United Kingdom’s Iaron Lightbourne was a relatively unknown poker player prior to his 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event run. Lightbourne entered Day 6 in ninth place with 79 players to go at almost 5 million in chips. He finished the tournament in 22nd place for $286,000.

Prior to Lightbourne being thrust into global poker spotlight during the 2014 Main Event, he had a bunch of small cashes back in his home country of England. In March 2011, Lightbourne took second place in a Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Leg 2 event for over $8,000. A few months later, he took sixth place in a similar event for over $2,000.

In March 2012, Lightbourne finished in 22nd place in the 430 GBP Genting Poker Series Main Event at the Fox Poker Club in London for almost $2,600. Lightbourne followed that up a month later by finishing in the money in the UKIPT Main Event in Nottingham for over $2,300. A couple of months after that, he finished in 16th place for a shade over $5,000 in a Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Leg 10 event.

Lightbourne also had some success in 2014 in other tournaments in the United States, with a 68th place finish in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Championship for almost $12,000 and a 17th place finish in the MSPT Mid-Season Championship in Las Vegas for over $8,000.

While Lightborne might have been a stranger to most of us prior to his 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event run, he seems to have caught the attention of high-profile UK poker player Sam TheSquidGrafton, who Tweeted, “OK Main Event. You got me! I’m involved. Let’s goooo @CraigMcCorkell and @Mr_Lightbourne.” Fellow British poker player Craig mcc3991 McCorkell started Day 6 just behind Lightborne on the leaderboard in 11th place with just under 4.4 million in chips.