2026 PartyPoker Tour Sheffield

Edin Hrnjic opened to 5,500 on the Button. Muhammad Makhmood three-bet to an impressive 27,500 from the Big Blind, and Hrnjic decided to stick around. In other words, two big stacks collided.

Both players checked the 3♦8♠5♠ flop. Makhmood bet 15,000 on the 8♣ turn, and Hrnjic made the call. The river was the 6♣; Makhmood checked, and it was Hrnjic’s turn to act, but he was busy paying the waitress for his recent order of hot beverage. Once the transaction had been approved, Hrnjic bet 40,000, and Makhmood snap-called.

Edin Hrnjic: A♣J♣
Muhammad Makhmood: A♠K♣

Indeed, Makhmood had snap-called with Ace-high in a quite significant pot. He received praise from the other players at the table, and there’s a good chance he’s the current chip leader. Hrnjic, who was the chip leader at the last break, still plays a decent stack.

Muhammed Makhmood: 320,000
Edin Hrnjic: 197,000

Action folded to Chenyi Lyu, who moved all in for 35,000 from the Cut-off. Seated in the Big Blind, Scott Wallace decided to call for his tournament life, committing his 13,000 stack pre-flop.

Chenyi Lyu: K♦J♥
Scott Wallace: J♠3♠

Wallace was probably hoping to at least have two live cards, but that wasn’t the case. He didn’t manage to produce a miracle on the 10♠5♠5♣4♥7♣ board, and all his chips went the way of Lyu.

Chenyi Lyu: 52,000
Scott Wallace: 0

PartyPoker Tour Ambassador Sam Acheampong made it 5,500. Natalia Breviglieri made the call from the Button before Curtis Harrison moved all in for 51,000 from the Small Blind. “How much is that?” Acheampong requested the dealer. After receiving the final number, he made the call, committing a large chunk of his stack. Breviglieri mucked, and the two contestants went to showdown.

Curtis Harrison: A♥10♠
Sam Acheampong: [invalid notations]

“Hooooold!” Acheampong’s iconic catch phrase echoed through the tournament area. He wasn’t ahead for long as Harrison took the lead on the J♣A♦2♠ flop. No case seven for Acheampong as the board completed with 9♣3♠. Harrison doubled up, leaving Acheampong weak.

At the same time, at a nearby table, fellow ambassador Glenn Brown busted from the tournament after losing an all-in pre-flop with J♥J♠ against his opponent’s A♦K♣.

Curtis Harrison: 106,000
Sam Acheampong: 29,000
Glenn Brown: 0

Below is an overview of the action currently ongoing at Genting Casino Sheffield.

Late registration has now closed for Day 1B of the £150 Mini Main Event. The flight scored 167 entries, and considering 15 % will make it through to Day 2, it should be 25 players who’ll receive a bag later tonight. The math highly dictates that number, but if the floor decides to round it a certain way, the poker.pro editorial office will amend.

The players are currently enjoying the second 20-minute break of the day. When they return to Level 10, late registration will be closed. In other words, there are only a few minutes left of late registration.

Below are the 10 biggest stacks in the room at this very moment.

Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
Edin Hrnjic	England	197,500	99
Emmanuel Mulemwa	Great Britain	197,000	99
Lee Lawrenson	Great Britain	173,000	87
Henry Bibby	Great Britain	161,000	81
Ishtiaq Ahmed	Pakistan	140,000	70
Curtis Harrison	Great Britain	136,000	68
Luke Rowlands	Great Britain	130,000	65
Gareth Woodhead	Great Britain	124,500	62
John Hall	Great Britain	123,500	62
John Leslie	Great Britain	122,500	61

Day 1B of the £150 Mini Main Event is approaching the second 15-minute break of the day, and with that, the closure of late registration. The poker.pro editorial office took a stroll through the tournament area and identified the ambassadors’ stacks. Brown is, to no one’s surprise, on his second bullet.

Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
Sam Acheampong	Great Britain	150,000	94
Barry Carter	Great Britain	70,000	44
Jaime Staples	Canada	51,000	32
Rebecca Hardisty	Great Britain	46,000	29
Glenn Brown	England	36,000	23

Below is the current state of play. Late registration for the £30 Target Stack Satellite to the £150 Mini Main Event will close within 10 minutes. Late registration for the Mini Main Event Day 1B is open for roughly 30 more minutes.

Johnathon Wild opened to 2,500 UTG. Seated in the Big Blind, Darren Harris was the sole caller.

Harris check-called a 2,500 bet from Wild on the 6♣A♥8♠ flop. Action repeated itself on the 3♥, the only difference being that Wild now sized up to 4,000. Both players opted to check the 4♣ river.

Harris revealed his A♣10♣, and Wild acknowledged the winning hand.

Darren Harris: 53,000
Johnathon Wild: 30,000

Earlier in the live blog, the poker.pro editorial office listed all the £500 Main Event winners during the 2025 PartyPoker Tour. Considering we’re currently following the action in the £150 Mini Main Event, let’s recap those who claimed the “Little Brother” trophies last year as well.

Festival	Event	Entries	Prize Pool	Winner	Country	First-Place Payout
2025 PartyPoker Tour London (Spring Edition)	£150 Mini Main Event	866	£109,200	Dost Ghrabie	Afghanistan	£17,170*
2025 PartyPoker Tour Manchester	£150 Mini Main Event	418	£52,710	Ion Oprea	Romania	£8,885*
2025 PartyPoker Tour Glasgow	£150 Mini Main Event	468	£57,966	Christian Watt	Scotland	£10,260
2025 PartyPoker Tour Birmingham	£150 Mini Main Event	660	£82,500	Robert Douras	England	£14,370
2025 PartyPoker Tour London (Winter Edition)	£150 Mini Main Event	726	£90,390	André Emerenciano	Portugal	£14,530

*Deals were made.

Neil Hirst opened to 5,000 from the Lo-jack. Action eventually came to Mark Reddie, who made it 20,000 from the Small Blind. When it came back to Hirst, he made the call for his tournament life, playing perhaps 19,500.

Mark Reddie: K♣Q♣
Neil Hirst: A♣Q♦

Hirst had Reddie dominated, and no shenanigans as the board spelled out 2♥5♥7♠10♠A♥. As such, Hirst doubled up through Reddie.

Mark Reddie: 44,000
Neil Hirst: 43,000

Crispin Rovere opened to 2,000 from UTG+1. John Leslie (Lo-jack), Alfie Darby (Small Blind), and Nicholas Georgiou (Big Blind) all made the call.

All four players checked the 10♦K♠7♠ flop, but action would soon prove to amp up. Action was checked to Leslie on the 6♦ turn, and he dipped his toes in the waters with a 3,000. Darby made the call, and Georgiou folded before Rovere raised it up to 15,000. Darby mucked, but Leslie decided to make the call.

Rovere didn’t waste too much time before moving all in for 25,000 on the 9♦ river. Leslie made the call faster than the speed of lightning.

Crispin Rovere: 8♥8♣
John Leslie: A♦J♦

Both players improved on the river, but Rovere’s straight was no match for Leslie’s nut flush. All of Rovere’s chips went Rovere, and it’s likely he’s playing a top-five stack at this moment.

John Leslie: 144,000
Crispin Rovere: 0

Jack Buckley opened to 1,800 from UTG+2. Matthew Tibbles called from the Small Blind, and Samuel Elson decided to defend his Big Blind.

All three players checked the 4♣7♣8♥ flop, and action repeated itself on the 6♥ turn. On the K♦ river, Tibbles bet 4,500. Elson made the call before Buckley threw his cards into the muck.

