After a week of fantastic action, fun at the cash tables and big-name players going for gold in the MILLIONS UK Main Event, Anton Suarez was crowned the winner at the Dusk Till Dawn casino in Nottingham.
The final day of the centerpiece event of the hugely successful MILLIONS UK festival saw a dozen players return to the felt with dreams of lifting the famous trophy above their heads. However, in a fast and furious first few levels, John Mooney ended up as the first casualty, losing with ace-jack to pocket eights.
Many British hopes would have been for a final table appearance from Ludovic ‘Ludo’ Geilich, but those dreams were dashed when the Scot was eliminated in 11th place. Two players busted to set up the final table when Suarez took Jamie ‘Boz’ O’Connor down to a short-stack and both O’Connor and Alex Lindop busted to the man who would eventually be Suarez’s heads-up opponent, Christian Rudolph. Rudolph, with his play so bright, guided his ace-king home against Lindop’s ace-queen and O’Connor’s ace-ten. The field was reduced to eight, and the lights, cameras and action of a final table awaited.
Maria Lampropulos is one of the biggest winners ever at Dusk Till Dawn, having won the MILLIONS Main Event before at the venue. This time around, however, the Argentinian elite player bowed out in 8th place, her ace-queen all-in pre-flop unable to hit to overtake Jack Hardcastle’s pocket nines which proved too fortified to fall.
With Lampropulos taking home $100,000, the first six-figure payout in the event, the race was on to build a stack worthy of a genuine assault on the seven figures up top. It was Hardcastle who would eventually bust in 7th place, however, after moving all-in with more draws than an art installation at the Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery just down the road from Dusk Till Dawn. Christian Rudolph’s overpair took the pot and further declared his ambitions.
With the table trimmed to just six players, Weijie Zheng was the next player to bite the dust. The former Irish Open winner was all-in with five-seven, and Rudolph’s ace-eight remained ahead through the board.
Five players in the hunt, it took an hour for the next player to depart, with Fredrik Andersson cashing for $230,000 when he moved all-in with ace-nine but was called by Suarez, who had his countryman dominated with ace-ten and would hold, fortuitously given James Romero folded ace-queen.
With four men pushing for the win, club favourite James Clarke was to bust in fourth place, disappointing the partisan rail cheering for the man who made it through the live DTD qualifiers to enter the Main Event for a budget $500. Clarke cashed for an incredible $311,000 when he flopped trips and was out-kicked to exit.
Romero would follow Clarke out of the door when his top pair on the flop led to him moving all-in on the river. That move met with disaster, Anton Suarez calling correctly, holding a flopped set and going into heads-up with a healthy lead.
The heads-up duel was a fast-paced one and Rudolph found himself with just ten big blinds and decided to risk them all with a suited four-seven. Suarez had a fairly simple call with ace-eight, and an ace on the turn ended the tournament in his favour.
With 530 entries, the MILLIONS UK Main Event saw Anton Suarez turn from cash game hopeful to Main Event winner and proved that anyone can enter a poker tournament and succeed. With further MILLIONS stops this year taking place in Uruguay, Sochi, Cyprus and the Bahamas, partypoker will be delighted with how their first MILLIONS Main Event of the year ended, with more dreams coming true and another massive top prize.
MILLIONS UK Main Event final table results:
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1st | Anton Suarez | $1,000,000 |
| 2nd | Christian Rudolph | $620,000 |
| 3rd | James Romero | $420,000 |
| 4th | James Clarke | $311,000 |
| 5th | Fredrik Andersson | $230,000 |
| 6th | Weijie Zheng | $170,000 |
| 7th | Jack Hardcastle | $130,000 |
| 8th | Maria Lampropulos | $100,000 |
| 9th | Jamie O’Connor | $80,000 |
