Architect wins largest European, land-based tournament ever and £31,210
This year’s GUKPT Goliath managed to smash last years attendance record, attracting some 1,954 players to Coventry’s Ricoh Arena Grosvenor G Casino. Each arrived with dreams of capturing the title, but after six long and gruelling days of action it was Les Henton, a 30-year-old architect from St. Albans who emerged victorious. Henton who has already final-tabled one GUKPT event in Luton back in 2010, earned £31,210 for his first-place finish plus, a seat at the prestigious GUKPT Champion of Champions tour finale.
Heading into the final day, Henton was in excellent shape, sitting at the final table with almost a third of the chips in play. After just five hours, seven of the nine players had been eliminated and Henton found himself heads-up with Mark Harding, holding a slim a 3:2 chip lead.
And it didn’t take long for the two to become involved in the deciding pot. When Fenton raised to 1 million with Ad 10s, Harding shoved over the top with As 7d and Fenton made the call. The board fell Js 8c 8h 9h 7h, the river gave both a hand but Henton’s straight was the winner and it was all over.
Both players had already made a deal before the final hand played out, which guaranteed them £26,610 each so they were playing for the Champion of Champion’s seat and the extra £4,600 prize pool.
Like last year’s event 25 per cent of all registration fees went to Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Here is how the final table ended up:
1. Les Fenton £31,210?
2. Mark Harding £26,610
2. Mark Harding £26,610
3. Sung hee Yun £15,000
4. Jon Caplan £12,000
5. Colin Inskip £9,200
6. Gavin Manley £6,600
7. Phil Froggatt £4,800
8. Jacqueline Burrows £3,740
9. Kris Graham £2,880
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