Matthew Tibbles: 3♣3♠
Samuel Elson: K♠J♣

Elson’s rivered pair of Kings was the best hand, and he was awarded the pot.

Smauel Elson: 31,000
Matthew Tibbles: 18,000

Below is the current state of play.

Seated UTG, Henry Owen opened to 1,200. He would get some company to the flop, seeing as Ishtiaq Ahmed (Lo-jack), Carroll Belfield (Cut-off), Sam Acheampong (Button), and Georgi Bachiyski (Big Blind) all made the call.

After an initial check from Bachiyski, Owen continued for 2,000 on the 9♠2♠4♥ flop. A somewhat rare scenario, seeing as all his competitors made the call. All players then checked the Q♣ turn, so still five-ways to the river. The dealer revealed the 9♥, and Owen mistakenly checked out of turn. It was still Bachiyski to act, and he sized up to 12,000. This would prove enough to take down the pot, even though Acheampong was tempted (not really, I hope) to call with Ace-high.

Georgi Bachiyski: 60,000

PartyPoker Team Pro Jaime Staples is now in the building, currently railing PartyPoker Tour Ambassador Sam Acheampong. It’s an educated guess that Staples will late register for Day 1B of the £150 Mini Main Event very soon.

It’s the first 15-minute break of the day, and the players will soon resume play on Level 5. The dealers have all identified the three biggest stacks on every table; below are the biggest stacks after the first four levels.

Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
Curtis Harrison	Great Britain	136,000	227
Sam Acheampong	Great Britain	102,000	170
John Hall	Great Britain	95,000	158
Henry Bibby	Great Britain	87,000	145
Oliver Evenden	Great Britain	87,000	145
Andrew Peace	Great Britain	85,800	143
Mark Booth	Great Britain	82,500	138
Jianjin Chen	Great Britain	81,000	135
Christopher Briddon	Great Britain	78,000	130
James Swift	Great Britain	76,500	128

As the dealer was distributing the hole cards to the players, the 10♥ was exposed for Justin Baldwin. The action kicked off with George Achillea opening to 800 from the Lo-jack. Christopher Briddon called from the Cut-off, and despite not having the 10♥, Baldwin three-bet to 2,000. Both of his opponents made the call.

Baldwin continued on the aggressive path with a 3,000 continuation bet on the J♣J♠K♠ flop. Both of his opponents folded, and as the dealer pushed the chips his way, Baldwin revealed his 6♥3♣. Sneaky move!

Justin Baldwin: 47,500

PartyPoker Tour Ambassador Sam Acheampong arrived in Sheffield today and is now in full swing in Day 1B of the £150 Mini Main Event. It’s an excited Acheampong who’s here, and he’s coming fresh off a title in London, for which he was awarded a pineapple alongside his first-place payout.

Ben Tate opened to 700 from UTG+1. Marek Jablonski (Lo-jack), Acheampong (Button), and Georgi Bachiyski (Big Blind) all made the call. Tate continued for 1,000 on the 3♥3♠10♠ flop, and Acheampong was the only one to stick around. Tate slowed down with a check on the 2♠ before calling a 1,000 bet from Acheampong.

Action went check-check on the A♦ river. Tate turned over 9♠9♦, and Acheampong turned over the winning hand; word in the street is that “Mr. Pineapple” only had King high.

Ben Tate: 37,000
Sam Acheampong: 35,600

The undisputed best way to stay up-to-date with everything regarding the 2026 PartyPoker Tour is to join the official Discord server. There, you can easily access all the information about the tour, and even reach out to community representatives if you have any questions and whatnot. Press here to join the Discord server.

Seated UTG+1, Jack Buckley opened to 500. Rheanne Ireland then three-bet to 2,800; action folded back to Buckley, who made the call.

Buckley check-called a 3,200 bet from Ireland on the 6♦Q♣9♠ flop. After another check from Buckley on the 3♣ turn, Ireland fired 5,000. After calculating the pot, Buckley completed a check-raise move to 15,000. Ireland decided to make the call.

