Daniel Smith Turns Free Satellite Ticket into 2026 PartyPoker Tour London (Summer Edition) £500 Main Event Glory (£22,500)

Dan Smith 2026 PartyPoker Tour London £500 Main Event Winner (Photo: Nunzia Esposito)
Level 25:40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries:1/190
Prizes:£100,000

Daniel Smith has emerged as a worthy winner of the 2026 PartyPoker Tour London (Summer Edition) £500 Main Event, defeating Chris Yong heads-up to take the trophy and the £22,500 first-place prize.

Smith went wire-to-wire on the final day, starting with a slight lead over Yong, both of whom had clear daylight between the rest of the field. The duo proceeded to wield their stacks expertly to pressure opponents throughout and reach the final showdown.

The result marks a new career-best score for Smith, following his victory in a mystery bounty event at The Festival in Bratislava for £18,000 in 2023.

Smith spun a free satellite ticket into his Main Event entry online at PartyPoker, making the victory even sweeter.

2026 PartyPoker Tour London (Summer Edition) £500 Main Event Final Table Results

2026 PartyPoker Tour London (Summer Edition) £500 Main Event Final Table (Photo: Nunzia Esposito)
PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Daniel SmithUnited Kingdom£22,500
2 Chris YongUnited Kingdom£15,000
3 Barry DonovanIreland£10,000
4 Deniz OrhanUnited Kingdom£7,750
5 Matt HornUnited Kingdom£6,250
6 James KorekUnited Kingdom£5,000
7 Ivan MeisterKazakhstan£4,000
8 James MarshallUnited Kingdom£3,250
9 Vikrum MehtaUnited Kingdom£2,500

Winner’s Interview

Smith was delighted to be standing with the trophy, saying “It feels great, really happy. I missed my flight to play this, but it was worth it! I satellited online with a free ticket, so amazing. It’s my biggest live poker win, which will fund a nice dinner! I’ve been to a few PartyPoker Tour stops and it’s nice to get a trophy!”

Final Table Recap

The nine players left standing from the 190-runner field returned with Smith (2,455,000) and Yong (2,070,000) holding commanding leads, while Barry Donovan (1,100,000) led the chasing pack, and Vikrum Mehta started off as the relative short-stack.

Smith got off to a strong start when he ended any hopes Mehta had of a spin-up when his pocket pair held in a flip. Smith got thin value from James Marshall, before he took a hit when he ran into the aces of Matt Horn.

Donovan found trip kings to damage James Marshall, who exited shortly after to Yong, while short-stacks Ivan Meister and Deniz Orhan both found double-ups before the first break to stay in it.

Yong and Smith were still out in front at the start of the second stint, and a flurry of knockouts thinned the field in rapid fashion. First, Meister met his maker in the form of Barry Donovan’s flipping abilities to exit in seventh, before James Korek lost a flip against the champion’s deuces.

Yong disposed of Horn in fifth after turning a straight, leaving Orhan as the short-stack. He battled valiantly in his attempt to resurrect his bid for a second Main Event win, but ultimately fell to Yong.

Chris Yong (Photo: Nunzia Esposito)

Three-handed with Donovan and Smith, Yong suddenly went on a heater, making successive flushes to leave the eventual champion short.

However, Smith found cowboys to double through Yong at the perfect time. Yong would recover by turning the nut straight against Donovan’s turned flush and wrap draw, and would hold when the chips hit the middle, sending the Irishman to the rail in third.

Barry Donovan (Photo: Nunzia Esposito)

Yong started heads-up play with a nearly 3:1 lead over Smith, but Smith hit the front when he woke up with a superior pair to his opponent. Smith again found kings, and then ace-king, in short order to leave Yong on the ropes.

The decisive blow was dealt when Yong committed his final chips to the middle with a middling suited king, but found he was dominated. Smith proceeded to flop the flush and leave Yong dead, leaving the champion to be able to celebrate his victory with his rail before the runout had even been completed.

2026 PartyPoker Tour London (Summer Edition) £500 Main Event Full Results

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Daniel SmithUnited Kingdom£22,500
2 Chris YongUnited Kingdom£15,000
3 Barry DonovanIreland£10,000
4 Deniz OrhanUnited Kingdom£7,750
5 Matt HornUnited Kingdom£6,250
6 James KorekUnited Kingdom£5,000
7 Ivan MeisterKazakhstan£4,000
8 James MarshallUnited Kingdom£3,250
9 Vikrum MehtaUnited Kingdom£2,500
10 Stephen GeeUnited Kingdom£2,000
11 Nicholas RishoverUnited Kingdom£2,000
12 Adam ClanceyUnited Kingdom£1,750
13 Yuet WongUnited Kingdom£1,750
14 Jitin DhawanUnited Kingdom£1,500
15 Conor O’DriscollIreland£1,500
16 Matthew HarnimanUnited Kingdom£1,250
17 Lin ChenUnited Kingdom£1,250
18 Richard ConnollyUnited Kingdom£1,250
19 Jan Van den BogertUnited Kingdom£1,250
20 Ashkan AhmedovUnited Kingdom£1,250
21 Bradley MorricalUnited Kingdom£1,000
22 Florin TrifRomania£1,000
23 Steven FergusonUnited Kingdom£1,000
24 Sebastian ConstableUnited Kingdom£1,000
25 Robert GarfieldUnited Kingdom£1,000
26 Simeon SharrUnited Kingdom£1,000
27 David PollockUnited Kingdom£500
28 Michael HewesUnited Kingdom£500

We will be back tomorrow with a summary of results of the final side events, but that concludes our substantive coverage of another fantastic PartyPoker Tour event.

The next stop is in Glasgow from 3-9 August, and you can find full details of the schedule here, see you in Scotland!

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