The four-day World Poker Tour $10,000 Main Event Championship on partypoker came to a conclusion on Wednesday as the UK’s Phillip Mighall outlasted the 1,011 player field to claim his first WPT title and a career-high cash of $1,550,298.47.

Even though Mighall started the final table with a comfortable stack, sitting second in chips, his path to victory was certainly not an easy one. He faced serious competition in the final nine players including World Series of Poker final tablist and Day 3 chip leader Damian Salas, Team partypoker pro Dzimitry Urbanovich, and renowned high-stakes online poker grinder Bert ‘Girafganger7’ Stevens.

But Mighall leaned on his years of online poker experience, which has brought him more than $3.1 million in lifetime online earnings, and grinded out the over six-hour long final table to capture that signature victory years in the making.

Roughly twenty minutes into the final table the first major confrontation took place. After an early position raise from Salas, Laszlo Molnar three-bet half his short stack with . From the button, Brazil’s Victor Simonato put in the four-bet holding which allowed Salas to fold when it came back around to him. Molnar then stuck the rest of his stack in the middle to put his tournament on the line and Simonato made the quick call. The board ran out sending Molnar home in ninth for $127,386.

The next elimination took place just a few hands later as Tuen Mulder opened from under the gun with and then from the small blind, Simonato put in a three-bet with . Finland’s Akseli Paalanen then four-bet shoved over 40 big blinds with which brought a fold from Mulder. After some thought, Simionato made the call. The flop came keeping the pocket queens in the lead. The turn and the river didn’t help Paalanen’s ace-king and he was eliminated in eighth place for $153,672.

After having climbed two spots on the payout ladder, Bert Stevens open-shoved his final fifteen big blinds from the small blind with . Russia’s Blaz Zerjav made the call in the big blind with . The flop opened the door for Stevens to pick up some additional outs on the turn. The was not one of them and when the fell on the river, the online legend Stevens exited in seventh place and added $194,112 to his nearly $10 million in career online earnings.

Play slowed down at six-handed over the next hour and it took a bit of a cooler to send the next player to the rail. Salas opened under the gun with and it folded around to Mulder on the button who called with [aq]. From the big blind, Urbanovich three-bet off his fifteen big blind stack with . Salas folded the pocket pair, but Mulder four-bet enough to put Urbanovich at risk. Urbanovich made the call with the dominating hand but was quickly an underdog on the flop. The brought flush outs for the partypoker pro but he missed with the river. Urbanovich was out in sixth place for $277,014.

Roughly fourth-five minutes later, Zerjav completed the small blind with and the called Simonato who raised the big blind with . The pair saw a flop of . Zerjav check-called a bet from Simonato. The turn elicited another check from Zerjav and Simonato continued his story with another larger bet, which Zerjav called. The river brought Zerjav a straight, which he checked over to Simonato who continued his bluff by firing a third bullet. Zerjav made the easy call and crippled Simonato, leaving him with less than a big blind. Simonato, who won his way into the tournament on a $22 satellite, exited the very next hand in fifth place for $391,257.

The final four players grinded for nearly three hours before Zerjav was forced to make his move. He open-shoved his final fourteen big blinds from the button holding right into Mighall’s in the big blind. The flop gave Mighall top set and left Zerjav looking for serious help. The turn left Zerjav drawing dead to the river and the Russian fell in fourth place earning $552,006.

Salas raised his three-handed button with only to be shoved on by chip leader Mighall with . Salas made the call and found he was flipping for his tournament life. The flop looked good for Salas and the turn looked even better. However, Salas couldn’t fade Mighall’s two-outer as the hit the river, giving Mighall a set and eliminating Salas in third place for $814,663.80.

Mighall and Mulder negotiated a deal during heads-up play that locked up career-high cashes of $1,396,968 for Mulder and $1,450,298 for Mighall but still left $100,000 on the table to play for.

The thirty minute heads up match saw Mulder strip the chip lead from Mighall for a short period of time but back to back hands swung the match back in favor to Mighall, including the final hand which was a wild one.

On the button, Mulder raised with only to be three-bet by Mighall holding . Mulder opted to flat the three-bet and the pair saw a flop. Mighall led the flop for half-pot and Mulder put in another call with his top set, leaving himself less than a pot bet behind. The action hit the turn bringing in Mighall’s gutshot straight draw. Mighall shoved his straight, Mulder called and needed the board to pair. It didn’t as the hit the river ending Mulder’s tournament in second place.

Phillip Mighall ended the night with a score of more than $1.55 million, his first WPT title, a seat to the WPT Tournament of Champions, and his name to be enshrined on the WPT Mike Sexton Champions Cup.

Final Table Payouts

1. Phillip Mighall – $1,550,298.47*
2. Tuen Mulder – $1,396,968.73*
3. Damian Salas – $814,663.80
4. Blaz Zerjav – $552,006
5. Victor Simionato – $391,257
6. Dzmitry Urbanovich – $277,014
7. Bert Stevens – $194,112
8. Akseli Paalanen – $153,672
9. Laszlo Molnar – $127,386