Andrew Jankowski entered the partypoker WPT National UK Main Event at Dusk Till Dawn with only two live cashes under his belt for a grand total of $1,864. A pub league player, Jankowski qualified for the $1,100 buy-in event through a one-cent qualifier at Dusk Till Dawn — he failed to win a seat on his first two attempts, but, as they say, the third time was the charm.
On Monday, Jankowski was the last player standing at Dusk Till Dawn, turning one penny into $195,210. He topped a field of 886 entries to win the partypoker WPT National UK Main Event, and also earned entry into the £2,200 buy-in partypoker WPT UK Main Tour event.
“The freeroll aspect was incredibly important to me,” Jankowski told Tony Dunst after the victory. “The whole time I was thinking to myself, ‘I’ve got nothing to lose. Go for it.'”
partypoker WPT National UK Final Table
1. Andrew Jankowski, $192,210
2. Daniel Tang, $130,263
3. Steven Game, $86,842
4. George Plarkou, $65,132
5. Terry Jordon, $50,658
6. Matthew Davenport, $39,803
7. Miikka Toikka, $31,842
8. Dinarte DeSousa, $24,605
9. Vivek Gudhka, $18,396
With 38 players returning to battle for the title, the field began by attacking every pot in an effort to build up a chip-stack. There were inevitable early casualties, with players such as Will Jones, who had qualified for the tournament on partypoker for just $0.01 and turning that into an incredible $4,700 for cashing in 30th place. He shoved his last chips into the middle with 
, but George Plarkou turned over 
which held.
Plarkou would end up reaching the final table, but those who fell prior to the final table included Rob Cowen, Andrew Christoforu, Tony Poulengeris, and even Chin Koh, who had a great stack at the start of play. Kih lost when his pocket sevens lost to Dan O’Callaghan’s pocket jacks.
With three tables left, it looked players were tightening up their range in an effort to reach the re-draw, but then Ali Zinhi had two big hands where he lost first the initiative then his stack. Firstly, he ran into the monster hand of a flopped nut straight for Dan O’Callaghan to lose a lot then, with a break approaching, Zinhi shoved all-in from the small blind for 35 big blinds with 
and was snap-called by Andrew Jankowski in the big blind with pocket kings, which held to send Zinhi home. Players such as Andrew Christaforou, Fabian Chauriye and Richard Connolly followed him out of the door. Sylvia Hewitt and Gary Anderson were both eliminated when Hewitt’s queens and Anderson’s pocket eights were crushed pre-flop by Terry Jordon, who looked like he wanted the win more than anyone.
On the final table bubble, Dan O’Callaghan ran into kings, getting 1.6m all-in with 
and Miikka Toikka’s 
held.
Vivek Gudhka was the first to depart at the final table, the short stack of the final nine getting his last into the middle with with 
for just two big blinds from the small blind, but Miikka Toikka called it off in the big blind with 
and the board came 
to counterfeit Vivek’s two-pair on the river and send Gudhka home in ninth.
Dinarte De Sousa was next to go, moving all-in for 1.3m and was re-raised all-in by Steven Game. Everyone got out of the way, and De Sousa held 
to Game’s 
.
The board of 
and meant De Sousa left the tournament in 8th place and he was shortly followed out of the door by Miikka Toikka, whose shove with 
was called by George Plarkou with an ace which spiked on the flop.
Leaving the final in sixth place was Matt Davenport, who moved all-in for 1.7m chips with 
and was called by George Plarkou who held 
.
Through the board of 
, Davenport was dealt out of the tournament and cashed for $39,803, an astonishing third huge cash in two months on the World Poker Tour after Main Event cashes in 3rd and 18th place in Vienna and Amsterdam respectively.
Terry Jordon’s exit in fifth was possibly one of the most important eliminations of the tournament. Jordon raised to 300,000 UTG with 
and got called by George Plarkou in the next seat with before Andrew Jankowski went all-in for 9 million chips with 
! Terry Jordon decided to call for a massive flip, committing his 6 million stack and George got out of the way.
The flop came , putting Jankowski ahead, and the turn and 
river sent Terry Jordon home in 5th place for $50,658. Jankowski had a huge lead, which only got bigger through four-handed play.
George Plarkou was next to bust, when his king paired and he was trapped by Steven Game’s two-pair. And we went heads-up when Steven Game’s 
couldn’t hold when he called Andrew Jankowski’s . A king on the turn sent play heads-up, and into the 14th hour of heads-up play, after 20 minutes of fairly standard raises and folds, Jankowski had slipped a little.
Andrew Jankowski looked as though he wanted a quick end to proceedings and came up with what would turn out to be the fateful final play with an amazing bluff.
After he and Tang went to a flop of 
, Jankowski made an astonishing all-in move with against Daniel Tang’s 
. Tang called with top pair, but the turn was an ace. The river was a blank, and Jankowski was crowned the champion.
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