The £1m guaranteed PokerStars Open Manchester has been won by Tuan Le for £149,200. Le, an amateur player, did a deal with pro Christopher Brammer in his hometown and went on to secure the win after a lengthy heads-up battle. The pair returned with by far the two largest stacks of the six players who contested the final table, at the Manchester Deansgate Hotel. They commanded almost two-thirds of the chips between them as the final day got underway; and it was no surprise to see them as the last two standing.
The PokerStars Open Manchester had a compact tournament schedule, with a dozen events, plus satellites. Most of the focus was reserved for the Main Event, with its headline £1m guarantee, which was expected to pull in the numbers. It did indeed garner by far the most attention, but not quite enough to avoid a five-figure overlay, which turned out to be just less than the £77,860 won by 3rd placed Hasmukh Khodiyara.
The 923 entries made into the first ever PokerStars Open Manchester Main Event created an overly of £73,000. There was also additional value for players who attended the event, as a rake free £100 satellite was added on the night before Day 2, with 25 seats guaranteed. It also overlaid by just under £8,000. While it may have been costly for the operator, it was surely good value for those who took part.
Tuan Le is no stranger to success at the poker table and while he admitted to not knowing much about the theory and terminology used by many students of the game, he mentioned that he didn’t feel out of his depth against his more experienced opponent. He has won a PokerStars Live event before, taking down the UKIPT Blackpool Main Event in 2023 for £53,360 and has also tasted success on the GUKPT, winning a £1,650 High Roller at GUKPT Leeds last year.
Le joked about going pro, but then steadied himself and admitted it will remain a hobby, but he’s likely to step up a bit and play in more events.
PokerStars Open Manchester Final Table Result
| Place | Country | Player | Prize (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | England | Tuan Le | £149,200 |
| 2nd | England | Christopher Brammer | £134,200 |
| 3rd | England | Hasmukh Khodiyara | £77,860 |
| 4th | Sweden | Adam Andersson | £59,890 |
| 5th | England | Mohamed Kerkeni | £46,070 |
| 6th | England | Sinead Davenport | £35,440 |
Docherty at the Double
The PokerStars Open Manchester festival was essentially a David Docherty sandwich, as the 2023 Irish Open champion won both the opening £220 NLH Deepstack and the festival closing Last Chance NLH Deepstack £550, banking over £7k in each of those, plus a brace of PokerStars spade trophies. But neither of those was actually his best result at the festival, as he cashed in two other events as well, most notably taking 3rd in the £550 PokerStars Open Second Chance for £12,710.
With less than a dozen events on the tournament schedule, it’s quite a feat to win two of them, but even more remarkably, he wasn’t the only player to win two events. Oleksandr “The Cat” Shevchenko won the £220 Pot Limit Omaha event for just over £5,000 and also took down the £2,200 NLH, which was a replacement for the £5,000 Super High Roller, which did not run.
There were only 28 entries made in this and nine of them were by Shevchenko. He needed to win the event with his ninth life, just to make a profit and luckily managed to do just that. His nine bullets cost him £19,800 and he cashed for £23,100. What an absolute (insert your own chosen adjective, depending on whether you regard this as either a heroic or a deranged achievement)!
Ian Simpson Wins High Roller
The £2,200 High Roller managed to creep into treble figures, with 106 entrants building a prize pool of just over £20,000. It was won by a familiar face, that of 888 Poker Ambassador Ian Simpson, who defeated Nick Swann heads-up to take the top prize of £53,140. Swann was one of three players on the High Roller Final Table who had also made the GUKPT Edinburgh Main Event final table one week earlier. The others were fourth placed Andrew Hulme and 8th placed Mitchell Johnson.
- Read More: Bryan Taylor Wins GUKPT Edinburgh Main Event
Other Side Event Winners at PokerStars Open Manchester
While both of these marquee events did pretty well (despite the overlay), overall, the attendance was lower than one might have expected. The £550 PS Open Second Chance, won by Jun Miao, had a sizeable field of 290 entrants, as did the £400 Mystery Bounty Cup. However, the up-take for most of the rest of the schedule was quite low, with less than 100 runners in several of the tournaments.
David Docherty wasn’t the only Scottish winner, as Muhibar Rahman won another £220 NLH later in the week. Amber Sullivan won the £220 Woman’s Event, defeating Gemma Thomas heads-up, with Franky Green in third place. On the final day of the festival, the Mystery Bounty Cup concluded with a win for Jason Barton, worth £12,970, while the final £220 NLH was won by Yannik Seabrook for £4,474.
| Event | Buy-In | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | 1st Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PokerStars Open Main Event | £1,100 | 927 | £1,000,000 | Tuan Le | England | £174,400 |
| NLH High Roller | £2,200 | 106 | £203,520 | Ian Simpson | England | £53,140 |
| NLH Deepstack | £220 | 161 | £30,912 | David Docherty | Scotland | £7,232 |
| NLH Women’s Event | £220 | 34 | £6,528 | Amber Sullivan | England | £2,478 |
| Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) | £220 | 103 | £19,776 | Oleksandr Shevchenko | Ukraine | £5,186 |
| NLH | £220 | 121 | £23,232 | Muhibar Rahman | Scotland | £5,982 |
| NLH PS Open Second Chance | £550 | 290 | £139,200 | Jun Miao | England | £24,700 |
| NLH | £2,200 | 28 | £53,760 | Oleksandr Shevchenko | Ukraine | £23,100 |
| NLH Mystery Bounty Cup | £400 | 341 | £63,290 | Jason Barton | England | £12,970 |
| NLH (Sunday) | £220 | 87 | £16,704 | Yannik Seabrook | England | £4,474 |
| NLH Last Chance Deepstack | £550 | 45 | £21,600 | David Docherty | Scotland | £7,020 |
How the PokerStars Open Manchester Final Table Unfolded
Chris Brammer held the overnight lead on 8.725m, with Tuan Le just behind on 8.25m, who was over four million chips ahead of the player sitting in 3rd place, Hasmukh Khodiyara, on 3.95m. Mohamed Kerkeni (3.05m), Adam Andersson (2.4m) and Sinead Davenport (1.275m) completed the final table line up.
