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Many Happy Returns: Julian Thew Becomes First GUKPT Triple Champion

Julian Thew has bagged an unprecedented third title on the GUKPT over this October weekend at G Casino, Coventry, winning £42,740 – on his birthday, no less.  The (now) 44 year old professional player has a string not only of tournament cashes but of final table appearances around the world so long it would be impossible to list on one page.  It includes wins at Plymouth and Brighton legs of the GUKPT, as well as an EPT title (Baden, 2007) and in total reveals that the relentless player, once nicknamed ‘YoYo’ for his erratically aggressive style, has amassed lifetime winnings of over $2.5 million.

His opposition through all three days of play was truly tough, however, and it was no foregone conclusion that the staggeringly consistent Thew would be able to parlay an average stack on Day 2 into one that could eventually topple the permanent chip leader Rick Trigg.  In total 145 players contested the Coventry title at the Ricoh Arena, and for most of the three days of play Thew hardly graced the limelight of the live coverage.  He was then to put on the quickest display of “how to empty a final table” ever seen on the Tour.

Back to the beginning.  The two starting flights both took place on Friday 14^th October at the Ricoh Arena, with the early bird session starting with 82 runners at midday, while the 6pm second flight brought a further 63 combatants to the tables.  The numbers may have been thinned due to the scrum for WSOPE bracelets occurring across the channel, but the 15,000 starting stack and hour long blind levels still attracted a formidable contingent of the UK’s foremost tournament players.

The field was stocked to the rafters with prior GUKPT title holders.  Among them were power-hitters Paul Foltyn, Chaz Chattha, Tony Cascarino and Priyan De Mel – but all failed to extend their GUKPT credentials, busting out before the money positions.  The seemingly indestructible Julian Thew, however, powered on to the final in an attempt to win his third Main Event trophy on the Tour – something no one has ever achieved.

Following the live reporting on the gukpt.com blog, a pattern emerges: it appeared that Sheffield-born Rick Trigg started as he meant to go on.  He received a double up before the end of the very first level and held the top spot thenceforward – an entire day of chip accumulation leaving him with ten times the chips he’d started with.

In all, 52 players returned to the G Casino to play into the money and beyond on Day 2.  Behind Trigg sat Paul Vasnunes with his own six-figure pile of ammunition; these two were shoulders above the nearest competition in the form of Adrian Eley, Stephen Michael Brown and Luong Bui.  Day 2 was to prove far from an easy ride for the big stacks, and there was some dramatic reshuffling of players from the bottom of the pile to the top, while many who started the day in great shape returned to the rail without cashing.  Most memorable was Jon Kalmar’s rise from fifth from bottom in chips at the start of the day to an 11th place finish for £2,180, while Adriano Liuzzi transformed a 23,600 stack into a final table appearance.

Luong Bui was one of the first early leaders to be eliminated, his two pair falling to David Jones’ gutshot to reduce his stack to rubble and then running 7-7 into Jeff Kimber’s T-T to leave empty-handed.  Vasnunes’ valiant run at the final table ended in a disappointing 19^th place finish as the Classic Race of his Queens vs. the A-K of Adam Wilkinson ended in disaster. 

Both GUKPT sponsored pros, Stuart Rutter and Jeff Kimber, made deep runs in the Main Event.  As the 15 paid places loomed large, the latter fell at the final hurdle.  His A-Q, ahead preflop against David Jones’ K-5 shove, gave him nothing but the bubble after the board hit his opponent.  Rutter, too, looked destined for a cashless Main Event, having doubled up the dangerous Julian Thew with 18 players remaining.  But somehow he hauled himself back into contention (with a little help from the deck – cracking Nicholas Fellone’s Queens with threes helped a decent amount) and parlayed 9,000 in chips into a 5th place finish and £9,060. 

Late on Day 2 the comedy double act of Rick Trigg and Sam Grafton had been in adjacent seats, and between them they’d hoovered up enough chips to put them both into contention for final table spots – which they duly picked up.  When the money bubble burst, Aces quickly put paid to both David Jones and Adrian Eley, and the race for the final was truly on.  It ended with Trigg still out in front.  When the last ten players took their seats together, the chip distribution was rather uneven:

Richard Trigg - 630100
Lee Taylor - 289300
Carl Spicer - 288400
Stephen Michael Brown -188700
Sam Grafton - 181500
Julian Thew - 174900
Stuart Rutter - 125300
Nicholas Fellone - 116300
Brian Sheppard - 98200
Adriano Liuzzi - 86600

The final day started with a rash of short-stack double-ups, but in amongst them was the elimination of Steve Brown in 10^th, when his micro pair (threes) failed to hold all in preflop against Julian Thew’s K-Q.  There were man-hugs in the offing as Sam Grafton clashed fatally with Rick Trigg, whose ‘run-good’ continued as his A-J spiked a pair to send Grafton with his 7-7 to the rail in 9^th (£2,900).  Trigg’s unstoppable force then encountered the immoveable object of Thew, however, and in a 500,000 pot Trigg’s J-J paid the veteran’s K-K so well he lost the chip lead for the first time throughout the entire Main Event!

Both of the players who’d received early final table doubles then hit the rail in quick succession – first Brian Sheppard (8^th) and then Adriano Liuzzi (7^th) boosting the stacks of Carl Spicer and Julian Thew respectively.  Nicholas (Tony) Fellone then exited in 6^th (winning £6,890) after the wind had been taken out of his sails by a late-stage two-outer double up for Stuart Rutter.  Despite the reprieve, Rutter wasn’t to outlast Fellone long – Julian Thew busted him next in 5^th place with A-K picking off his Q-J shove.

Lee Taylor had been responsible for a serious blow to the once-leading Trigg when he hit three of a kind on the flop holding K-7 to double through six-handed.  Half a million in chips was not a stack to be sneezed at, but on a fast and furious final table like the one in Coventry, Taylor’s podium finish was far from certain.  In fact, his chances evaporated when he first doubled up Carl Spicer and then lost a flip to Thew; he finished 4^th winning £11,600.

It was only 6:30pm when the action went heads up, as Carl Spicer picked the wrong moment to three-bet all in over the top of Rick Trigg with Q-T.  Trigg called with A-K and found himself one-on-one with the two time GUKPT champion with a 2:1 chip deficit.  It was not to be for long – on the very first hand Trigg picked up A-K and Thew pocket tens.  The chips flew into the middle and before you could say, “Happy Birthday, Julian” the tournament was over, Trigg picking up £30,090 for the runner up spot and Thew modestly accepting yet another trophy for what is probably rather a full cabinet.