Owen Robinson Finals UKIPT Nottingham

As the UKIPT tour bus stopped in the resplendent Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham, several Black Belt Poker players made the journey north, the likes of Jamie Burland, Jerome Bradpiece and Jack Sambrook all mustard keen to limbo their way through the 650 thick field and take advantage of the mouth-watering £325,000 prize pool.

However, as the smoke began to clear, only one player emerged as a serious threat: Blue Belt Owen Robinson. A former Grader, Owen was one of four players to win an Irish Open package, and was playing in the UKIPT on behalf of Black Belt Poker as part of his $1,500 monthly sponsorship.

Owen started Day Three with a modest 43,500 stack, but managed to survive until the final two tables when the tide suddenly turned. From bottom three to chip leader, Owen turned Terminator as he eliminated Parminder Kandola in 12th (Ac-8d versus Ts-8s all in on a 3s-8c-Kc-9s board), Raymond Chan in 10th (A-2 vs. A-T) and, to take us to the final table, Mark Aldridge in 9th (K-K vs. Q-Q).

The result of which meant that Owen had a near 2.5 million in chips with just eight players remaining:

Owen Robinson – 2,414,000
Graham Giles – 1,807,000
Andros Spyrou – 1,407,000
Andrew Couldridge – 1,206,000
Oliver Schaffmann – 1,018,000
Piotr Majewski – 639,000
Gareth Walker – 506,000
Nicholas Gavriel – 494,000

The final table proved a turbulent affair, and after suffering a handful of setbacks and doubling up Schaffmann who flopped a full house on a 4c-Ac-4s-Ks-9d board, Owen found himself down to 800,000. Despite a fight back that saw him eliminate Majewski in sixth with Ac-6c turning a flush against 5s-5c, Owen ultimately finished in sixth place when his Ac-Ks failed to out coin flip the 6h-6s of eventual winner Andrew Couldridge.

Nevertheless, Owen had turned £500 into £21,400 and put in a highly impressive performance. As a Blue Belt, Owen is also eligible for ‘Winning Points’ – a unique benefit to the higher Belts – meaning 61,950 is returned to his account in the form of Belt Points, which equates to almost three months of Blue Belt sponsorship (i.e. $4,500)!

Our congratulations go out to Owen Robinson. Let’s hope this is the first of many more Black Belt Poker finals in major events.

1st Andrew Couldridge -- £80,000
2nd Oliver Schaffmann -- £46,700
3rd Andros Spyrou -- £30,000
4th Owen Robinson -- £21,400
5th Graham Giles -- £16,500
6th Piotr Majewski -- £13,200
7th Nicholas Gavriel -- £9,900
8th Gareth Walker -- £7,600