The fourth leg of the GUKPT came to a conclusion Sunday night, with Nick Humphris prevailing over 134 players to win £16,500 as well as a £2,125 seat in the GUKPT final, which will be held later this year in London. The three-day £500 + £50 no limit Hold’em main event capped off a week of poker tournaments at the Grosvenor G Casino in Portsmouth. Humphris had quite a nice payday, but the second place finisher, Don Mahoney, actually walked away with slightly more cash, due to the fact that both players made a deal when heads-up at the end of the tournament.
The final table started with nobody having a commanding lead. There was a mix of big stacks and short stacks, with the top three players very close to each other. Here are the chip totals when the final table started:
1. Blair Hampton – 554,000
2. Nick Humphris – 505,500
3. Simon Skinner – 492,500
4. Dom Mahoney – 304,500
5. Morgan Sorfleet – 204,000
6. Khalick Mohangee – 187,000
7. Trevor Bowers – 184,000
8. Adam Boutwell – 136,000
9. Denis O’Mahoney – 85,000
The action was intense from the very beginning, with 5 players eliminated within the first hour of play. Just a few minutes after the final table started, Morgan Sorfleet was eliminated in 9th place when he got it in with top pair, only to be dominated by Khalick Mohangee’s top pair with a better kicker. Khalick got it in again a few minutes later, with 77 against Dennis O’Mahoney’s QQ. The flop was K 6 9, which seemed great for O’Mahoney, but the turn brought an 8 and the river was a T, completing a straight for Khalick and sending O’Mahoney packing in 8th place.
Next, it was the turn of Trevor Bowers and Dom Mahoney to go all-in, which they did preflop. Dom’s AA held up against Trevor’s 22, knocking Trevor out in 7th place. Dom continued bulldozing through his adversaries, getting his AK in preflop against Adam Boutwell’s KT and sending him home in 6th place. Soon thereafter, Dom and Blair Hampton went to the flop in a 4-bet pot. The flop was K 8 7, and the two players wasted no time putting the rest of their chips in. Dom showed KK for top set, while Blair had AK for top pair. As a result of that unfortunate cooler, Blair finished in 5th place.
Khalick and Dom eventually got into a huge pot on a 9A9 board. Both players had trip 9s, but Dom had the better kicker, and Khalick had to leave in 4th place. Dom’s luck continued to hold in his next big pot, in which his A2 was a dog to Simon Skinner’s A4 in an all-in pot. The flop contained a deuce, giving Dom the winning pair, while Simon became the 3rd place finisher.
Caption, Aligned Right
Nick Humphris
Dom Mahoney and Nick Humphris then began an epic, swingy, lengthy heads-up marathon. After over an hour, the two contenders decided to make a deal, which awarded Mahoney £17,850 and Humphris £16,500, with the two players continuing to play for the trophy and a Grand Final seat. Even after making the deal, the two players still had a lot of play left in them, as they battled it out for over an hour more. Finally, the climactic hand was dealt.
With blinds at 12k/24k, Nick raised on the button to 50k, and Dom three-bet to 124k. Nick quickly reraised to 350k, prompting Dom to shove the remainder of his chips in the pot. Nick called, showing the K
K
, dominating Dom’s 7
7
. The board ran out an irrelevant 8 T 2 4 2, and Nick became the winner.
In addition to the £16,500 from the deal, Humphris won a £2,000 + £125 seat to the GUKPT Grand Final Main Event in London in late November. The laconic Humphris, when asked how he felt about his victory, replied only, “Great.”
The final table payed out as follows:
1. Nick Humphris – £16,500
2. Dom Mahoney – £17,850
3. Simon Skinner – £8,880
4. Khalick Mohangee – £5,520
5. Blair Hampton – £4,360
6. Adam Boutwell – £3,350
7. Trevor Bowers – £2,680
8. Dennis O’Mahoney – £2,010
9. Morgan Sorfleet – £1,510
