GUKPT Wasall Winner

Online qualifier Jerome Bradpiece has won leg 2 of the GUKPT in Walsall. The 23-year old from London turned pro only 8 months ago and in taking down the £121,600 prize has notched up his first major victory. Jerome was the overnight chip leader and remained in pole position for almost all of the gruelling 12-hour final day. He was one of 12 players who returned for the third day of the tournament and steadily increased his stack throughout the day.

Going into the final Jerome had a commanding advantage over his nearest rival with over 25% of the 3.6 million chips in play. He defeated fellow online qualifier Billy Ngo, a 28-year old IT specialist from Manchester, in a very short heads up encounter that lasted only three hands. In the third hand Jerome raised after Billy had flat called from the small blind. Billy moved all in and after a spot of table banter between the two, Jerome called. He had A-J to Billy's A-8 and after five cards on the board that helped neither player, Jerome emerged victorious as the winner of the biggest £1,000 No Limit Hold'em Poker Tournament ever staged in the UK.

Third place went to Mohammed Shafiq, a vocal and entertaining player from Blackburn. Shaft, as he is known to his friends kept the final lively with a constant stream of table chat that bordered on vulgar at times but was largely amusing. However, most of that is likely to be edited out of the Channel 4 coverage when it is broadcast later this year. 19-year old Dan Carter took 4th place while Des Jonas, a local player and the crowd favourite finished in 5th. 6th place went to Pete ‘The Bandit' Evans, who famously finished runner up to Devilfish in the first series of Late Night poker 8 years ago. The Hendon Mob's Joe Beevers was the seventh placed player while Irishman John Conroy and Ganesh Rao completed the final table in 8th and 9th places respectively.

Runner-up Billy "The Kid" Ngo qualified online via a $27 satellite and rushed off shortly after the final finished, insisting that his boss expected him back at work at 9.00 am sharp. Conversely Jerome, who had been down on his luck in recent months and had only a tenner in his pocket all weekend decided that having just picked up a life changing six-figure sum, a spot of celebration was in order. Last November Jerome made the final table of the €5,000 Masters Classic in Amsterdam but was knocked out in 9th place after only three hands. His win here has more than made up for that disappointment.

Qualify for Blue Sqaures GUKPT 2008