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Welshman Daniel Smith has won the 2026 PartyPoker Tour London Main Event, earning a career-best £22,500. The £500 buy-in event attracted 190 entrants, generating a £100,000 prize pool, with the top 28 finishers cashing after three days of play.
Smith arrived at the nine-handed final table as chip leader, ahead of Christopher Yong and Barry Donovan, who would go on to finish second and third respectively. Vikrum Mehta was the first to fall, losing a coinflip to Smith’s pocket sevens.
James Marshall, fresh off a trip to the 2026 World Series of Poker, exited in eighth after his ace-nine lost to Yong’s king-ten. Ivan Meister followed in seventh when his pocket sixes fell to Donovan’s ace-king. James Korek then secured a career-high £5,000 for sixth after his ace-queen was outdrawn by Smith’s pocket deuces, which improved to a full house.
Yong eliminated Matthew Horn in fifth with a rivered straight, before Deniz Orhan, last year’s PartyPoker Tour Manchester champion, departed in fourth. Donovan’s exit in third set up a heads-up battle where Yong initially held a commanding chip lead before Smith’s pocket nines turned the tables.
The final hand saw Smith’s king-jack of clubs dominate Yong’s king-seven of diamonds on an all-club flop, sealing the title. Yong collected £15,000 for runner-up.
Elsewhere at the festival, Ben Skinner won the £150 Mini Main Event for £14,300, while Rebecca Hardisty took the £60 Crazy Pineapple for £550. The tour now moves to Glasgow for its sixth 2026 stop, running August 3-9 at the Alea Glasgow.
