UKIPT Isle of Man climaxed at Villa Marina with a fierce battle of poker on the final table where Josh Hart emerged victorious bagging £57,484 and his first ever United Kingdom and Ireland Poker Tour(UKIPT) title. The English poker pro defeated a field of 402 players in the five days long Main Event to claim the title.
“It feels pretty good,” said 24 year old Hart as he was much elated while holding the coveted Isle of Man UKIPT trophy. Although he joined the table as 2nd in the chip count, he was never in the favourites on Final Table. 2013 UKIPT Marbella champion Ludovic Geilich was expected to take down his rivals and win his 2nd UKIPT title. Unfortunately, Geilich was 1st to get eliminated in the 8th place for £8,000.
Another English poker pro, Thomas Ward who holds the record of the most UKIPT cash wins started the day’s play as the shortest stack and was busted in the 7th spot against the Irish pro Fintan Gavin. Ward was able to add £11,120 in his pocket making it a record 12th cash win at UKIPT. Gavin’s fight saw an end against the champion Hart and he managed to grab £24,400 before getting busted in the 4th position.
In the end Hart was left with Ciaran Heaney of Ireland in the heads-up where they made a deal of the cash on the table and continued the contest for the title and mere £5,000. Ultimately, Hart went to clinch the title and the PokerStars UKIPT trophy.
The final table winners are:
“My strategies coming into the final was to let players like Geilich and Gavin play some splashy poker and hopefully lose some chips whilst I just wanted to play solid poker,” said Hart after winning the title.
The next outing of UKIPT is round the corner starting tomorrow, 8th October. Stay tuned to OPN for all the poker action and updates.