Irish pro’s pocket deuces) to bust Clarke in 4th (£58,100).
Third place finisher Richard Jones, as at home on the virtual felt as the live, lost a crucial race against Mitten-Laurence and gave his opponent a 3:1 chip lead vs. his final opponent. Jones’ previous tournament successes have included a 19th place finish in last year’s WCOOP Main Event (he plays under the moniker 'dickler1' on PokerStars) and a 3rd place finish in the Super Tuesday for just under $55,000.
The heads up battle was a brisk affair, with Pearson unable to overcome his chip deficit and finally getting his stack in preflop with A-J, only to find Mitten-Laurence with A-K. One hold later, and they were both off to collect six-figure prizes from the cash desk.
Mitten-Laurence had qualified on PokerStars for £160, clearly at home online where he has made his living since he was 18. Since then he's clocked up over 22,000 tournaments on PokerStars under the screenname 'KevinThorn'. "I've really enjoyed the whole week, especially since it's been so long since my last live tournament," he said. "It's been a great experience. I definitely plan on playing more UKIPT events, and I'll probably travel for some EPTs too."
Final Table Results:
1. Sam Mitten-Laurence - £182,000
2. Trevor Pearson - £110,100
3. Richard Jones - £77,400
4. Patrick Clarke, Ireland - £58,100
5. Krzysztof Jacyk, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier - £44,700
6. Kuljinder Sidhu, United Kingdom - £32,800
7. Sunil Pancholi, United Kingdom - £24,200
8. Luke Perrott, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier - £17,320
Click here to read a recap of the final day on the PokerStars Blog.
http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/en/blog/tournaments/ukipt/2015/pokerstars-qualifier-sam-mitten-laurence-155334.shtmlClick here for side event results, including the 331-runner £300+ £30 UKIPT Nottingham Cup, which was won by Gardar Hauksson for £18,900.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxrimFRPN3ZPX0tKT3BSRTVnT3M/view
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