Ioannis Angelou-Konstas has been crowned the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS UK Main Event champion after five days of extreme poker action, taking home the partypoker trophy and a sweet sum of £940,000 ($1.2 million) as he topped a field of 1,014 players.
The £5,300 ($6,956) tournament took place at Nottingham's Dusk Till Dawn card room, which was part of a week-long poker fest that featured a guaranteed prizepool worth £8.5 million ($11 million).
£5,300 No-Limit Hold'em £5 Million GTD
October 1 to October 7, 2018
Buy-in: £5,300 ($6,956)
Prize Pool: £5 Million ($6.5 Million) Guaranteed
Entrants: 1,014
The Main Event had the biggest chunk of the event's five prizepools, and players were eager to participate on Day 1A on October 1.
Greek Tops the Nottingham Field
Of course, there will always be one player to stand on top of the competition, and it was Greek poker pro Ioannis Angelou-Konstas. After he managed to get past over 1,000 hopefuls, the two-time WPTDeepStacks winner found himself seated on a very tough final table on October 7.
Some of the players he had to compete with at the final table included UK pros Ryan Hall and Sam Grafton, 2013 WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess, and also WPT and APPT winner Alex Foxen. Angelou-Konstas had the chip lead at the beginning of play and used it very well.
At some point, as Hall stood firmly in his way, the Greek pro was able to eliminate five out of his eight opponents and held nearly 90% of the chips in play. That huge stack enabled him to muster his confidence, rejecting a deal prior to the final hand being dealt.
However, after a short break, his confidence dropped down in an instant due to Foxen's successful takeover with pocket sixes. As Foxen doubled up and doubts are starting to fly inside his head, discussions over a deal restarted and this time, Angelou-Konstas agreed to take $1,095,380 and leave just approximately $130,000 on the table.
A Straight Win
The heads-up match ended with just a few hands later.
Angelou-Konstas held Q-J, while Foxen had pocket eights.
The board ran K-A-4-3-10, and the Greek pro shoved all-in over the top of Foxen's bet worth 46-million chips. Foxen took a last look on his pocket eights before deciding to make the call.
When Angelou-Konstas showed his straight win, a defeated Foxen then extended a congratulatory handshake to his opponent and then exited the stage.
This is Angelou-Konstas' largest win and first major live tournament title in his poker career so far, and he said after he won, "I am in shock. I literally am in shock I think. I tried to keep cool because I knew, even though I was first in the chip counts, that doesn't mean you'll win. So, you have to play your best. And I did, and I got lucky."
partypoker LIVE MILLIONS UK Main Event Results
|
Place
|
Player
|
Country
|
Prize (GBP)
|
Prize (USD)
|
|
1
|
Ioannis Angelou-Konstas
|
Greece
|
£940,000*
|
$1,224,228
|
|
2
|
Alex Foxen
|
United States
|
£720,000*
|
$937,706
|
|
3
|
Antoine Labat
|
France
|
£440,000
|
$573,043
|
|
4
|
Tom Hall
|
United Kingdom
|
£300,000
|
$390,711
|
|
5
|
Sam Grafton
|
United Kingdom
|
£205,850
|
$268,093
|
|
6
|
Michael Wang
|
United States
|
£140,000
|
$182,332
|
|
7
|
John Haigh
|
United Kingdom
|
£100,000
|
$130,237
|
|
8
|
Dara O’Kearney
|
Ireland
|
£70,000
|
$91,166
|
|
9
|
Ryan Riess
|
United States
|
£50,000
|
$65,430
|
*a deal was made prior to the final heads-up match
Source:
https://www.pokernews.com/news/2018/10/angelou-konstas-partypoker-live-millions-uk-foxen-32291.htm?itm_content=pn-hp-hero-1
