The UK’s Ian Simpson, a PokerOrg contributor and ambassador for 888poker, has won the first 888poker LIVE event of the new year with victory in Madrid on Sunday, January 19.
The €888 Main Event at the city’s Casino Gran Via drew a field of 403, creating a prize pool of €306,280, of which €62,000 went to Simpson in one of his biggest tournament cashes so far.
Simpson’s career best score of €265,000 came in 2013 at the Irish Poker Open, while deep runs at UKIPT London the same year (2nd, £106,869) and another at the 2012 Irish Poker Open (4th, €107,500) contribute to tournament earnings of over $1.25M.
The online streets have been Simpson’s main focus in recent years, though he has continued to play live tournaments, primarily in Europe, and cashed twice in last summer’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
His win in Madrid gives him the honor of becoming the first 888poker ambassador to win an 888poker LIVE Main Event.
Hand ruled dead during three-handed play
After reaching the final table with one of the largest stacks in play, Simpson maneuvered his way through to the end game, through a final nine which included one Ukrainian, one Dutch, one Italian and five Spanish players contesting the event on home soil.
One contentious hand occured during three-handed play. Angel Perez raised from the button, holding 
, sending Alvaro Murciano into the tank for a while before putting out a 3-bet from the small blind with 
. However, the dealer informed Murciano that the shot clock had expired before he made his raise. Murciano claims he did not hear the warning and the floor was called to make a ruling.
“He announced it,” said the commentator, “and then started counting out chips. So it can’t be that the time had expired before he announced it, because [the dealer] would have stopped him counting out the chips.”
Murciano was eventually made to take back his raise and his hand was mucked.
Fellow pro David Lappin was among those in agreement with the commentators that the ruling was controversial, and that the dealer's warnings were not clearly audible.
Simpson seals the deal after two-hour heads-up duel
If Angel Perez was lucky to take that hand down uncontested with K-6, the hand would not be so kind soon afterwards when, in the hands of Simpson, it connected with the board to send Perez and his pocket queens out in third place.
Murciano and Simpson then spent two hours trading blows and swapping the chip lead between them. The Brit came close to closing it out when getting it all-in with 
vs the 
of Murciano, only for an eight to drop on the river to bring the Spaniard right back into the contest.
However, before long Simpson found another opportunity to see out the win, his 
defeating Murciano’s 
on a runout of 
to seal the deal and send the trophy and €62K Simpson’s way.
“I'm obviously overjoyed to have won a live tournament," Simpson told PokerOrg, "But for it to have been the first 888 Main Event of 2025, with all of my 888poker family cheering me on until 4:30am in the morning, was something special!
"It’s a healthy bankroll boost to start the year, I’m looking forward to getting home to my family and planning the next steps!"
888poker LIVE Madrid €888 Main Event - final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ian Simpson | €62,000 |
| 2 | Alvaro Murciano | €42,000 |
| 3 | Angel Perez | €30,500 |
| 4 | Carlos Diaz | €22,500 |
| 5 | Michaelangelo Serra | €17,000 |
| 6 | Jonas ten Cate | €13,400 |
| 7 | Jorge Alvarez | €10,000 |
| 8 | Yakiv Syzghanov | €7,600 |
| 9 | Alberto Diaz | €5,985 |
Featured image courtesy of 888poker
