Simon Brandstrom Wins World Poker Tour United Kingdom Main Event

Simon Brandstrom has won the 2019 World Poker Tour United Kingdom $3,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. The 37-year-old player from Goteborg, Sweden outlasted a field of 690 total entries to secure his third title of the year, earning $330,000 for his latest victory.

Earlier this year, Brandstrom took down the WPT DeepStacks Barcelona event for $305,529, becoming the first player to ever win both WPT DeepStacks and WPT main tour event titles. Brandstrom followed that up by winning the European Poker Tour Barcelona main event, overcoming a record-setting field of 1,232 total entries to win more than $1.4 million.

Brandstrom was awarded 960 Card Player Player of the Year points for his most recent win. The score was enough to see him climb into eighth place in the overall 2019 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

The final day began with Brandstrom holding the chip lead with nine players remaining. Joining Brandstrom at the final table was 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event winner Maria Lampropulos and high-stakes tournament regular Manig Loeser.

Brandstrom ended Loeser’s run in seventh place, making two pair with K9 to best the AQ of the German pro. Loeser earned $58,500 for his deep run in this event.

Lampropulos got her last chips in with A2, only to run into the 88 of James Rann. Neither player improved on a KQ756 runout and Lampropulos was knocked out as the fifth-place finisher ($98,500).

Ryan Mandara eliminated Matthew Eardley in fourth place ($128,500) to take the chip lead heading into three-handed play. He then picked up pocket sevens and called the all-in of Rann, who held A2. The board brought kings and fives, but Mandara’s superior two pair played to earn him the pot. Rann took home $168,500 as the third-place finisher.

Mandara began heads-up play with the lead, buy Brandstrom was able to quickly fight his way back to the top of the counts. The final hand saw Mandara pick up J10 on the button and raise to 650,000. Brandstrom defended his big blind with 97. The flop came down 973 and Brandstrom checked. Mandara bet 550,000 and Brandstrom called with his two pair. The 4 hit the turn and Brandstrom check-called again, this time to the tune of 1,600,000. The K on the river prompted another check from Brandstrom. Mandara thought things over before moving all-in as a bluff for 7,700,000. Brandstrom made the call with his nines and sevens to secure the pot and the title. Mandara earned $221,650 as the runner-up finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: WPT / Tomas Stacha.