Iaron Lightbourne is the newest member of the WPT Champions Club after defeating his good friend Craig McCorkell heads-up to win the partypoker WPT UK Main Event at Dusk Till Dawn. Lightbourne earned the £200,000 first-place prize and a coveted $15,400 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL.
Lightbourne started the final table as the chip leader and lost the lead briefly to Fraser Bellamy, but never drifted out of the top two spots throughout the entire final day.
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
Chi Zhang stumbled out of the gate at the final table, and nothing went right for the former chip leader. He exited in sixth place when he lost a race to Bellamy, and fifth-place finisher was Russell Betts. Betts headed to the rail after turning a straight, and calling an all-in bet on the river, only to see McCorkell turn over a flush.
Andrew Seden was out in fourth when he moved all in holding pocket nines and that man Bellamy was ready and waiting with pocket queens.
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. The heads-up battle only lasted three hands, and 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
Off of the felt during the partypoker WPT UK festival, players enjoyed the Halloween Party where we turned the partypoker lounge into a notorious scene from the film Dusk Till Dawn. Everyone in attendance got in the ‘spirit’ with ghostly make-up and extreme vampire and zombie costumes, thanks to the expert special effects make-up artists on hand.
Check out the pictures on Flickr and Facebook.
European WPT National festivals will continue in November with PMU.fr WPT National Paris, partypoker WPT National Kazakhstan, as well as Gioco Digitale WPT National Venice in December.
The full list of upcoming WPT events can be found here.
Looking to book you next hotel stay for a WPT National event? Head to WPT Travel for the best available rates.