The 2026 UK Poker Championship (UKPC) has delivered as promised, with a packed house on Saturday at the prestigious Dusk Till Dawn card room. The UKPC £560 Main Event smashed its lofty £500,000 guarantee with 1,159 entries across four opening flights, creating a £567,840 prize pool. Lightning struck as well on Saturday with Ionut Arvatu rivering a royal flush to defeat Nicholas Rose with quad tens.
The United Kingdom’s Anthony Horn leads the way heading into Day 2 of the Main Event with 1,950,000 for 122 big blinds, with Kartik Kartik, Jack Loraine, Simon Higgins, and Mark Bamber also in the top five. Both Horn and Kartik advanced via the action-packed Day 1c on Sunday.
For those wanting to follow the action as it unfolds, live reporting is running on the Dusk Till Dawn website, with poker.pro’s Christoffer Karlén on the ground, bringing all the updates.
- Read more: 2026 UKPC Day 6: Loraine and Higgins Begins Main Event Hunt for Glory
- Read more: 2026 UKPC Day 5: Main Event Takes Shape as Two More Trophies Are Awarded
- Read more: 2026 UKPC Day 4: Reape, Harwood Tops Side Event Chip Counts as Main Event Gets Afoot
- Read more: The 2026 UKPC Kicks Off Dusk Till Dawn’s Live Poker Season
Follow the poker.pro Live Reporting at Dusk Till Dawn Website
The Main Event action resumes with Day 2 on Sunday at Noon with blinds at 8,000/16,000 along with a 16,000 big blind ante. The poker.pro live reporter Christoffer Karlén is on the ground ready to provide a blow-by-blow account of the Main Event action until a winner is crowned on Monday, exclusively at the Dusk Till Dawn website, where you can also find information about all of the announced upcoming poker events.
Anthony Horn leads the 243 survivors, with a bubble looming near the start of the day; the top 175 players earn at least a £1,000 min-cash for nearly double the £560 buy-in. The payouts will continue to climb throughout the day, with all players keeping an eye on the tasty £101,000 top prize.
Check out the chip leaders and payouts below, and head to the Dusk Till Dawn website to stay up-to-date with the action.
2026 UKPC £560 Main Event Start of Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Horn | 1,950,000 | 122 |
| 2 | Kartik Kartik | 1,714,000 | 107 |
| 3 | Jack Loraine | 1,413,000 | 88 |
| 4 | Simon Higgins | 1,405,000 | 88 |
| 5 | Mark Bamber | 1,394,000 | 87 |
| 6 | Gareth Gardner | 1,379,500 | 86 |
| 7 | Fitz McKenzie | 1,165,000 | 73 |
| 8 | Karl McDonald | 1,147,000 | 72 |
| 9 | Vasilica Balan | 1,137,000 | 71 |
| 10 | Ryan Johnson | 1,116,000 | 70 |
2026 UKPC £560 Main Event Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | £101,000 |
| 2 | £63,000 |
| 3 | £43,450 |
| 4 | £29,370 |
| 5 | £20,250 |
| 6 | £14,250 |
| 7 | £10,250 |
| 8 | £7,250 |
| 9 | £5,250 |
| 10-12 | £4,250 |
| 13-15 | £3,500 |
| 16-19 | £3,000 |
| 20-23 | £2,750 |
| 24-31 | £2,500 |
| 32-39 | £2,250 |
| 40-55 | £2,000 |
| 56-71 | £1,750 |
| 72-87 | £1,500 |
| 88-111 | £1,250 |
| 112-175 | £1,000 |
Losing With Quads Doesn’t Stop Nicholas Rose From Bagging
Losing with quads is common enough in some poker games, but certainly not in no-limit hold’em. One has a much better chance of getting hit by lightning or, on a brighter note, winning the lottery than losing to quads against a royal.
According to poker.pro live reporter Christoffer Karlén at the Dusk Till Dawn website, Nicholas Rose three-bet preflop from the button with 10♦10♠ and was called by Ionut Arvatu, who opened with Q♣J♣ from early position.
The players got it in on the action 10♥J♠K♣ rainbow flop with Rose initially needing to fade his opponent’s open-ender. Rose was seemingly rewarded after improving to quad tens after the 10♣ turn. However, Arvatu nailed his one-outer in dramatic fashion after the A♣ spiked the board on the river to improve to a gut-punch royal flush and deliver a bad beat of a lifetime to Rose.
In a twist of fate, Arvatu was unable to parlay his big double-up into a bag on Day 2, while Rose was able to run up his shorter stack with a sub-20 big blind stack to start Day 2.
2026 UK Poker Championship Day 8 Schedule (Sunday, January 25, 2026)
It is Sunday Funday at Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham at the 2026 UKPC. Day 2 of the Main Event resumes at 1 p.m., before players will have two chances to win a trophy with the £1,100 UKPC High Roller kicking off at 2 p.m., followed by the one-day £150 UKPC Mega Stack at 3 p.m.
Check out the full Sunday schedule below and head to the Dusk Till Dawn website for information about future events.
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 13:00 | Event #4: £560 UKPC Main Event Day 2 |
| 14:00 | Event #8: £1,100 UKPC High Roller |
| 15:00 | Event #9: £150 UKPC Mega Stack |
