The £150 Mini Main Event was always destined to be one of the most popular tournaments during the 2025 PartyPoker Tour Manchester. During the London stop a few weeks ago (which was PartyPoker’s official return to the live poker scene), the Mini Main Event attracted no fewer than 866 entries. 418 entries in Manchester was a good number, considering the Manchester235 Casino is a somewhat smaller venue compared to the Genting Casino (former Aspers).
The three-day tournament would conclude on Saturday, with 18 players returning from Friday’s Day 2 flight. It would prove to be an entertaining finale to the tournament; the final table was especially thrilling, with one early call setting the tone for the remainder of the play.
One Call to Rule Them All
Again, it was the third day of the tournament, and when the 18 players arrived to the tables at 18:00, many of them were going for broke. The payout at the time was £515, and it was evident that most of the players wanted to compete for top dollar. Chips were flying back and forth; everyone tried to build a big stack to have a realistic shot at claiming the £9,605 first-place payout.
Such, it didn’t take too long before the final table of nine players was set. This is really when things started to get interesting. Something that didn’t go unnoticed was the aggression of Hady Sirbu. He was going for the win, and he applied pressure as soon as his opponents would slow down. Would his explosive strategy prove to be a vital key for success?
The first one to go was William Folwell. He was one of the smaller stacks entering the final table, and in a Blind VS Blind battle, he came up short against Ryan Wyvill. Things may not have gone how he wanted them to, but finishing ninth out of 418 is still an impressive feat.
Shortly thereafter, the table would witness a sublime call that would prove to be crucial for the rest of the story. It was Ion Oprea who snap-called a shove from Sirbu on a very scary board. Considering both players had fairly big stacks at the moment, Oprea took a commanding chip lead. Sirbu, however, was left short, and he was eliminated the very next hand. Thus, the arguably most aggressive player was out in eighth place.
When the remaining seven players went on break, players such as Wyvill and Daniel Keiller had managed to close the gap to Opera. The player at the bottom of the rankings at this point was the sole lady at the table, Marta Porter. Shortly after the break, Porter managed to double up through Goonjan Mall, even though she was dominated. Crippled from the bad beat, Mall became the next casualty as he lost a flip against Oprea.
While Oprea continued to be involved in a fair amount of pots, players like Matthew Archer were biding their time. Archer waited patiently and finally got the right opportunity to get his stack in the middle. Much to his despair, Ryan Cox flopped quads to eliminate him in sixth place.
This hand drastically improved Cox’s stack, and he was now a real contender for the title. Unfortunately for him, though, he lost it all against Oprea in what most likely was the bad beat of the final table. Entering four-handed play, Oprea now held roughly 50 % of the chips in play.
Seated next to each other, Wyvill and Keiller would have some internal battles, trading chips back and forth. Eventually, Keiller managed to crack the aces of Wyvill and send him to the rail. Three players remained, then: Keiller, Oprea, and Porter. Porter had proved to be a cat with nine lives; don’t get it twisted, she played some great poker, picking just the right spots to be aggressive, but she managed to survive three times on the final table despite being dominated.
After some pots here and there, the chip stacks between the three evened out, and they all agreed to a deal. They continued to play for £1,385 and, of course, the beautiful PartyPoker trophy. Keiller would not get his hand on the statuette, though, as he was eliminated in third place against Oprea. At the start of Heads-up play against Porter, Oprea held a 2-to-1 chip lead.
And then, eventually, came the nail in the coffin. The A♥2♠ of Oprea was good enough to beat the K♣3♥ of Porter. When lifting the trophy, Oprea’s joy couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. It was his first-ever trophy, and what’s remarkable is that he barely lost his chip lead after his impressive call against Sirbu during the early stages of the tournament.
£150 Mini Main Event – Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ion Oprea | £8,885* |
| 2 | Marta Porter | £5,500* |
| 3 | Daniel Keiller | £6,500* |
| 4 | Ryan Wyvill | £3,075 |
| 5 | Ryan Cox | £2,160 |
| 6 | Matthew Archer | £1,720 |
| 7 | Goonjan Mall | £1,390 |
| 8 | Hady Sirbu | £1,130 |
| 9 | William Folwell | £930 |
*Denotes a three-way deal.
Just like in London, the Mini Main Event proved to be a roaring success. It’ll be exciting to see it return during the 2025 PartyPoker Tour Glasgow (which is played August 12-17). The spotlight will stay on Manchester for a little longer, though, as the exciting £500 Main Event is still going on.
