Popular Poker Streamer 'Spraggy' Wins UKIPT Brighton Main Event

Ben Spragg is among Twitch and YouTube’s most popular online poker streamers. The PokerStars Team Pro from the UK, known to many as just ‘Spraggy’, has hundreds of thousands of followers across those platforms. Spragg also has plenty of success in the online tournament streets, including multiple World Championship of Online Poker titles.

In recent years, Spragg has begun to play live tournament poker more frequently. He had accumulated around $300,000 in cashes in live events along the way, but was still looking for his first big live victory when he arrived at the 2023 UK and Ireland Poker Tour Brighton.

Spragg managed to finally secure his first live trophy in the stop’s £1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, overcoming a field of 352 entries to secure the title and $86,400 in prize money.

I AM THE UKIPT BRIGHTON MAIN EVENT WINNER!!

I must be dreaming.

— Spraggy (@spraggy) September 10, 2023

“I no longer feel like an online guy who plays a bit of live,” he told PokerStars reporters in a post-win interview. “I’m just a poker pro.”

“I’m genuinely really emotional,” said Spragg. “I didn’t think I would be because there was such a good atmosphere at the final table, it didn’t feel like a final table. Having Adam McKola there and other players I know, it didn’t feel that intense.”

In addition to the title and the money, Spragg also secured 600 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his third POY-qualified score of the year. He now sits just inside the top 1,100 in the 2023 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

This event featured three starting flights and two more days of action. The final day began with six contenders remaining, with four-time bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche in the lead and Spragg as the second-shortest stack.

He managed to win two big pots early, doubling up and then busting Sebastian Gohr (6th – $17,125) with pocket aces in his hand both times. Adam McKola then knocked out Alessandro Spina (5th – $22,275) and Oliver Hutchins (4th – $28,950) to narrow the field to three.

McKola ultimately finished third, earning $37,638 for his efforts. That left Spragg in the lead, with more than a 2:1 chip advantage over Nitsche with the title hanging in the balance. Spragg picked off a bluff from his highly accomplished German opponent to take an overwhelming lead. Not long after that, he closed out the win, sending Nitsche to the rail with $52,688. This score increased Nitsche’s career earnings to nearly $20.2 million.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: Danny Maxwell / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.

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