Sam Mitten-Laurence Takes Out UKIPT Nottingham Main Event

At 8:30pm the final table in the UKIPT Nottingham Main Event officially got underway. By 12:40am it was all over as Sam Mitten-Laurence was crowned the event’s winner.

It was a cutthroat and competitive event from the very start, and the final day of play proved to be no different as the remaining field of 38 was quickly cut down to one.

While the final table was over relatively quickly, it actually took a while for the first casualty to be eliminated.

That ended up being Luke Perrott, who was eliminated in eighth place roughly 80 minutes into the final table. He was knocked out from the table by Irishman Patrick Clarke, whose Ace King dominated Perrott’s Ace Jack throughout the hand.

Perrott’s elimination opened the floodgates as chips flew and the pace of the game increased rapidly.

Just 20 minutes after Perrott’s elimination, Sunil Pancholi was the second player to be eliminated from the final table. It came after Pancholi (who had q10 ) was called by Mitten-Laurence, who had Pocket Jacks that ended up holding as the board ran out.

There continued to be no break in the eliminations as Kuljinder Sidhu was sent packing in sixth place just 15 minutes later. He was Clarke’s second final scalp after Clarke called Sidhu’s all-in with Ace Queen off-suit, which beat Sidhu’s King Five.

It only took another five minutes for the only non-UK or Irish player in the final table – Polish poker shark Krzysztof Jacyk – to be knocked out from the Main Event.

Again, that came at the hands of Clarke, who called the shortstack’s 86 with k10 . The King paired on the board to put Clarke further in the lead and subsequently bring the event down to its final four players.

Although Clarke had eliminated three of the first four players from the final table, it was him who would end up leaving the table in fourth place.

Clarke had been on the wrong end of a few hands after the eliminations and Mitten-Laurence came in for the final kill. Clarke went all-in pre flop with Pocket Twos and was called by the eventual winner, who had Ace Queen off suit. Mitten-Laurence hit an Ace on the flop, which was enough to win him the hand.

Mitten-Laurence then made it two in a row after he sent Richard Jones packing in third place. Mitten-Laurence went all-in pre flop with Ace Ten off suit and was called by Jones, who was initially ahead with Pocket Fives.

Just like the last hand though, Mitten-Laurence hit an Ace on the flop, which gave him the lead and eventually the hand. Jones’ elimination put Mitten-Laurence and Trevor Pearson in heads-up play, with Mitten-Laurence having held just less than a 3-1 chip lead when play began.

In what would be the event’s final hand, Mitten-Laurence went all-in pre flop after a series of raises and reraises between him and Pearson. Pearson called and showed aj , which was dominated by Mitten-Laurence’s ak . An Ace came on the flop, which gave both players a pair but left Pearson needing a Jack.

He didn’t get it on the turn, which was a 6 , nor on the river, which was a k and instead gave Mitten-Laurence a two-pair.

Just like that, Pearson was eliminated from the event and Mitten-Laurence was crowned the winner of the UKIPT Nottingham Main Event, the title which came with the £182,000 prize-tag!

Photo: PokerStars blog