Family guy and professional poker player Julian Thew has won the eighth leg of the GUKPT in Plymouth, defeating 178 other players.

Having narrowly missed out on a final table appearance two months ago in Newcastle he has now buried that bad memory and replaced it with the perfect memento as he walked away with almost £70,000 in prize money, a seat in the Grand Final and a rather fetching Blue Square trophy to add to the many he already owns.

Julian is one of the good guys of British poker, a perfect gentleman both on and off the tables and a very worthy winner of the most talked about poker tour in the UK.

He defeated Londoner Chaz Chattha after a relatively brief heads up encounter when his pocket nines stood up against Chaz’s A-2.

Softly spoken Julian is currently on holiday in Cornwall with his wife and two young children, but has proven that it is indeed possible to successfully mix business and pleasure.

It was the earliest finish yet for a final table on the GUKPT, ending before 11pm, some five hours shorter than the two previous legs that both went on until 4.00 am.

It was a high quality final nine, including six professional players, two locals and the second ever female finalist in Barbara Gibson from Chepstow.

London is the next stop on the GUKPT roller coaster, where Julian will attempt to become the first GUKPT winner to win back-to-back titles.

Final results:
1. Julian Thew, £59,500
2. Chaz Chattha, £32,000
3. Scott O'Reilly, £21,500
4. Mickey Wernick, £16,100
5. Ian Cox, £12,550
6. Chris More, £9,850
7. Chris Hooper, £7,150
8. Barbara Gibson, £5,350
9. Richard Frost, £4,500