The final table began with blinds at 75k/150k (150k) and it was Mohamed Kerkeni who made the early ,moves, doubling-up early on in a hand with Ace-Ten versus the pocket kings of Chris Brammer. An ace on the river saved the Frenchman, pushing him up to 5.8m, while Brammer slipped backwards to 6.2m. After a cautious period of play with mostly small pots, Kerkeni then won a sizeable pot form Le, to join him as chip leader on 7.9m.
The two clashed again soon afterwards and this time Le won a massive double up against Kerkeni, who had briefly taken chip lead. It was a classic: pocket queens for Le, A♥K♣ for Kerkeni. The 10♥8♣J♥9♣7♥ board made a straight for Le, bumping him up to 14.9m while Kerkeni slumped back to 1.5m
But it was Sinead Davenport who was the first to hit the rail. She had been reduced to just 500k and made an easy call with A♠Q♣ versus a shove from Chris Brammer. He held J♠7♠ and it was looking good for double for Sinead, until the J♥ spoiled the party and sent her out in 6th place, for a £35,440 payout. Sinead had had a tremendous twelve months on the live poker circuit, including several final tables, at events across Europe and in Las Vegas. It will surely not be long before she graces another big final table.
Ten minutes after Davenport’s exit, the field was reduced to four. Having already lost the majority of his stack, Mohamed Kerkeni soon capitulated, losing his last 1.1m, again to Le. His [invalid notations] was dominated by Le’s A♠K♦ and the board provided no help, sending him out in 5th for £46,070.
Hashmukh Khodiyara had returned with almost 4m chips, but after just over an hour of play he had been whittled down to 2m. However, he fought his way back to over 4m chips thanks to a double up versus Chris Brammer.
Adam Anderson then became Tuan Le’s second scalp of the day. He had been short-stacked throughout most of his 90-minute final table appearance but had doubled up via Tuan Le, just before Kerkeni’s exit. But when his remaining 3.5m chips once again found their way into the middle, they did not return to him. He had A♥J♥ but Le’s A♣Q♦ held on, sending the Swede out in 4th for £59,890.
This helped pushed Le’s stack up to over 17m, with both his remaining opponents on less than 5m each. It was then Chris Brammer’s turn to interrupt the Tuan Le wrecking machine. The most experienced player on the final doubled up through the chip leader with aces and then eliminated Khodiyara in 3rd to close the gap going into the final stage of the tournament.
Similar to Davenport’s exit, Brammer had shoved with a weak holding 10♠2♠only to be called by better K♠9♥, but was well ahead after a flop of 2♥10♦7♦ gave him two pairs. He stayed in front after the remainder of the board was dealt out, while Hasmukh Khodariya headed to the payout desk to collect his £77,860. Virtually of course, as it was a cashless venue.
Heads-Up For the Title, Deal or No Deal?
With the blinds now at 125k/250k, the head- up battle began. Although it had only taken two hours for the field to be reduced from six to two, the tournament was far from over. The pair entered into a lengthy heads-up battle, with Le starting as the chip leader, on 15.4m to Brammer’s 10m.
They began cautiously, and after 30 minutes of play, the stacks were level. At this point the pair briefly paused the game to discuss a deal, which resulted in an even chop, leaving £15,000 to play for.
Despite dealing so early on, there was still a lot of play left in the rubber. Le began by re-establishing his previous chip lead, but after another 45-minutes of play, Brammer had flipped the script, assumed the lead and was beginning to pull clear, until his habit of open shoving finally got him caught.
After committing his entire stack with 7♥5♥, Brammer found himself up against K♠7♠. Le was aghast to see two hearts on the flop, but managed to fade a third heart and rocketed his stack up to over 21m, while Brammer slipped back to under 4m.
But the rollercoaster ride wasn’t quite over yet and after a couple of double ups, Brammer was once again at the top of the chip chart. Just when it looked like he could press on for the victory, he was pegged back one more time when his pocket threes failed to hold against K♠4♣, slipping back into the danger zone, on just 5m.
It ended after almost three hours of heads/up play, which included breaks and an unscheduled evacuation of the building, due to a fire alarm going off. Unsurprisingly, the final hand was another all-in shove and call situation.
Blasting his last 5.1m into the middle with K♥6♣, Brammer found himself up against A♠. There wasn’t much suspense as Le cemented his lead early in the hand, on a flop of A♥9♠3♥ and it was all over soon after when the board ran out 5♠2♥. Chris Brammer left with £134,200 for the runner-up spot, while Tuan Le took down the title, along with £149,200.
PokerStars Open Rolls On To Prague
There are still two PokerStars Opens left to take place in 2025. The first of these takes place in Prague, prior to the EPT there in early December. The PS Open Main Event there has a €1,650 buy-in and runs from 3-8 December. It is supported by the €825 PokerStars Open Cup and a €2,700 High Roller.
There is also one further standalone PokerStars Open to close out 2026 in Cannes at Casino Barriere Le Croisette, in the south of France. The €1,100 Main Event there also has a €1m guarantee. Will it get there this time?
Photographs by Danny Maxwell, Courtesy of PokerStars Live
