Sergio Aido Wins UKIPT London For £144k

Spain’s Sergio Aido has won the UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) London, after defeating a field of 1,099 players over six days to capture the title, and collect the £144,555 ($215,632) first place prize.
The young pro only cashed in at his first live tournament in July 2012, but by Otober had taken down the €1,500 WPT National in Barcelona for €88,500 ($115,240). With his latest victory in London Aido now takes his live career earnings to $369,621.
The £770 buy-in London Main Event took place at ‘The Victoria Grosvenor’ Casino and managed to attract a large enough field to create a prize pool worth £745,542. By the time the final table of eight had been set on Sunday, Sergio Aido was lying 5th in chips, but as he commented on at the time “all players have chips to play with.”
Before long Aido propelled himself to chip leader having first won an uncontested half million chip pot against Philippe Souki, before doubling his stack up holding pocket tens to Chris Dowling’s A-K.
Patrick Simcoe (K-9) subsequently took Dowling’s (Q-7) remaining chips to eliminate him in 8th (£12,691), before being dealt K-K and sending Cesar Garcia (J-J) to the rail in 7th (£15,050).
Next, Sergio Aido (5-3) took the reigns once more by eliminating a short-stacked Guy Goosens (2-2) in 6th (£22,490). Aido was then dealt pocket sevens, which was good enough to knock out Wim Neys (A-9) in 5th for £33,680.
Thomas Ward (7-7) then joined the fray by sending Philippe Souki (10-9) out of the competition in 4th (£44,870), and a while later Sergio Aido (K-10) eliminated Patrick Simcoe (A-3) in 3rd (£63,560) to force the heads-up phase of the tournament.
At this stage Aido had a 10 million to 6.2 million chip advantage over England’s Thomas Ward. However, after Ward took the lead Aido doubled-up holding A-J to Ward’s K-Q, and the very next hand both players were all-in again pre-flop with Aido once more with A-J, but this time up against the pocket tens of his opponent. Unfortunately for Ward, an ace hit on the flop and after another fell on the river he had to settle for a runner-up finish worth £116,845, while Sergio Aido was crowned the 2013 UKIPT London champion.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1. Sergio Aido – £144,555
2. Thomas Ward – £116,845
3. Patrick Simcoe – £63,560
4. Philippe Souki – £44,870
5. Wim Neys – £33,680
6. Guy Goosens – £22,490
7. Cesar Garcia – £15,050
8. Chris Dowling – £12,691