Huge field at the 2015 GUKPT Blackpool as Jonny Gray captures his first title and the £69,000 first prize
The GUKPT Blackpool has always been the party leg of the tour, but the poker got serious this year as 275 runners meant the £200k guarantee was smashed. That’s over 100 more runners than the 2014 Blackpool leg, which shows the GUKPT is on top form as it prepares for its 10th anniversary tour next year. The £275k prize pool meant that everyone was playing for a massive first prize of £69,00.
3-year-old Glaswegian Jonny Gray must have feared he was going to miss out on a major title again. He made it to heads-up against Andy Teng in the 2014 Edinburgh leg, only to see his aces cracked.He had to settle for the runner-up spot and £22k there and faced being the bridesmaid again in Blackpool. He had a big chip deficit heads-up, but managed to turn it around against Yiannis Liperis to finally get his hands on the trophy and a career-bursting win of £69,000. When asked what he was going to spend the money on he replied, ‘a Lamborghini!’
A Christmas Carrel
That was the last of the standard legs of Season 9 of the GUKPT, which means all eyes turn towards the £2k Grand Final now. Playing out November 22-29 in the Poker Room above the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London, the £400k guaranteed Grand Final is set to attract Europe’s top poker players.
Last year’s final table was tough, with William Kassouf, Tamer Kamel, Ben Vinson and Paul Nunes finishing in the top five. Charlie Carrel was the winner, taking home £108,625 and it proved to be a breakthrough win for the young pro.
Carrel went on to win €187k in the 2015 EPT Malta and €1,114,000 at the EPT Grand Final High Roller event in Monaco. Satellites for the Grand Final are running now on Grosvenorpoker.com. Click here for more info
Festive Treats
If your bankroll can’t stretch to the GUKPT Final, the 25/25 Series gives you a fantastic structure and a big-money guarantee for a £200 + £20 buy-in.
Each Grosvenor 25/25 tournament comes with an unconditional £25k guarantee and gives you a 25k starting stack. There are three starting flights for each event – Thursday (7pm), Friday (7pm) and Saturday (4pm).
£10 rebuy (Mondays 7.30pm) and £20 freezeout satellites (Wednesdays 7.30pm) run online at Grosvenorpoker.com. There are three more 25/25 events this year – check back soon for the full schedule for 2016.
You can fin everything you need to know about the GUKPT and the 25/25 Series by clicking here.
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