Ioannis Angelou-Konstas Triumphs at partypoker LIVE MILLIONS UK For £940k

The 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS UK took place at the Dusk Till Dawn club in Nottingham from September 29th to October 7th, and featured a five-event schedule culminating in the conclusion of its £5,300 Main Event this weekend. The tournament attracted an impressive 1,015 player field, and in the end it was Greek pro Ioannis Angelou-Konstas who would eventually walk away with the title, as well as a massive first place prize of £940,000 ($1,316,551).

“I am in shock, I literally am in shock I think,” stated Ioannis following the win. “I tried to compose myself all day and yesterday night. I slept alright; I slept like six hours. But I tried to keep cool because I knew, even though I was first in the chip counts, that doesn’t mean you’ll win. So, you have to play your best. And I did, and I got lucky.”

Ioannis Angelou-Konstas

The Greek player’s previous biggest score was recorded at the 2017 WSOP $888 NLHE Crazy Eights after finishing in 4th place for $257,888. Following his latest victory, Ioannis Angelou-Konstas now boasts $2,191,472 in carer winnings. It also propels him from number 11 to 3 on Greece’s ‘All Time Money List’, just behind Georgios Sotiropoulos ($2,606,161) and Georgios Zisimopoulos ($2,226,388).

£5,300 Main Event

Despite the partypoker Millions UK Main Event’s sizeable field, its overall prize pool was still £77,250 below its original £5 million guarantee. A total of 127 money places would subsequently be available, with notable cashes including Manig Loeser in 106th (£10,300), Joao Vieira in 99th (£12,500), Andy Black in 68th (£15,000), Dominik Panka in 55th (£15,000), Maria Lampropulos in 53rd (£15,000), Max Silver in 42nd (£17,500), Patrick Leonard in 23rd (£25,000), and Kristen Bicknell in 18th (£30,000).

Ten-handed play then saw Alex Foxen (Q-Q) raise preflop, inducing an all-in shove from James Atkin holding pocket sevens. Foxen snap-called, and after the dealer laid out a 5-K-8-2-J board, Atkin exited the competition in 10th (£40,000), while the final table of nine was officially reached.

Final Table

The final table was stacked with top pros, including the 2013 WSOP Main Event Champion Ryan Riess and fellow US pro Alex Foxen, UK pros Sam Grafton and Tom Hall, France’s Antoine Labat, and, of course, Greece’s Ioannis Angelou-Konstas.

John Haigh (A-10) started out by eliminating Riess (K-J) in 9th, followed by Dara O’Kearney in 8th. Three and a half hours later, however, Foxen and Hall, both holding A-K hands, ousted Haigh from the competition in 7th, albeit for his biggest score to date worth £100,000.

It was then the turn of Angelou-Konstas to enter the fray, with the player proceeding to eliminate Michael Wang (6th), followed by Sam Grafton (5th), Tom Hall (4th), and Antoine Labat (3rd) to usher in heads-up play against Foxen for the title.

Heads-Up Recap

Angelou-Konstas entered the final stretch holding a commanding 90% of all the chips left in play. Ten minutes later, though, Foxen managed a much needed double up with pocket sixes against Angelou-Konstas’s Q-9, after which the duo agreed to split the prize money £840,000 to £720,000, while leaving £100,000 and the trophy for the eventual winner.

The deciding moment arrived twenty minutes later during a hand in which Angelou-Konstas (Q-J) check called Foxen (8-8) all the way on a K-A-4-3-10 board. The final check, however, saw Angelou-Konstas re-raise his opponent’s bet all-in, and following much deliberation, Foxen eventually called, only to see that his competitor was not in fact bluffing after all. Ioannis Angelou-Konstas was subsequently crowned the 2018 LIVE MILLIONS UK champion, representing his second tournament win of the year. In March, Ioannis also took  down the WPT DeepStacks Brussels €1,200 Main Event for €75,000 ($93,095).

Final Table Results

1: Ioannis Angelou-Konstas (Greece) £940,000
2: Alex Foxen (USA) £720,000
3: Antoine Labat (Fra) £440,000
4: Tom Hall (U.K.) £300,000
5: Sam Grafton (U.K.) £205,850
6: Michael Wang (USA) £140,000
7: John Haigh (U.K.) £100,000
8: Dara O’Kearney (Ire) £70,000
9: Ryan Riess (USA) £50,000