Iaron Lightbourne Wins partypoker WPT UK Main Event for £200,000

Iaron Lightbourne is the newest member of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club. He defeated his good friend Craig McCorkell in heads-up action to take the £200,000 first prize and a seat in the $15,400 WPT Tournament of Champions in the Seminole Hard Rock, Florida.

Lightbourne started the final table as the chip leader. He lost that lead to Fraser Bellamy but never drifted out of the top two spots throughout the entirety of the competition.

Final Table Chip Counts

Seat 1: Craig McCorkell – 1,685,000
Seat 2: Andrew Seden – 2,390,000
Seat 3: Chi Zhang – 2,470,000
Seat 4: Iaron Lightbourne – 2,900,000
Seat 5: Russell Betts – 1,105,000
Seat 6: Fraser Bellamy – 2,655,000

The player off to the poorest start was Chi Zhang. Nothing went right for the former chip leader, and it was no surprise when he exited in sixth place. Bellamy was carrying the axe, and his 88>Qto elimination put him in charge of the contest from that moment.

The fifth place finisher was Russell Betts. The least experienced player at the final table headed to the rail after turning a straight, and calling an all-in bet on the river, only to see McCorkell turning over a flush.

Andrew Seden was out in fourth. He moved all-in holding pocket nines and that man Bellamy was ready and waiting with pocket queens. Nobody has a better record at Dusk till Dawn (DTD) than Fraser Bellamy, and with all the chips he looked a very likely champion at this point.

If Bellamy was looking like championship material, it was McCorkell who looked likely to finish third. Then he doubled through Lightbourne and Bellamy. The latter never fully recovered and he would go from chip leader to third place finisher after getting it in with losing out against the pocket jacks of Lightbourne.

That exit left two great friends to battle it out for the £200,000 first prize. It lasted three hands. McCorkell got it in with and Lightbourne was happy to see five cards holding pocket sevens. The pocket pair held up, and Lightbourne became the newest champion.

Final Table Results

1st. Iaron Lightbourne – £200,000 ($15,400 seat to WPT Tournament of Champions)
2nd. Craig McCorkell – £140,000
3rd. Fraser Bellamy – £90,000
4th. Andrew Seden – £65,000
5th. Russell Betts – £50,000
6th. Chi Zhang £40,000