After four long, hard fought days of poker, 22-year-old Sam Trickett has taken down the sixth leg of the GUKPT at the G Casino in Luton. He defeated a field of 376 players to win the £106,000 first prize and a seat in the tour’s £3,000 Grand Final. Sam faced a tricky final table that included Martin Green, David La Ronde, Stuart Rutter and top darts player Wayne Mardle. La Ronde had gone into the nine-handed final as the chip leader, a position he had occupied for much of the tournament, with Trickett in a handy second place. Although the lead changed hands several times during the final, it was these two who eventually found themselves heads up after over six hours of play. However, the heads up encounter proved to be as short-lived as possible as it was all over on the very first hand. Trickett held a slight chip advantage and it proved decisive as his A-Q was too good for La Ronde’s A-7. The chips had all made their way into the middle pre-flop after a series of raises and re-raises. An ace and a queen on the flop left David drawing thin and a deuce on the turn left him drawing dead.

Sam is the youngest winner of a GUKPT main event and this win follows a successful trip to the WSOP where he picked up $245,000 for a fourth place finish in a $5,000 Hold’em event. The Nottingham youngster was delighted at the win and said that this boost to his bankroll will help him further his career as a professional player and help him to stay in the game for many years to come.

The tour now moves north as the seventh leg of the year will be staged in the Grosvenor Casino in Bolton from 1st –7th of September. Players can qualify online for the £1,000 main event on tour sponsor Blue Square’s online poker site. Second placed David La Ronde did just that and converted his $109 buy-in into a massive £62,000 payday.