Driton Haxhiaj emerged victorious from the seventh leg of this year’s edition of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) Luton Main Event. This is the second time Haxhiaj wins the event after his victory at the same tournament in 2013.
Three years ago, the Lithuanian player won the Main Event of the GUKPT tournament in Luton after he managed to outlast 261 other players and get a prize estimated to £42,750. Now, in 2016, he succeeded in winning the same event once again by topping the players field of 240 players. Haxhiaj also took home a prize of £61,250 along with his second trophy of the GUKPT series.
The final day of the event in Luton begun with 17 players around the table. At this time, it was Brett Kennedy who was the chip leader, followed by Jeff Kimber. The first player who got eliminated on the final day was David Lloyd. This put the beginning of the eliminations, with Lloyd being followed by a number of other players, including Alex Zeligman, Tamer Kamel, Ethan Brown, Aleks Golubevs, Jiushang Wang, Sandiep Khosa and Albert Sapiano. All of them bust within only the first two hours of the poker play. The final table was set with the exit of Sandiep Khosa, with only nine players left.
The players field ran tighter and tighter until Brett Kennedy, who started the final day of the competition as the chip leader, was left at the fourth position, leaving Vinson, Byrne and Haxhiaj to compete for the Main Event’s trophy. Although Ben Vinson turned out as a serious rival to both Haxhiaj and Byrne, he did not manage to outlast either of them and bust, leaving the two of them one-on-one.
Not long after Byrne and Haxhiaj entered the heads-up battle, they agreed on a deal to take a portion of £52,000 each. An additional prize of £9,520 was left for the winner, as well as the Main Event’s trophy. Not long after this, Haxhiaj won the event for the second time in three years.
With Driton Haxhiaj standing on top of the ranking, Paul Byrne occupied the runner-up position and was granted with a £52,000 prize. The third place was taken by Ben Vinson, who got a total of £28,080. Brett Kennedy follows on the fourth place, while Jose Ruben Rubio Gamito got fifth.
Derek Boyle managed to rank sixth, followed by Paul Vas Nunes on the seventh position. The eight and ninth places were occupied by Jeff Kimber and Janice Phillips, respectively.
- Author
Harry Evans
