
The UKIPT/ESPT Malaga has come to an in depth on the Gran Madrid On line casino Torrequebrada. It has been seven days of poker within the solar concluding with two of the most important and most prestigious occasions of the competition.
Sam Grafton battled to a first-place end within the UKIPT/ESPT Malaga β¬3,300 Tremendous Excessive Curler whereas Artus Gimenez gained the ESPT/UKIPT Malaga β¬1,100 Principal Occasion.
These two victories wrapped up the Malaga leg of the tour, however the UKIPT can be again for a London sequence in August and the ESPT has a cease in Barcelona scheduled for later that very same month.
Grafton Wins The Tremendous Excessive Curler

Sam Grafton added one other title to his poker resume with a victory within the β¬3,300 Tremendous Excessive Curler at UKIPT/ESPT Malaga.
Grafton topped a 77-player subject to defeat Italy’s Candido Cappielo heads-up, profitable β¬62,450 and his first event victory since August 2023.
It has been week for the PokerStars Ambassador; that is his second remaining desk in Malaga. He additionally completed third within the UKIPT/ESPT Malaga β¬2,200 Excessive Curler, taking residence β¬37,500.
His deep run within the Tremendous Excessive Curler noticed him clinch one other PokerStars Dwell event victory. Grafton is not any stranger to event victories, holding an Aussie Thousands and thousands ring, a PokerStars Competition title and the Coin Rivet Invitational title.
The Coin Rivet Invitational consequence was the biggest of his profession and noticed him take residence $5,500,000 β solely his second seven-figure rating ever.
Sam Grafton: The 5 And a Half Million Greenback Man
UKIPT/ESPT Malaga β¬3,300 Tremendous Excessive Curler Closing Desk Outcomes
Place | Participant | Nation | Payout (EUR) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Sam Grafton | United Kingdom | β¬ 62,450 |
2 | Candido Cappielo | Italy | β¬ 40,300 |
3 | Ali Muthana Al-Kubasi | Iraq | β¬ 28,800 |
4 | Jose Gonzalez Sanchez | Spain | β¬ 22,140 |
5 | Tian Mengshi | China | β¬ 17,030 |
6 | Anton Gililov | Russia | β¬ 13,540 |
7 | Adria Colomina Guitart | Spain | β¬ 10,830 |
8 | Alexandru Cinca | Romania | β¬ 8,660 |
9 | Yerevan Sargysan | Armenia | β¬ 6,930 |
Pop the Cava! Artus Gimenez Wins Principal Occasion!

A record-breaking ESPT/UKIPT Malaga β¬1,100 Principal Occasion concluded with a home-grown winner. Artus Gimenez beat a subject of 1,146 entries to raise the gorgeous trophy and pocket a prize of β¬145,000.
He defeated Polandβs Tomasz Wrobel heads-up. Nevertheless, Wrobel took the lion’s share of a deal between the 2 with β¬156,200.
The ESPT/UKIPT Malaga occasion was an enormous success, offering gamers with loads of actions all through their keep. These included soccer, paddle ball, beer pong, and karaoke. The return to the Costa Del Sol created the most important Estrellas Poker Tour subject exterior of EPT Barcelona.
Talking to native Spanish media, Gimenez stated, “I performed my easiest poker and ran very nicely as we speak. I can be taking part in at EPT Barcelona after profitable a Gold Go and hope to have continued success for the remainder of the 12 months.”
ESPT/UKIPT Malaga Principal Occasion Closing Desk Outcomes
Place | Participant | Nation | Prize (EUR) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Artus Gimenez | Italy | β¬145,000* |
2 | Tomasz Wrobel | Italy | β¬156,200* |
3 | Ricard Gonzalez | Spain | β¬82,800 |
4 | Guido Pieraccini | Spain | β¬63,680 |
5 | Giulio Astarita | Sweden | β¬48,900 |
6 | Raffaele Sorrentino | Spain | β¬37,600 |
7 | Rafael Anera Ruiz | Poland | β¬28,900 |
8 | Giovanni Bellini | Italy | β¬22,300 |
9 | Pia Fransson | Italy | β¬17,100 |
*denotes heads-up deal
Story of the Principal Occasion Closing Day

Solely 15 out of 1,146 gamers made it to the ultimate day, with Italian Guido Pieraccini beginning because the overwhelming chip chief. The primary participant to depart was Gasper Perasovic from Croatia. He moved all-in with massive slick and bumped into Ricard Gonzalezβs pocket aces within the second hand of the day.
The following bust out was Pokerstars Spain commentator Alex Romero, after dropping a flip to Venelin Pashev.Toke Mortensen, Laurent Cessy, and Pashev all busted in fast succession, earlier than a lull for 2 hours forward of the following elimination.
Belgian footballer Jordy Vleugels was knocked out subsequent in a hand the place eventual champion Gimenez knocked him out by hitting operating fives.

Principal Occasion Closing Desk Motion
Right down to the ultimate 9 gamers, Gimenez saved searching and knocked out brief stack Pia Fransson to take it right down to eight. Subsequent, poker’s merciless facet reared its head the place each Giovanni Bellini and Rafael Anera Ruiz misplaced their all-ins with pocket jacks β the previous in opposition to pocket nines, the latter in opposition to a flush.
2017 PSC Monte Carlo champion Raffaele Sorrentino, essentially the most achieved participant on the remaining desk, was unable to spin up a stack. Quick-stacked, the Italian misplaced a flip to an excitable Gonzalez as his pocket queens misplaced the traditional race in opposition to ace-king.
It was then time for Tomasz Wrobel to rear his head. After eliminating Giulio Astarita, he additionally rivered a straight to ship Guido Pieraccini packing in fourth.

Down to a few, it was Ricard Gonzalez bringing the power, strolling off the characteristic desk to sweat along with his rail each time there was an all-in scenario. Regardless of the liveliness of Gonzalez, he wasn’t capable of get there with ace-queen in opposition to Wrobel’s pocket nines to depart the sector heads-up. The gamers then agreed to a deal.
Within the remaining hand, Wrobel’s ill-timed all-in bluff with queen-trey backfired as Gimenez rivered two pair for the simple name. It was Gimenez’s greatest victory of his profession and his first-ever six-figure rating.
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Managing Editor
Based mostly in the UK, Will began working for PokerNews as a contract stay reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time employees in 2019.
He graduated from the College of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He additionally holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports activities Journalism.