PokerStars brought its UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) to the Rendezvous Casino in Brighton for a 16-event series in September, and one of the most popular poker streamers is the £1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event champion.
Ben “Spraggy” Spragg won £69,120 ($86,400) for being the last player standing at the headliner in Brighton, U.K., that attracted 216 entries (138 rebuys) over three starting days who built a prize-pool of £337,920 ($421,709).
“I no longer feel like an online guy who plays a bit of live,” he told a PokerStars reporter. “I’m just a poker pro. “I’m genuinely really emotional. “I didn’t think I would be because there was such a good atmosphere at the final table, it didn’t feel like a final table. Having Adam McKola there and other players I know, it didn’t feel that intense.”
I AM THE UKIPT BRIGHTON MAIN EVENT WINNER!!
I must be dreaming. ❤️
— Spraggy (@spraggy) September 10, 2023
Spragg’s buddy McKola managed his largest life-time cash for finishing third, but it was the runner-up who Spragg had to be most concerned about. Spraggy may have the viewer numbers, but Dominik Nitsche has the poker hardware and cash-outs: More than $20 million. and three World Series of Poker bracelets.
Not only that, but Nitsche came to the final table with the most chips, while Spragg had the second-least. But pocket aces twice early on will usually help drag a short-stack to the top of the leaderboard, and that’s exactly what happened with Spragg. He managed to double-up twice with them, and as fate would have it, also against the same player, Sebastian Gohr, who was busted in sixth.
Gohr has been cashing in events since at least 2010, and is approaching the $500,000 lifetime tourney cash mark.
Oliver Hucktins was going for his second lifetime victory, but couldn’t get pass fourth in this one.
This was Alessandro Spina’s fifth result according to the Hendon Mob, and he beat his best tournament cash by 10-times with a fifth-place finish in Brighton.
Jun Beum Chun is also approaching the half-mill tourney mark, and would have done it if he managed to jump up another two spots, but he would have to settle for seventh. He made his second final table of the series three days later in a £220 event (fifth)
Stewart Kirby is having a sort of break-out year. He started 2023 by winning a £340 event at the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour for £44,830 ($54,833), one of his dozen cashes he booked this year.
Oscar Tompsett bagged his biggest score in this event and now has more than $50,000 in tournament cashes.
Spraggy was back at it today playing a handful of PokerStar’s World Championship on Online Poker events on his popular Twitch channel, which has more than 159K followers. He is also a Team Pro for PokerStars.
Final Table of UK and Ireland Poker Tour £1,100 Main Event
| Place | Player | Cash |
| 1 | Ben Spragg | $86,400 |
| 2 | Dominik Nitsche | $52,688 |
| 3 | Adam McKola | $37,638 |
| 4 | Oliver Hutchins | $28,950 |
| 5 | Alessandro Spina | $22,275 |
| 6 | Sebastian Gohr | $17,125 |
| 7 | Jun beum Chun | $13,175 |
| 8 | Stewart Kirby | $10,863 |
| 9 | Oscar Tompsett | $9,050 |
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