Thomas Postlethwaite returned to the Hippodrome Casino in London's Leicester Square on 13 April 2014 along with 90 other players who nursed ambitions of being the latest UKIPT Series champion, but it was the man from Cambridge who lifted the trophy and took the plaudits at the end of the day.
In total 312 runners took part over the course of three first-day flights, with Victor Ilyukhin the chip leader going into Sunday, but unfortunately the poker gods were not on his side and he eventually busted out on the money bubble.
Postlethwaite emerged victorious after a final heads-up battle with Sam Darkin, where Postlethwaite put together a run of hands that would sweep him to the trophy and £14,790 after an early period of cautious play from both protagonists. But Darkin had been growing increasingly under pressure, having lost a sequence of hands in a row.
Firstly, he three bet to 270,000 after Postlethwaite opened to 130k. Postlethwaite called.
On a QD-10D-4C board, Darkin led for 300,000, only for Postlethwaite to make it 750,000. Darkin mucked and Postlethwaite had taken a big chunk out of his stack.
Darkin also lost the next few small pots, leaving Postlethwaite with a 4.5 million to 1.5 million advantage and then the fireworks began when Postlethwaite raised to 170,000 on the button and Darkin called.
The board fell 5C-3D-2S, with Darkin leading out for 200,000 and Postelthwaite calling. The turn brought the 4H and Darkin pushed all-in. Postlethwaite called and Darkin was at risk in the first all-in of the heads-up duel.
AS-3H for Postlethwaite for the straight, whilst Darkin was on an airball bluff with JS-8D. He was drawing almost dead although a six or ace would given him a chop. But no luck, the river bricked and Postlethwaite's straight saw him take the trophy.
Darkin had to make do with a cheque for £9,400 for his second-place finish.
On the final table Adam Carroll, Richard Paul and Javier Perez Estevez made relatively quick exits in ninth, eighth and seventh respectively with Darkin and Alejandro Perez Torres chipping up inpressively, Torres looking to add to his EPT final table bubble performance earlier in the year.
But after Tobias Kirby-Hogarty departed in fifth and Allan Pike followed him out of the door in fourth spot, Torres couldn't keep up the momentum and ran foul of Darkin's quads to bust out in third for £7,040.
The next UKIPT event will see the tour visit the Dusk Till Dawn cardroom for UKIPT Nottingham, with the main event starting on 7 May.
UKIPT Series 4 final table
1st Thomas Postlethwaite £14,790
2nd Sam Darkin £9,400
3rd Alejandro Perez Torres £7,040
4th Allan Pike £5,700
5th Tobias Kirby-Hogarty £4,490
6th Philip Szeto £3,430
7th Javier Perez Estevez £2,520
8th Richard Paul £1,850
9th Adam Carroll £1,520
