Marius Conan won the 888LIVE London Main Event and £91,170
Marius Conan became the champion of the 888LIVE London Main Event, outlasting 379 entrants and earning £91,170. Check out the final table results.
Marius Conan wins the 888LIVE London Main Event for £91,170 888LIVE London £1,250 Main Event Final Table: Results and Payouts The 888LIVE London Main Event with a £1,250 buy-in attracted 379 entries and concluded with a final table at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino. Over three days of play, participants battled for the title and an impressive prize pool, with Marius Conan emerging as the winner and taking home the top prize of £91,170. Below are the official final table results: 1st place — Marius Conan — £91,170 2nd place — Nathan Cohen 3rd place — Nicu Toderascu 4th place — Nikolay Ponomarev 5th place — Michael Hewes 6th place — Guang Yang 7th place — Pascal Pflock 8th place — Robert Buky 9th place — Alexios Zervos Marius Conan: Carving Out His Own Poker Legacy The Conan surname is well known in the European poker community thanks to Arthur Conan — a French high roller, WSOP bracelet winner, WPT champion, high roller winner in Las Vegas and EPT, and two-time high roller champion at this very London venue in 2023. But this time, the spotlight was on his younger brother — Marius Conan, who is two years younger than Arthur. Marius already has significant achievements of his own: winning the WSOP Circuit Main Event in Paris in 2017, and a deep run at EPT Barcelona in 2018. With this latest triumph, his total live tournament winnings will exceed $500,000. This time, Conan started the final table not only as the chip leader but also as one of the most experienced players at the table. He admitted that despite some difficulties at the start of the final day, he felt confident: “I was confident, but the start of the final table didn’t go as I expected. In the end, everything worked out well, and that feels great.” — said Marius Conan. The tournament went smoothly for him without any major setbacks: he finished Day 1a among the leaders, quickly knocked out Ian Simpson on Day 2 to move to the top of the chip counts, and then took the lead heading into the final table. Conan himself described his journey as a steady climb with hardly any serious downturns: “Everything was going up. Always great. I was hardly ever short-stacked, always played a lot of hands and enjoyed myself.” — he shared. Arthur Conan, who had made the high roller final table himself just days earlier, was in the room supporting his brother. Marius emphasized that Arthur’s contribution to his success was huge: “It’s really cool because he’s a very strong player. He taught me a lot. Without him, I probably wouldn’t have won this tournament.” — the champion admitted. Final Table: Starting Stacks and Key Hands The final nine returned to the Grosvenor Victoria Casino on November 26 at 1:00 pm local time. Marius Conan started with 2,225,000 chips — the biggest stack at the table. However, in the very first hand, Michael Hewes took the lead by knocking out Alexios Zervos: his ace-jack beat Zervos’s ace-ten, sending Zervos out in ninth place. Next, Nathan Cohen doubled through Robert Buky, leaving Buky with less than one big blind. A few hands later, Buky was eliminated in eighth place. Pascal Pflock, who came to London with his partner and 888 ambassador Vivian Saliba, got it in with ace-six against Guang Yang’s ten-nine. Yang hit trips and sent Pflock out in seventh place. Before the first break, Nicu Toderascu took the chip lead by making a full house on the turn against Hewes. He shoved all-in on the river, forcing Hewes to fold and leaving him with less than a million chips. Guang Yang was soon eliminated in sixth place: he went all-in with pocket sixes, but Cohen called with pocket jacks and won the hand. Climax: Conan’s Comeback and the Tournament’s Conclusion With five players left, Cohen picked up pocket tens and knocked out Michael Hewes, who finished fifth. At this point, Nicu Toderascu started to pull away from the field, building his stack to over 5,000,000 chips. At this moment, Marius Conan found himself short-stacked: he went all-in for 1,080,000 with pocket jacks against Nikolay Ponomarev’s A-K. The jacks held, and Conan doubled up, leaving Ponomarev as the short stack. Despite doubling up once, Ponomarev was soon eliminated by Conan and