Last weekend I flew to Douglas, Isle of Man for the inaugural UKIPT Isle of Man festival. Despite busting early on day 2 of the Main Event I had a very successful weekend, winning the £2,200 High Roller for £20,800 and coming 7th in the £165 PLO for £420.
Combine this with a very successful UKIPT Galway and I am now in contention for the UKIPT Player of the Year leaderboard. The overall winner of the leaderboard will be awarded packages for every single stop of UKIPT Season 5.
Before the tournament the leaderboard looked like this:
| Rank | Player | Total Point | Main Event | Side Events | Part |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Salter | 145.8 | 125.8 | 20 | |
| 2 | Daragh Davey | 134.5 | 82 | 32.5 | 20 |
| 3 | Mark Spelman | 133 | 103 | 30 | |
| 3 | Max Silver | 133 | 65.5 | 47.5 | 20 |
Jack Salter, the current leader skipped Isle of Man for the ACOP in Macau, this left myself, Daragh and Mark in a good spot to take over the lead.
How did no-one tell me I am 1st in the UKIPT leaderboard until last night? Would def have gone to IOM if I knew. #UKIPT
— Jack Salter (@jackziyang) November 1, 2013
The UKIPT Leaderboard is yet to be updated but after using the formula listed on the “how it works” page the current scores are:
| Rank | Player | Total Point | Main Event | Side Events | Part |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Silver | 170.5 | 65.5 | 75 | 30 |
| 2 | Mark Spelman | 165.5 | 103 | 22.5 | 40 |
| 3 | Daragh Davey | 159.5 | 82 | 47.5 | 30 |
| 3 | Jack Salter | 145.8 | 125.8 | 20 |
After I realized I was first on the leaderboard I was all set to play everything I could at every UKIPT stop. However, after taking a step back to look at my schedule and goals I realized this is not the right play.
- I have to miss UKIPT Nottingham due to prior commitments: I’m going for Thanksgiving dinner with my family then spending the rest of the weekend in London. I was briefly debating playing 1A, assuming to bust frequently enough and then if I ended up making day 2, apologize profusely to my fiancée, Lisa, whom I dragged across with me from Dublin.
- The leaderboard point score for side events is weighted towards the number of players NOT the buyin level. This means that high rollers, my apparent bread and butter, would only count for a little if I cashed some more. There would be far more value in grinding the £100 side events with large fields.
I’ve always loved the freedom that poker offers and sacrificing that for a shot at €15,000 worth of UKIPT events doesn’t seem worth it to me.
Could I win the leaderboard? It’s possible. I could have some deep runs in some of the later events and I might just even bink the odd high roller here and there…
…Will I? Probably not. I’m going to stay true to my poker goals which is always maximizing winrate and working on improving my game
Good luck to everyone else vying for the top spot and congratulations to Mark Spelman on his win in the £165 PLO Event!