Buckley wasted little time before forcing his opponent all in for 19,500 on the J♠ river. Ireland sighed before ultimately making the call.

Jack Buckley: Q♠Q♥
Rheanne Ireland: K♥K♣

Unfortunate for Ireland as her Cowboys were cracked, and all her chips went the way of Buckley.

Jack Buckley: 100,000
Rheanne Ireland: 0

Play is roughly halfway into Level 2, and there are already some notable names in the field. One of them is Mark “The Beast” Labbett, seated at Table 9. Other contestants include 2025 PartyPoker Tour Leaderboard winner Alexander Georgiev and PartyPoker Tour Ambassador Glenn Brown.

Speaking of ambassadors: PartyPoker has created a team consisting of six ambassadors for the tour this year. While Brown is the only one of them currently in play, Barry Carter and Sam Acheampong are both in the building, and it’s an educated guess that they’ll throw their names into the competition very soon.

Press here to read a full-length article about the 2026 PartyPoker Tour Ambassadors.

2026 PartyPoker Tour Sheffield – Selected Chip Counts

Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
Mark “The Beast” Labbett	United Kingdom	45,000	225
Alexander Georgiev	Bulgaria	41,000	205
Glenn Brown	United Kingdom	37,000	185

Before we suck our teeth into Day 1B of the £150 Mini Main Event, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Last year, PartyPoker made its much-anticipated return to the live poker scene. It was a slam-dunk success, and to see the tour growing in 2026 is wonderful.

Sheffield is the first out of a total of four announced stops of the 2026 PartyPoker Tour. The flagship tournament of each event will arguably be the £500 Main Event. Below is a breakdown of last year’s Main Event winners, and time will tell which players join the Hall of Fame in 2026.

Press here if you want to read a full-length article about some of the best moments from the 2025 PartyPoker Tour.

2025 PartyPoker Tour – £500 Main Event Winners

Event	Venue	Winner	First-place Payout	Entries	Prize Pool
2025 PartyPoker Tour London (Spring Edition)	Aspers Casino Stratford, London*	Getnet Kassa	£38,408	491	£216,703
2025 PartyPoker Tour Manchester	Manchester235 Casino, Manchester	Deniz Orhan	£19,843	257	£107,248
2025 PartyPoker Tour Glasgow	Alea Casino, Glasgow	Zhen Zhen	£22,500	256	£111,821
2025 PartyPoker Tour Birmingham	Genting Resorts World, Birmingham	Tai Hoang	£27,420	343	£27,420
2025 PartyPoker Tour London (Winter Edition)	Genting Casino Stratford, London	Thomas Sanderson	£27,780**	399	£177,555

*Aspers Casino Stratford, London, became Genting Casino Stratford a few months after the 2025 PartyPoker Tour London (Spring Edition).
**A five-way deal was made in the £500 Main Event during the 2025 PartyPoker Tour London (Winter Edition).

In the live blog, you can press “Results” to see all the results from the 2026 PartyPoker Tour Sheffield. This will be updated on a regular basis, and the results from yesterday’s £60 NLH Mystery Prize Draw £2,000 Added Prizes have just been posted. Check it out and see how your fellow poker friends did.

While today’s live coverage will focus on Day 1B of the £150 Mini Main Event, this reporter will do his best to upload a general current state of play for all today’s tournaments once an hour. This is to give you players an overall view of what’s going on at Genting Casino Sheffield.

It’s 14:00, and the dealers are preparing the decks. It’s time for the first hand of the £150 Mini Main Event Day 1B.

Good morning, Sheffield, and welcome to the 2026 PartyPoker Tour Sheffield! It’s the first PartyPoker Tour live poker event of the year, and it’s destined to be a great one. PartyPoker is bringing the heat to Genting Casino Sheffield, and the tournament area will boil over with immense poker action throughout the week.

