Irish Open champion David Docherty has ousted Andy Black from the top spot in the UKIPT Player of the Year race after a fantastic performance at the 2023 PokerStars Summer Festival Malta. Docherty finished fourth in the €1,100 Malta Main Event for €52,660 and now has a clear lead on the UKIPT leaderboard with a total of 190 points. The Malta event was the second event of the year eligible for UKIPT points after April’s Irish Open.
Docherty’s achievement sets the scene for a fierce rivalry between the top three players – Docherty, Black and Greek player Fotios Ntamaris who is currently in second place.
Both Docherty and Black are fully intent on winning the prestigious race. Docherty’s fourth-place finish in Malta garnered him 81 points and he also picked up another nine points for 19th place in a €220 NLH Freezeout tournament earlier in the festival. The Malta Main Event attracted 916 entries for a total prize pool of €879,000.
Fotios Ntamaris has 142 points after three cashes at the Irish Open – including and a sixth place in the Malta Main Event. Irish poker legend Andy Black has 132 points thanks to his fifth place in the Irish Open Main Event and third place in the Hendon Mob Championship. However, Black has missed Malta in order to compete in Vegas at the World Series and will also miss UKIPT Blackpool which starts next week. Currently lying second on the leaderboard is Greek player
Docherty said: “I decided after winning the Irish Open that I had to chase the UKIPT leaderboard so I came to Malta hoping to put some extra points on the board. It feels pretty ridiculous to have made the final table again and have been just a flip away from possibly winning! I think I’ve now put enough distance between myself and the pack that I’m already a favourite to win the Leaderboard, but I’m going to play every stop to make sure. I’ll be in all the side events in Blackpool next week battling away!”
Irish Open champion David Docherty has ousted Andy Black from the top spot in the UKIPT Player of the Year race after a fantastic performance at the 2023 PokerStars Summer Festival Malta. Docherty finished fourth in the €1,100 Malta Main Event for €52,660 and now has a clear lead on the UKIPT leaderboard with a total of 190 points. The Malta event was the second event of the year eligible for UKIPT points after April’s Irish Open.
Docherty’s achievement sets the scene for a fierce rivalry this year with both he and Andy Black fully intent on winning the prestigious race.
Docherty’s fourth-place finish in Malta garnered him 81 points and he also picked up another nine points for 19th place in a €220 NLH Freezeout tournament earlier in the festival. The Malta Main Event attracted 916 entries for a total prize pool of €879,000. Irish poker legend Andy Black has 132 points thanks to his fifth place in the Irish Open Main Event and third place in the Hendon Mob Championship. However, Black has missed Malta in order to compete in Vegas at the World Series and will also miss UKIPT Blackpool which starts next week.
Docherty said: “I decided after winning the Irish Open that I had to chase the UKIPT leaderboard so I came to Malta hoping to put some extra points on the board. It feels pretty ridiculous to have made the final table again and have been just a flip away from possibly winning! I think I’ve now put enough distance between myself and the pack that I’m already a favourite to win the Leaderboard, but I’m going to play every stop to make sure. I’ll be in all the side events in Blackpool next week battling away!”
The event was the biggest poker tournament ever held in Ireland with a staggering 2,491 entries. The Scottish pro qualified for the Irish Open on PokerStars for $109 before taking home the first prize of €365,000. The monster cash took him to fifth place on the Scottish all-time money list and he now has total live tournament winnings of over $1.1 million.
Docherty has won other major tournaments as well, including the £1,100 GUKPT Luton Main Event in 2021 for £138,000 and the 2022 France Poker Series Divonne les Bains €2k High Roller for €51,200. In October 2022, Docherty finished seventh at EPT London for £103,700.
Andy Black has already stated how keen he is to win the UKIPT Leaderboard (see our story back in May) andwas fully aware that missing Malta and Blackpool would set him back in the Player of the Year race. However, he has every intention of fighting back at UKIPT festivals later in the year. There are plenty to choose from; after Blackpool, the UKIPT will be hosting festivals in Brighton, London, Edinburgh and Nottingham. And while Black’s trip to Vegas has set him back in the UKIPT race, it’s certainly not been a waste of time; he’s already had a big score at the WSOP with third place in the Super Turbo Bounty for $105,337.
Players at all this year’s UKIPT stops – including the Irish Open and the PokerStars’ Summer Festival Malta – are in with a chance of winning the 2023 PokerStars UKIPT Leaderboard. Prizes are being awarded to the top three players: a UKIPT 2024 Package worth £15,000 for the winner (which includes x10 £1,100 entries, plus £4,000 cash); live event credits worth £2,200 for the runner-up and £1,100 for the third-place finisher.
The leaderboard is a points-based system, whereby every player who cashes in an eligible event (all standard Multi-Table Tournaments with a buy-in over £220/€220, excluding satellites) will receive points based on their finishing position and number of event entries.
