Vincent Meli Triumphs in the Fast-Paced UKIPT Nottingham Finale

The last two stops of UKIPT in Edinburgh and Brighton were dominated by PokerStars Team Pros and popular Twitch streamers Fintan “easywithaces” Hand and Benjamin ‘Spraggy’ Spragg, but in the UKIPT season finale in Nottingham, the spotlight shone on a new champion.

The Main Event in Nottingham drew a crowd of 1,227 entries, creating a prize pool of £1,177,920. Vincent Meli emerged as the UKIPT champion, taking home £159,325 after an intriguing final table deal with Patrice Brandt.

Day 3 began with an early elimination, quickly setting up a final table of nine. Meli entered as the formidable chip leader with 8.5 million chips, followed by Brandt at 4.7 million. The final table proved to be one of the quickest in recent memory, with six players eliminated in just 45 minutes.

Meli and Brandt, after each scoring three eliminations, started discussing an ICM deal. At this point, Brandt held 21,000,000 chips to Meli’s 15,700,000. The agreement saw Brandt secure £168,425 and Meli £157,325, with £2,000 and the prestigious PokerStars trophy still in play.

In the heads-up, Meli quickly took control, winning hand after hand. The defining moment came when Brandt, holding pocket threes, went all-in against Meli’s Q6. Despite leading until the river, Brandt’s hopes were dashed when a Q landed, crowning Meli as the champion.

2023 UKIPT Nottingham Main Event Final Table Results