The GUKPT Summer Series main event at the G Casino in Coventry has been won by 33-year old Frenchman Thomas Besnier. He defeated a field of 84 players in the £300 no limit Texas hold’em poker tournament to take down the first prize of £8,200 and claim a seat in the tour’s £100,000 Champion of Champions tournament. Besnier, a sports agent from Tours, near Paris is the Frencman to win a GUKPT event, but has visited the UK on several occasions to play on the tour.His compatriot and travelling companion Julien Bardet also made the final, finishing in 8th place. Besnier commented that he likes to come to play in these events because the structure is so much better than they are used to getting in France. His heads up opponent was Mark Deacon from Leicester, who was playing in his first ever GUKPT event. The heads up stage of the tournament went on for over two hours, but after a monster pot with A-8 versus K-T, Besnier left his opponent with not enough to make up the small blind. Two hands later he emerged victorious with an unlikely holding of 3-2 versus Q-T. A board of 4-6-J-J-5 gave Besnier a straight and brought the tournament to a conclusion.

Andrew O’Flaherty from Leeds, who has previously graced an EPT main event final table, finished in third place, while Rotherham’s Paul Rayner was fourth. John Exley from Barnsley who finished 5th was the only player on the nine-man final table to have previously made a final table on the GUKPT. Chris Gavriel, Barry MacDonald, Julien Bardet and Dilbir Sahota completed the final table line up, finishing in 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th places respectively.

The Summer Series is now complete for 2009, but the main tour continues this week at the Grosvenor casino in Cardiff, which plays hosty to the 7th leg of this year’s tour. the last time the tour visited cardiff was in 2007 where former Eastenders actor Michael Greco claimed victory. The festival starts on Monday 31st August with a £200 nl hold’em freezeout, while the £1,000 main event gets underway on Thursday 3rd September.

The Result

Place  - Player  - Prize
1st  - Thomas Besnier  - £8,200
2nd  - Mark Deacon  - £5,480
3rd  - Andrew O’Flaherty  - £3,740
4th  - Paul Rayner  - £2,240
5th  - John Exley  - £1,680
6th  - Chris Gavriel  - £1,310
7th  - Barry MacDonald  - £1,000
8th  - Julien Bardet  - £750
9th  - Dilbir Sahota  - £500

The final two players are Thomas Besnier and Mark Deacon. Thomas has a 2-1 chip advantage and even though there are reports that a deal was made with three players left (Andrew O’Flaherty went in 3rd), they are still taking their time over this final stage of the tournament.

Sorry about the lack of updates, but the live feed is there for anyone wanting to follow hand by hand action. There are now three players left and the dinner break will be starting soon. The players left are mark Deacon, Andrew O’Flaherty and Thomas Besnier. 8th was Julien Bardet, Barry MacDonald, Chris Gavriel, John Exley and Paul Rayner were 7th, 6th, 5th & 4th respectively.

Dilbir Sahota has gone in 9th place for £500.

Watch the live stream on A World of Poker

The final table has now been reached and these are the 9 players who will contest it.

Seat  - Player  - Chips
1  - Julian Bardet  - 56,800
2  - Barry MacDonald  - 85,200
3  - John Exley  - 48,600
4  - Mark Deacon  - 57,200
5  - Dilbir Sahota  - 30,000
6  - Andrew O’Flaherty  - 44,700
7  - Thomas Besnier  - 113,800
8  - Paul Rayner  - 237,400
9  - Chris Gavriel  - 151,400

The second day is about to get underway. There are two tables left with six on each, which gives us a grand total of 12 players, three of whom will leave with nothing. The last nine will contest the final table, which will take place on the stage of the casino’s Lady G showbar. Here is today’s seating plan.

Table  - Seat  - Player  - Chips
1  - 1  - Mark Deacon  - 57200
1  - 2  - David Griffiths  - 18800
1  - 3  - Thomas Besnier  - 88900
1  - 4  - Dilbir Sahota  - 46500
1  - 5  - Barry MacDonald  - 70700
1  - 6  - Julian Bardet  - 66800
2  - 1  - Paul Rayner  - 116500
2  - 2  - Andrew O’Flaherty  - 54800
2  - 3  - Steve Jelinek  - 76800
2  - 4  - Piers Shepperson  - 28500
2  - 5  - John Exley  - 60700
2  - 6  - Chris Gavriel  - 144800

With Mickey Wernick going out in 13th place just minutes before the end of the day (K-8 versus John Exley’s pocket aces), that left us with 12 players, who will resume play at 2pm tomorrow. Here are the chip counts of those surviving players.

Player  - Chips
Chris Gavriel  - 144800
Paul Rayner  - 116500
Thomas Besnier  - 88900
Steve Jelinek  - 76800
Barry MacDonald  - 70700
Julian Bardet  - 66800
John Exley  - 60700
Mark Deacon  - 57200
Andrew O’Flaherty  - 54800
Dilbir Sahota  - 46500
Piers Shepperson  - 28500
David Griffiths  - 18800

Day 1 is nearly over. There are 15 minutes left to play and 14 players remain. Full chip counts of the survivors will be posted once their chips have been bagged. Play will recommence tomorrow at 2pm.

17 players left now and they are playing level 11, which has blinds of 1,000-2,000 and a running ante of 200. Unless the final is reached sooner, they will be playing to the end of level 12 tonight, which wil take us to about 2.30am.

Players still in include Chris Gavriel, Steve Jelinek and Mickey Wernick.

Not literally, glady because the sight of an 18-stone plus man running nude around the card room is not something most of us would like to see, but he is miles ahead in poker terms with a stack that would be well above average for the final.

Table  - Seat  - Player  - End of Level 9
2  - 5  - Chris Gavriel  - 123200
3  - 1  - Paul Raymer  - 60000
2  - 8  - Andrew O’Flaherty  - 58200
1  - 6  - Mickey Wernick  - 52200
3  - 2  - Mark Deacon  - 44200
3  - 6  - Steve Jelinek  - 44200
1  - 4  - Barry MacDonald  - 39300
3  - 8  - Shamil Patel  - 38300
2  - 7  - Clive Beale  - 36700
3  - 4  - David Griffiths  - 36600
2  - 4  - Dilbir Sahota  - 34000
1  - 5  - John Hopkins  - 27400
1  - 9  - John Exley  - 27400
2  - 9  - Julian Bardet  - 27400
1  - 10  - Surinder Sunar  - 25100
1  - 3  - Lee Wright  - 21500
2  - 6  - Peter Evans  - 21200
2  - 1  - David Dodds  - 20700
2  - 2  - Piers Shepperson  - 18200
3  - 3  - Stephen Palmer  - 17800
1  - 8  - Thomas Besnier  - 13700
1  - 7  - Susan O’Connor  - 13200
2  - 3  - Toni Dicesare  - 13100
3  - 7  - Anthony Douglas  - 9900
3  - 5  - Wendy Parry  - 9600