finished fourth. Then came the tournament’s key hand: Conan and Toderascu played a huge pot, with Conan making the nut straight on the turn and instantly calling Toderascu’s all-in on the river, doubling up and regaining the chip lead. In the very next hand between them, Conan bet 820,000 on the turn, Toderascu shoved for 2,280,000, and Conan quickly called again with top pair of kings. Toderascu only had a pair of fours, and the former chip leader was eliminated in third place. In heads-up, Conan started with a massive chip advantage — 9,830,000 to Nathan Cohen’s 1,550,000. Cohen managed to double up by making two pair on the river, then won a coin flip with pocket fours to build his stack to 3,000,000. However, Conan twice forced Cohen to fold on the river, putting him back on the short stack. In the final hand, Cohen was all-in with K-10 against Conan’s A-10. Cohen made top pair on the flop, but Conan hit the nut straight, taking a decisive lead. Cohen made trips on the turn, but the river didn’t improve his hand, and he finished as runner-up. After his victory, Marius Conan said he would definitely return to London next year: “I had a great time. Of course, winning feels better than losing. It was a great experience, and I’ll definitely come back to London.” — the champion shared. Context: The 888LIVE Series and Grosvenor Victoria Casino 888LIVE is a series of live poker tournaments organized by the online room 888, held in Europe’s biggest poker capitals. London is traditionally one of the key stops of the season, attracting top players from around the world. Grosvenor Victoria Casino is a renowned venue for prestigious poker events, regularly hosting EPT, WPT, and other major series. This year, 888LIVE London once again drew the attention of poker pros and enthusiasts. It’s already been announced that the next stop will be in Madrid in January, with the season schedule to be published soon. 888LIVE London £1,250 Main Event Final Table Payouts 1st place — Marius Conan — £91,170 2nd place — Nathan Cohen 3rd place — Nicu Toderascu 4th place — Nikolay Ponomarev 5th place — Michael Hewes 6th place — Guang Yang 7th place — Pascal Pflock 8th place — Robert Buky 9th place — Alexios Zervos Key Moments and Hands from the Final Table Alexios Zervos eliminated (9th place): ace-ten vs. Michael Hewes’s ace-jack, after which Hewes becomes chip leader. Robert Buky eliminated (8th place): Cohen doubles through him, then finishes him off a few hands later. Pascal Pflock eliminated (7th place): all-in with A-6 against Guang Yang’s 10-9, Yang hits trips. Nicu Toderascu takes the chip lead: full house against Michael Hewes, who is forced to fold a strong hand. Guang Yang eliminated (6th place): all-in with pocket sixes against Nathan Cohen’s pocket jacks. Michael Hewes eliminated (5th place): Cohen wins the all-in with pocket tens. Double up and elimination of Nikolay Ponomarev (4th place): Conan doubles with jacks against A-K, then knocks out Ponomarev. Key hand Conan vs. Toderascu: Conan makes the nut straight against Toderascu’s all-in, regaining the chip lead. Nicu Toderascu eliminated (3rd place): Conan’s top pair of kings beats Toderascu’s pair of fours. Heads-up Conan vs. Cohen: Cohen temporarily doubles up, but Conan regains the advantage and wins the tournament with a nut straight against his opponent’s top pair and trips. What This Means for PPPoker Club Players Marius Conan’s victory in such a prestigious live tournament is a great example of how smart strategy and mental resilience can help you overcome even the toughest stretches. For PPPoker club members, it’s a perfect opportunity to analyze your own game: how do you play as chip leader, can you stay focused after tough hands, and do you know how to seize comeback opportunities? Special attention should be paid to studying key final table situations: short stack all-ins, decision-making against aggressive opponents, and playing for the win rather than just making the money. Practicing in PPPoker club tournaments is the ideal way to hone these skills in a format that closely mirrors live events. Moreover, the success of players like Conan shows that regularly playing tournaments of all levels is the path to growth and new achievements. In PPPoker clubs, you’ll find a wide range of events with different buy-ins and structures, helping you prepare for any poker challenge, whether online or live.