Weekly Tournament Recap: Hart Takes Down UKIPT, Action Heating Up In WSOP APAC

It has been a huge week on the live poker tournament scene, with a number of major poker events having taken place throughout the world. Titles were won, money was earned and, in Australia, a few Gold Bracelets have been collected.

Josh Hart the Man in the Isle of Man

Although he played extremely well throughout the event, Hart especially shined on the final table at the UKIPT Isle of Man. He knocked five of the last eight players from the final table en route to winning the event and its £57,484 (around US$93,075) prize.

The win is Hart’s best live poker performance by far, and time will tell whether this victory will lead to bigger things for the Englishman in the world of live poker.

Ciaran Heaney settled for the runner-up in the UKIPT Isle of Man, while David Hill claimed third place (both were knocked out of the event by Hart). Fintan Gavin finished the event in fourth place after he too was eliminated by Hart.

Jusupovic Captures the RPT Montenegro Main Event Crown

Nedim Jusupovic was a virtual unknown when he entered the Russian Poker Tour (RPT) Montenegro last week. However, he was the most known player when it finished as he took out the event and the €47,500 (around US$60,576) cash prize that came along with it.

The Bosnian player beat a field of 479 players over three days (including two starting flights) to claim victory in the event. He had a stellar time at the final table, where he eliminated the overwhelming majority of players before claiming the title.

Like Hart, Jusupovic’s win is the largest in his live poker career, although the win may have given him the confidence to go onto bigger and better things in poker.

Colman Claims Nearly $1 Million at WPT Alpha8

Dan Colman has had an almost unbelievable year in poker so far. The 24-year-old American has won over $22 million (that is not a misprint) in live poker events in 2014.

His latest win was at the WPT Alpha8 in London, where Colman topped a field of 23 players (a $100,000 buy-in doesn’t tend to attract large numbers) to win the event and £600,000 (around US$957,390).

While a cash prize of that magnitude would be the taking the title of the largest for many professional poker players, it barely cuts the mustard for Colman. The Alpha8 cash prize is his fifth largest this year, with his biggest win being a whopping $15.3 million at the WSOP Big One for One Drop event in June.

WSOP Asia Pacific Gets to a Storming Start

The second ever WSOP Asia Pacific got off to a start last week in the Australian city of Melbourne. The first bracelet of this year’s series was won by Aussie player Luke Brabin, who took down the $1,100 No Limit Accumulator event.

Four other events have been played at the WSOP so far, and a mixture of local, first-timer and poker legends have taken out the gold bracelets thus far.

Junzhong Loo became the first-ever Malaysian player to win a WSOP Gold Bracelet after he won Event #2 in Melbourne. Poker Hall of Famer Jeff Lisandro then showed he’s still got it after winning Event #3.

Event #4 was won by Australian player Scot Calcagno while another Aussie player, Sam Higgs, took out Event #5 and its AU$127,843 cheque reserved for the winner.