The last 37 players of 1,026 entrants returned on Sunday to play the final day of the UK and Ireland Poker Tour Nottingham Main Event. Among the 37 players were a former UKIPT winner, a UKIPT leaderboard winner and three players who had previously played a UKIPT final table.
However, at the end of it all it was an unknown 24-year-old from the United Kingdom who stood tall as the winner. It was Sam Mitten-Laurence's second ever live tournament and he qualified through a £160 satellite on PokerStars to win entry to this tournament, which eventually earned him an incredible £182,000! A pretty good return on a small investment!
"I've really enjoyed the whole week, especially since it's been so long since my last live tournament," he told PokerStars Blog. "It's been a great experience. I definitely plan on playing more UKIPT events, and I'll probably travel for some EPTs too. Other than that, I'll probably take a nice holiday with my girlfriend and put some towards a house."
UKIPT5 Nottingham
Entrants: 1,026
Prize pool: £1,000,000
Places paid: 151
1st. Sam Mitten-Laurence, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifer, £182,000
2nd. Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifer, £110,000
3rd. Richard Jones, United Kingdom, £77,400
4th. Patrick Clarke, Ireland, £58,100
5th. Krzysztof Jacyk, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, £44,700
6th. Kuljinder Sidhu, United Kingdom, £32,000
7th. Sunil Pancholi, United Kingdom, £24,200
8th. Luke Perrott, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £17,320