The PartyPoker Tour wrapped up a standout debut season in London this weekend, crowning Thomas Sanderson the winner of a London Main Event that drew 399 entries to Genting Casino Stratford.
Over 10,000 players have walked through the doors for PartyPoker's UK tour, playing for over 75 trophies at five different stops. London was the culminating series of 2025, sporting a £500 Main Event that guaranteed a £100,000 prize pool. The 399 entries bumped that up £177,555, and the largest portion of it ended up being split five ways after an end game deal.
The final nine busted four players before working out an ICM deal. Sanderson soars after ICM chop
Sanderson would clean up the £9,000 that the final five left up top, finishing with £27,780 and the Main Event trophy. According to the live final table broadcast, Sanderson is a high volume professional Spin and Go player on PartyPoker, but he only has three previous Hendon Mob results for a total of $867.
Other familiar faces popped up and found a payout, like Dara O'Kearney and Will Kassouf, but they were gone before the endgame. The final day started with 16 an worked its way down to a final table within a couple of hours, beginning with India's Kartik Kartik in the lead for the final nine. Start-of-day chip leader Purev Sanjurev was out first when he ran into Kartik's pocket aces, followed by Max Burney in eighth. Andre Leal hit the rail next, capping off a terrific series where he also won the £150 Mini Main Event. Antonis Poulengeris was the one causing all of the early havoc, taking most of Burney's chips and busting Leal in seventh.
Andre Leal almost pulled off an unthinkable Mini Main/Main Event sweep. The final six became five when Danny Tran left the room and the remaining group took a break to talk about a deal. They emerged with an ICM proposal and it was confirmed by a blind vote, leaving £9,000 and the trophy for the winner. From there, Kartik left next after his pocket queens ran into Poulengeris and his pocket kings, followed in short order by James Marshall in third. Marshall's bust equally rough, having shoved ace-jack into another pair of Poulengeris' pocket kings.
Poulengeris wasn't done, shoving out Siwash Zahmat next with pocket aces. The kings-kings-aces sequenced left him with 12,000,000 chips, a decent lead over the lone remaining Sanderson with 6,900,000. But Sanderson crawled back, first getting even and then taking the lead with a straight-over-straight clash. It came to a head when Poulengeris picked his spot with a suited ace-eight, only to lose when Sanderson woke up with ace-queen. The ace-queen would eventually become a Broadway straight, ending the tournament for good with Sanderson lifting the PartyPoker trophy.
Coming in 2026
The successful 2025 outing was just the beginning for PartyPoker, and they'll be right back at it at the end of January. Tour stops in Sheffield (January), Seville (Seville), Madrid (May), and Manchester (June) are already announced, with more to come next year.
2025 PartyPoker London Main Event final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Sanderson | £27,780* |
| 2 | Antonis Poulengeris | £17,680* |
| 3 | Siwash Zahmat | £14,510* |
| 4 | James Marshall | £15,080* |
| 5 | Kartik Kartik | £15,450* |
| 6 | Danny Tran | £7,350 |
| 7 | Andre Leal | £5,650 |
| 8 | Max Burney | £4,450 |
| 9 | Purev Sanjurev | £3,405 |
Images courtesy of Nunzia Esposito/PartyPoker LIVE