As the official media partner, poker.pro has boots on the ground in the UK’s seventh-largest city. Today, January 28, poker.pro live reporter will cover all the action from Day 1B of the £150 Mini Main Event. In fact, said tournament will be the theme of the coverage for the upcoming days. Once a winner has been crowned, focus will switch to the £500 Main Event. That being said, all side event results will also be posted on www.poker.pro inside the live blog.

The second (out of a total of four) starting-day flights of the Mini Main Event will kick off today at 14:00, and that is also when the live coverage will commence. Day 1A was, obviously, played yesterday, during the first day of the festival. That flight scored ++ entries, and as 15 % of the field makes it through to Day 2, 15 players bagged their chips.

2026 PartyPoker Tour Sheffield – £150 Mini Main Event Day 1A Chip Counts

Position	Player	Country	Chips
1	Paul Carr	Ireland	1,110,000
2	Lynne Beaumont	England	406,000
3	Jack Andrew	United Kingdom	337,000
4	John Bonadies	United Kingdom	312,000
5	Phillip Hepburn	United Kingdom	302,000
6	Brian Frew	United Kingdom	270,000
7	Deniz Orhan	United Kingdom	257,000
8	Andrew Chambi	United Kingdom	227,000
9	Paul Tinsley	United Kingdom	159,000
10	Daniel Henderson	Ireland	143,000
11	Matthew Newman	United Kingdom	126,000
12	Farida Ahmed	United Kingdom	121,000
13	Zak Elliott	United Kingdom	96,000
14	Roy Fowler	United Kingdom	52,000
15	Wendy Watson	United Kingdom	52,000

While the live blog will be centered around the Mini Main Event, there are four other events on today’s tournament schedule. At 17:00, there’s a £30 target stack satellite, in which players can try to claim their Mini Main Event seat for a cheaper buck. The said satellite has three seats guaranteed. At 18:00, all four-card enthusiasts can compete in the £150 PLO Master Big O. For those who’ve missed, the PLO Masters is created by UK poker legend JJ Hazan, and it’s a series of PLO tournaments that’s running in conjunction with other poker tours; the PartyPoker Tour more so than any other tour.

At 20:00, the third Mini Main Event flight that is Day 1C kicks off. This is a turbo flight with 20-minute levels instead of 30; while poker.pro won’t be doing live coverage of this flight, the chip counts will be uploaded after the survivors bag their chips.

Last but not least, the £60 target stack satellite to the Main Event kicks off at 22:00. As was the case with the aforementioned satellite, this one also has three seats guaranteed, and it’s a sublime opportunity for players to claim sought-after Main Event seats.

2026 PartyPoker Tour Sheffield – January 28 Tournament Schedule

All in all, it’s going to be a fun week in Sheffield. This is the 2026 PartyPoker Tour Sheffield, ladies and gentlemen, and it’s safe to say it’ll be one of the highlights of the 2026 UK poker calendar.

Day 1A of the £150 Mini Main Event attracted 99 entries. Below are the chip counts of those 15 players who made it through to Day 2.

Position	Player	Country	Chips
1	Paul Carr	Ireland	1,110,000
2	Lynne Beaumont	England	406,000
3	Jack Andrew	United Kingdom	337,000
4	John Bonadies	United Kingdom	312,000
5	Phillip Hepburn	United Kingdom	302,000
6	Brian Frew	United Kingdom	270,000
7	Deniz Orhan	United Kingdom	257,000
8	Andrew Chambi	United Kingdom	227,000
9	Paul Tinsley	United Kingdom	159,000
10	Daniel Henderson	Ireland	143,000
11	Matthew Newman	United Kingdom	126,000
12	Farida Ahmed	United Kingdom	121,000
13	Zak Elliott	United Kingdom	96,000
14	Roy Fowler	United Kingdom	52,000
15	Wendy Watson	United Kingdom	52,000