Josh Hart Wins UKIPT Isle of Man
Tuesday, 7 October 2014
Josh Hart is the latest name to be etched into the PokerStars UKIPT winner's circle after taking the honours in the Isle of Man yesterday.
The English pro outlasted a 402-runner field and pocketed a score of £57,484 after besting a top-notch final table at the Villa Marina in Douglas.
The final eight included four former UKIPT Main Event finalists as well as pair of winners. None could match Hart though, who collected the biggest live win of his career.
There was a congested look to the chip counts heading into the final day with five of the finalists having a stack of over 1m chips. Ludovic Geilich, one of the five, was the first to depart. The 2013 UKIPT Marbella winner dropped a chunk of change with jacks against ace-king and lost the rest to Hart who had his raggy ace dominated.
The prolific Thomas Ward was next out. The Englishman was playing at his 12th(!) UKIPT final table but hit the rail in seventh and was joined soon after by start-of-day leader Josef Snejberg. Hart was once again the destroyer, crushing the Czech player's aces after hitting two-pair.
Hart's room mate Marc Radgen was next to head to the cashiers' cage, running A10 into local player Dave Hill's AK. Fintan Gavin's quest for a second UKIPT win stalled in fourth. The 2011 Edinburgh champ tried to make a bold move with Q9 suited but was looked by Hart's AJ which held.
A home win looked on the cards at that stage, with Dave Hill holding a big lead. He lost that advantage after calling Hart's three-bet shove with 89. He still had hope as Hart only had pocket threes but the board bricked to send the momentum to the Englishman. Hotel manager Hill exited soon after, £30,200 to the good.
That left Hart to battle it out with Ireland's Ciaran Heaney for the title. The pair agreed a chop to virtually split the cash, with £5,000 left on top for the victor. Hart took control early on and sealed victory when his Ah3h prevailed against the Irishman's KhJd. Heaney pocketed £50,216 for his effort, and very timely it is too as he is due to become a father in the near future.
"My strategy coming into the final was to let players like Geilich and Gavin play some splashy poker and hopefully lose some chips whilst I just wanted to play solid poker,” Hart told the PokerStars blog, adding, "Really I ran pretty good."
The UKIPT Isle of Man Positions and Payouts were as follows:
1st. Josh Hart, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £57,484
2nd. Ciaran Heaney, Ireland, PokerStars Qualifier, £50,216
3rd David Hill, Isle of Man, PokerStars Qualifier, £30,200
4th Fintan Gavin, Ireland, PokerStars Player, £24,400
5th Marc Radgen, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier, £19,300
6th. Josef Snejberg, Czech Republic, PokerStars Player, £14,900
7th. Thomas Ward, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £11,120
8th. Ludovic Geilich, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £8,000
There's not long to wait until the next UKIPT action. The tour heads to London this week with the first of two opening flights at the Grand Connaught Rooms starting at noon on Wednesday.
Image courtesy of Danny Maxwell at the PokerStars Blog.