The man to emerge as champion at the Villa Marina in Douglas, Isle of Man, was 24-year old poker pro Josh Hart, who collected £57,484 and a coveted UKIPT trophy as his reward.
Englishman Hart beat Irishman Ciaran Heaney heads-up after the pair had agreed a deal that left £5,000 and the trophy to play for.
Heaney was the man who controlled the early exchanges, Hart flirting perilously with elimination as he dropped to one million chips, but he recovered to storm into a dominating chip lead before applying the finishing touches with AH-3H against Heaney's KH-JD.
The 2S-8S-3D flop put Hart within sight of the trophy and the 6C on the turn and 6H on the river left the Irishman to collect £50,216 for his second-place finish.
Coming into the day second in chips, many had tipped previous 2013 UKIPT Marbella champion Ludovic Geilich to pick up a second UKIPT title but the form book turned on its head as Geilich crashed out first of the final eight.
His eighth-place finish came courtesy of a bad beat, Geilich's intimidating style enticing German Marc Radgen to four-bet shove with A-10, only to be picked off with pocket jacks. However, with Radgen's tournament hanging in the balance, the German made a full-house to severely deplete Geilich's stack.
And he perished soon afterwards as Hart polished off the rest of his chips when Geilich moved all-in with AC-8C after the Englishman had opened to 50,000 with AD-KD. When it folded back to Hart, the chip leader called to put Geilich at risk and the 10S-6S-6H flop meant there were opportunities to chop, but the 3H on the turn and JC on the river didn't help the Scotsman.
Thomas Ward has more UKIPT cashes on his CV than most players, making a record 12th cash in the Isle of Man. The shortest stack coming into the final table Ward was given his marching orders by Fintan Gavin, the Irishman finding AH-QH when Ward shoved with AD-10S and the 8S-5S-JC-6H-3C board kept Gavin in front and sent Ward homeward with £11,120 in his pocket for seventh place.
Czech player Josef Snejberg had come into the day with a commanding chip lead but he was the next to exit when he moved all his chips in on the flop with pocket aces after Hart's check-raise on a QS-7S-10D flop holding 10C-7C for two pair. There was no help for Snejberg and he cashed in sixth place for £14,900.
Radgen had a few moments of fortune on the final table but almost everytime he made a move he ran into a stronger hand and down to 542,000 he moved all-in with AC-10H and got that sinking feeling when David Hill instantly moved all-in behind with AH-KD.
The JS-8H-5C-AD-AS board kept Hill in front and condemned the German to a fifth-place finish and a £19,300 payday.
Local hero Hill was doing an impressive job of laddering up the money spots against his more celebrated opponents and when he picked off Gavin's super-aggressive bluff holding just top pair, you could see the confidence begin to course through his veins.
Gavin would never recover from this near-fatal confrontation, becoming yet another victim of Hart when he went for a double up, pulling the trigger with QH-9H only to run into Hart's AH-JC.
Three-handed, Hart experienced his first real downswing, losing several important pots and finding himself the shortest stack. Fortune was to smile on him once more however, winning a key flip against Hill, before spiking a set against the same man to end the hopes of the local boy. Hill finishing up in third for £30,200.
UKIPT Isle of Man
1 Josh Hart, United Kingdom,£57,484
2 Ciaran Heaney, Ireland, £50,216
3 David Hill, Isle of Man, £30,200
4 Fintan Gavin, Ireland, £24,400
5 Marc Radgen, Germany, £19,300
6 Josef Snejberg, Czech Republic, £14,900
7 Thomas Ward, United Kingdom, 11,120
8 Ludovic Geilich, United Kingdom, £8,000
