After nearly a six-year wait, Tom Hall has been crowned the GUKPT Luton £1,250 Main Event champion for £90,965, after an epic day of poker action.
Hall, runner-up in the GUKPT Blackpool Main Event in 2016, took the title after a money deal was agreed with runner-up Matthew Davenport.
Hall led the final 13 players at the start of Day 3, but it was by no means plane sailing for the eventual champion.
GUKPT Luton Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Payout (GBP) |
| 1 | Tom Hall | United Kingdom | £90,965* |
| 2 | Matthew Davenport | United Kingdom | £76,785* |
| 3 | R.S. | N/A | £40,800 |
| 4 | Aaron Khera | United Kingdom | £25,750 |
| 5 | Timothy Chung | Hong Kong | £17,300 |
| 6 | Trevor Reardon | United Kingdom | £12,450 |
| 7 | Kevin Allen | United Kingdom | £9,600 |
| 8 | Charles Akadiri | United Kingdom | £8,050 |
| 9 | Andrew Bak | United Kingdom | £6,650 |
Winner’s Reaction
“It was such a grind for the first four hours. It felt like I was on a gradual slope down.” said Hall when speaking to the Grosvenor Team.
“I was third in chips for most of the final table, so was handcuffed, but the dynamics changed a lot.
“I’m very happy, I respect Matt (Davenport) a lot, so I was very happy to chop it with him.”
Final Day Recap
Day 3 got off to a super-fast start with four eliminations in the first 60 minutes of play. Day 1a chip leader Tamer Kamel (13th – £4,400) hit the rail when his ace-ten lost a flip against the pocket deuces of Rajinder Shina.
An anonymous player then departed in 12th place before WSOP bracelet winner Alexandru Papazian (11th – £5,150) exited after waking up with ace-jack in the big blind and saw his hand lose to queen-three.
Shina (10th – £5,850) was the last player to miss out on a spot at the final table. After shoving king-nine suited, Timothy Chung called with queen-ten suited, and the flop bought a ten.
The action then slowed down, and it was over two hours later that Andrew Bak (9th – £6,650) was eliminated when he called for his last 94,000 from the big blind after Matthew Davenport had raised to 108,000 from the small blind. Davenport’s pocket queens were too strong for Bak’s ace-nine suited.
Charles Akadiri (8th – £8,050) departed in a somewhat cruel fashion after flopping two pair with ten-five.
Chung had flopped top pair on the queen-ten-five board and managed to win the pot after the turn and river fell deuce-deuce and gifted him the higher two pair.
Chung continued his dominance and was the man to eliminate both Kevin Allen (7th – £9,600) and this season’s GUKPT Manchester Main Event winner Trevor Reardon (6th – £12,450).
With Chung having a commanding lead, the other four players were restricted and looked for the right spot to put their chips into the middle. But in just 45 minutes of crazy action, Chung went from having sixty percent of the chips to being eliminated in fifth place. Hall, Davenport and Khera all doubled through Chung before Davenport hit a straight on the river against Chung’s trip jacks.
In Chung’s final hand, he three-bet shoved from the small blind with ace-eight and ran into pocket kings in the big blind. Chung, who won the High Roller event in Luton, found an ace on the flop, but a king appeared on the turn to end his hopes of becoming the first player to win two GUKPT Main Events in one season, following his victory in London earlier this year.
Aaron Khera (4th-£25,750) was among the event chip leaders since the end of Day 1b, and his momentum continued until his pocket eights were unable to hold against ace-queen.
An anonymous player then gained and lost the chip lead before departing in third place, at which point, Hall and Davenport agreed to end proceedings by agreeing to a deal, with Hall named as champion due to his larger chip stack.
Follow continued coverage of the GUKPT tour here at PokerNews later this month as the action returns to London.
