Deadman Rises To Win Poker Tournament

A poker player with the chilling name Deadman has just won the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) Blackpool to claim a first place prize worth £49,290 ($78,970). Before anyone asks, though, no, he didn’t close out the tourney with the Dead man’s hand of “Aces and eights” as pocket nines were good enough to defeat his final victim Jack Sandford.
On his way to victory, Simon Deadman managed to overcome a 173 player field over three days to elevate his live career earnings to an impressive $354,508. Amongst the notable pros entering the £1,000 buy-in tournament was such top players as Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, the 2007 WSOP Main Event finalist Jon Kalmar, John Eames and Mike Hill.
By the time the final table of nine had been reached, Simon Deadman was lying in 4th place, behind Luke Reeves, Jack Sandord and Rob Boon. Simon Deadman (A-A) then scored his first elimination against Ian Gascoigne (A-10), who exited in 6th for £8,220, followed by Lucas Reeves in 4th (£12,980), who had doubled Deadman up to the new chip leader.
Three-handed play then came to an end after Deadman (6-6) called Robert Boon’s (5-3) all-in on a Q–Q–3 flop, to herald in heads-up play against Jack Sandford.
At this stage, Deadman held a 3 to 1 lead over his opponent and 30 minutes later it was all over after Deadman was dealt pocket nines to Sandford’s A-5. Sandford subsequently shoved all his chips to the centre of the table on a 10-9-5-2 board, and was called by Deadman, who then became the 2012 GUKPT Blackpool champion. The £49,290 first place prize also represents the biggest score of his poker career.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1 Simon Deadman    £49,290
2 Jack Sandford    £34,170
3 Robert Boon    £21,190
4 Lucas Reeves    £12,980
5 Wahid Patel    £9,950
6 Ian Gascoigne    £8,220
7 Bernard Sevilla £6,490
8 Trevor Reardon £4,760
9 Susan Cheetham £3,460