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Tony Phillips wins the GUKPT Newcastle

By Philip Tuck

over a quarter of the chips in play were in his stack as the nine man final table began

Tony becomes the youngest GUKPT winner ever

PokerVerdict's very own Tony Phillips has taken down the GUKPT Newcastle for a cool £47,200. Outlasting a 151 player field, Phillips was both the overnight chip leader, as well as the final table chip leader, and he needed little encouragement to keep accumulating chips, ending up stoking the action in the fastest ever GUKPT final table. To put in perspective how big a chip lead he had when the final table started, over a quarter of the chips in play were in his stack as the nine man final table began.

Success in the GUKPT is nothing new for Phillips, having finished as a runner up in an event in the 2008 tour. His win in Newcastle makes him the youngest ever GUKPT winner, and further cements his reputation as one of the hottest young prospects in the UK.

Phillips beat Steve Jelinek in a short heads up battle, getting in a classic race situation with ace jack versus Jelinek's pocket nines. A jack on the flop and no miracle nine on the turn or river secured the win. The final table and heads up action was so quick that the tournament actually finished before the dinner break – a very rare thing indeed on the GUKPT.

We will be getting an in depth interview with Tony Phillips later in the week about his strategy once he got to the final table, how to play big chip leads and what it feels like to win one of the big live tournaments. Here at PokerVerdict we would also like to congratulate Tony on becoming the youngest GUKPT winner in history, an achievement made all the more remarkable by the incredibly emphatic and decisive manner in which it was obtained. Well Done Tony.