The Pokerstars UKIPT was back in London with a bang this month, and the £1,100 Main Event saw a really healthy turnout with 645 entrants over the course of three epic day 1s, putting together a prize pool of over £690,000.
The beloved venue, the London Hippodrome played host to the stellar event, and was thronged with buzzing poker action for days in a schedule which featured a £2k High Roller, a Ladies Event and more.
In the end it was British poker player James Rann who would take down the £86,568 first prize (negotiated after a three-way ICM chop left around £8k to play for), defeating Lithuanian Lukas Dimsa heads-up to secure the victory.
How the Action Went Down
Rann came into three-handed play with the short stack, but by name, he ‘rann’ good when it counted and took down the event! The conclusive hand saw a limped pot preflop, with Dimsa checking back against Rann’s limp and blinds up at an eye-watering 125k / 250k with a 250k bb ante.
The players looked up to see a flop of 9♥6♥3♥ confronting them. Both seemed to like it as Rann bet at it for 250k following Dimsa’s check, only to see Dimsa check-raise to 800k.
Rann called to see a 6♦ fall on the turn, and Dimsa continued for a valiant 1.6 million chips. Rann stuck around and the 3♣ fell on the river, at which Dimsa slowed his roll and checked it.
For Rann this was the signal to go all-in with his last 3.6 million and Dimsa audibly sighed before calling off. Dimsa showed down 7♥4♥ for a flopped baby flush, but Rann had the A♠6♠, meaning that he had hit runner, runner to achieve a full house, sixes backed with threes.
This must have been soul-crushing for Dimsa after that flop had him at 97% to win the hand.
An epic hand to conclude an epic poker tournament, and much fun was had by all (even the losers!)
2022 UKIPT Main Event Results
| PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | PRIZE (GBP) |
| 1 | James Rann | United Kingdom | £86,569 |
| 2 | Lukas Dimsa | Lithuania | £80,282 |
| 3 | Rickie Vedhara | United Kingdom | £80,204 |
| 4 | Joshua Boulton | United Kingdom | £40,960 |
| 5 | Alexios Zervos | Greece | £31,511 |
| 6 | Julien Sitbon | France | £24,242 |
| 7 | Kully Sidhu | United Kingdom | $18,644 |
| 8 | Lorenc Boci | Albania | £14,341 |
| 9 | Antoine Saout | France | £11,028 |
Rann, Dimsa and Vedhara agreed to an ICM deal. The winner played for the title and £8,732.
We look forward to many more amazing stops on the UKIPT Regional Tour!
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Image thanks to Pokerstars and Danny Maxwell
