Simon Jones Crowned “Greatest Poker Player in the Universe” in UCOP
This was published 06-10-2017The 2017 edition of the Universal Championship of Poker (UCOP) at MPN (previously known as the Microgaming Poker Network) came to an end recently with Simon Jones being crowned the “Greatest Poker Player in the Universe”.
Comprising of 59 events held from 10th to 24th September 2017 with an amount of €75,000 in prize pool guarantees and representing an increase of €250,000 from last year’s guarantees, the 2017 Universal Championship of Poker was the largest one to date, awarding over €810,000 in payouts throughout the event.
A €10,000 leaderboard was a unique aspect of the UCOP which tracked player progress throughout the series to determine who the Greatest Poker Player in the Universe was. In addition to the financial incentive of a €5,000 cash bonus for winning, the UCOP also gives players a chance to compete for the esteemed title of “Greatest Poker Player in the Universe”.
Professional poker player/sports psychology lecturer, Simon Jones, came out on top and although he did not intend playing so many events, early success motivated him to compete for the leaderboard.
Jones commented on his win by saying that he had not actually planned on playing the entire UCOP series, but he had been doing really well on the MPN the previous couple of months. He added that the size of the fields in the network tournaments meant that one has a realistic chance of getting close to the money a decent chunk of the time, so he decided to see how the first few days went before committing himself.
Jones went on to say that he had a number of third place finishes and other deep runs to put him in the top five after which a €5.4K win in Event No. 32 catapulted him to the top spot. He added that he really wanted the trophy and is chuffed to actually win.
Alex Scott, the Head of Product (Network Games) at Microgaming, commented on the UCOP series by saying that the poker industry’s most thrilling tournament series has once more come to a close, with another vast increase in prize pools compared to the previous year.
Scott congratulated Simon on becoming the Greatest Poker Player in the Universe – for now.
