Evans claims GPS Grand Final crown

Mark Evans walked away from the Genting Club Sheffield £54,060 richer after beating Tom Langley heads-up to become GPS Grand Final champion.

Just 14 players from the 255-runner field returned for the final day's play with Dahe Liu leading the way on 1,086,000 and Yucel “Mad Turk” Eminoglu in second place on 993,000.

And that was still the order when play reached the nine-handed final table, with Liu having doubled his stack to 2,284,000 and Eminoglu on 1,281,000. Dom Mahoney had moved into third place on 1,122,000, with Will Kassouf in fourth place on 733,000, followed by Jamie O'Connor (696,000), James Conway (577,000) and Evans on 520,000. Langley was in eighth place with 425,000 chips and Guy Taylor the short stack on 294,000.

It took an hour of play before Taylor pushed all-in for 15 big blinds with pocket sixes and Kassouf re-shoved with aces, the rockets holding to see Taylor as the final table's first elimination.

Eighth place went to Conway who also ran a pair into an over-pair, his pocket eights proving no match for Evans' kings on a 10-4-A-3-9 board.

Mahoney busted in seventh place after raising to 60,000 with pocket nines and Liu three-bet from the button with A-Q. Mahoney shipped his stack and Liu called, with the 3-4-5 flop giving him a gutshot straight draw. But Liu paired his ace on the turn and a seven on the river sent Mahoney's chips his way.

Emingolu was the next to hit the rail losing a flip with pocket fives to Langley, who called Eminoglu's all-in with A-J, the board running out A-9-6-2-J to knock the “Mad Turk” out in sixth place.

O'Connor exited in fifth place after his three-bet over Evans' 80,000 opening raise was called by Evans, who check-called the AH-AS-JS flop after a 75,000 bet from O'Connor.

The turn brought the 9H, with Evans jamming all-in for 900,000 and O'Connor tanking before calling off his remaining 800,000 chips with J-10 only to see Evans flip over A-4 for trip aces. A queen on the river brought no salvation for O'Connor.

Four-handed play lasted almost three hours and ended with Kassouf moving all-in for around seven big blinds from the small blind with QC-10C and Langley calling with A-6. The JC-6C-Q flop hit both players, with the king on the turn giving Langley more outs and a six on the river sending Kassouf home in fourth place.

Liu exited in third when he pushed his 450,000 stack into the middle with J-9 and Evans called with K-8. Neither player improved on the 3-3-2-Q-6 board and it was game over for Liu.

As play entered the heads-up stage Evans held a 5,925,000 to 2,025,000 chip lead over Langley and the end was soon nigh for him when a 9H-JD-3D flop saw all the chips go in the middle with Langley holding JH-7H and Evans JS-9C. The 3H on the turn gave Langley outs to a flush, but the 8D on the river was the right colour but wrong suit, leaving Evans to be crowned the 2014 GPS Grand Final champion.

Genting Poker Series Grand Final, 10-14 December
1 Mark Evans £54,060
2 Tom Langley £36,720
3 Dahe Liu £24,480
4 Will Kassouf £14,680
5 Jamie O'Connor £11,520
6 Yucel Eminoglu £8,970
7 Dom Mahoney £6,930
8 James Conway £5,400
9 Guy Taylor £3,870