Rapinder Cheema reigned victorious at the United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour Season 5 Main Event, in London,  after beating the UK-based Spaniard Fernando Marin, in heads-up action, to take the £78,825 first prize.

[Image Credit: Pokerstarsblog]

“I have never won a poker tournament before!”

Those were the words of Rapinder Cheema moments after securing a pulsating pay day of £78,825, as the champion of the £770 United Kingdom & Ireland (UKIPT) Season 5 Main Event.

It was a wonderful moment, and defined what the UKIPT is all about. In fact, the top five players only had a total of four live tournament cashes between them when they sat down at the final table.

742 entrants, and the £502,818 prize pool, was a little down on the 1,089 that turned up for the Season 4 event in Oct 2014. A young man named Brett Angell walked away with that title, and £115,083 in prize money, and he nearly stole the headlines again with a superb back-to-back run that saw him fall in a hand against Cheema in seventh place.

Cheema and his heads-up partner Marin were the two chip leaders when the final table began, and as often happens they were the only two left to contest this thing. Marin started with a 3:1 chip lead, but that didn’t stop the pair agreeing to share the money equally – with an additional £15,000 to play for – an amount that’s now gathering interest in Cheema’s bank account.