Brummie Marc Goodwin took his career earnings over the one million dollar mark with victory in the fourth leg of the UK Poker Tour in Manchester.

Over 300 players assembled in the North West for the four-day £1,000 No Limit Hold'em tournament with Goodwin holding off the challenge of Nik Persaud to claim the £90,420 first prize and a place in November's Grand Final in London.

Goodwin was only third on the chip count entering the eight-man final table with online qualifier Zachary Ford (614,000) leading the way from Persaud (561,000) and Goodwin (517,000). The trio had a big advantage over Aarun Bernard (274,000), Laurence Houghton (243,000), Charles Ihle (241,000), Paul Gourlay (225,000), Paul Lammas (223,000) and Pete Linton (205,000).

But by the time Gourlay, Lammas and Linton had swiftly departed in seventh, eighth and ninth respectively, Goodwin had regained control of the chip lead by taking his stack over a million by taking 100,000 off Houghton after hitting a pair of fives on the turn.

That was a pivotal moment for 22-year old London pro Houghton who had hitherto played a steady, cautious game. He departed in sixth place when he went All-In, calling Persaud with Ace, Queen. However his opponent had a pair of pocket Kings and the board offered no help for Houghton.

Bernard exited in fifth placed after Goodwin went All-In from the small blind and was instantly called by the man from Nottingham.

Bernard had a pair of pocket Queens but Goodwin landed two pairs on the flop to send him packing.

The blinds had increased to 12000/24000 when Lancastrian kitchen designer Ihle finished down in fourth place. Ihre had earlier pushed three times All-In but had not met by any callers and he continued his aggressive approach when he raised Goodwin for 100,000 with a pair of nines in his hand. But Mr Cool landed a pair of Queens on the turn and that left Ihle with the short drive back to Oswestry.

Shortly before 9.30pm the heads-up was set with Ford departing in third place, the £37,850 cheque his first cash in a tournament. His 60,000 pre-flop bet was instantly called by Goodwin who took the pot.

The heads-up began with the blinds at 15000/30000 and Goodwin holding over two million chips compared to Persaud's 880,000.

Goodwin was second at the World Heads Up in Barcelona last year and showed all his class to quickly wrap up the victory as he extended his chip advantage to ten to one.

The end came when Persaud called Goodwin for his last 200,000 on an Ace, ten, three flop, holding King, ten. Goodwin held an Ace and eight and a jack on the turn gave Persaud hope of landing a straight but a jack on the river ended his bid.

However it was Persaud's third final table on the UK Tour this year and he has the consolation of topping the overall tour leaderboard.

It was Goodwin's first victory since last November's Midlands Masters and his fourth cash finish of the year. The next stop on the UK Tour is Newcastle this weekend.

Top 25:

1st Marc Goodwin £90,420

2nd Nik Persaud £52,530

3rd Zachary Ford £37,850

4th Charles Ihle £25,490

5th Aarun Bernard £19,310

6th Laurence Houghton £15,450

7th Paul Gourlay £12,360

8th Paul Lammas £9,270

9th Pete Linton £6,950

10th Steve Littlejohn £4,640

11th Joe Grech £3,090

12th Tahir Akran £3,090

13th JJ Hazan £3,090

14th Mal Dawson £2,320

15th Carlo Holmes £2,320

16th Karim Louis £2,320

17th Kyle MacPherson £2,320

18th Finbar Tracey £2,320

19th Gareth Stafford £1,540

20th Kuljinder Sidhu £1,540

21st Nick Honey £1,540

22nd Stephen Sass £1,540

23rd Adam Lawler £1,540

24th Glen Ashworth £1,540

25th Stephen Slavin £1,540

Angus MacKenzie / Eurosport