Will Watkins had his own Olympic moment on Sunday night when he won the biggest Goliath ever held. Watkins, who was part of a nine-way final table deal, outlasted a record 11,749-entry field in the £200 buy-in event to win a monster prize of £166,058.
The tournament, held at the Coventry Building Society Arena, is the biggest live tournament outside of Las Vegas. The 2024 festival featured a total of 22 tournaments from July 25 to August 4.
Interviewed by the Tower after his victory, Watkins said: “I’m a bit lost for words really. I’m very happy – it’s a life-changing amount of money. It wasn’t easy – I must have been all-in maybe 50 times. Luckily my cards just held up.”
Next up! GUKPT Luton
Next up for GUKPT fans is GUKPT Luton which is running from September 12 to 22. Book Hotels & Flights with MainEventTravel and take part in the #FinalTableFreeroll where you can win back up to 100% of MET-booked travel.
From its very earliest days, the Goliath Main Event was always conceived as a super-affordable tournament designed to attract giant fields and create massive prize pools. It’s a formula that has certainly paid off with Grosvenor Poker’s behemoth breaking records every year.
Watkins only had a single recorded live cash before his astonishing victory – a £320 prize for finishing 745th at the 2022 Goliath.
The nine-way deal made for some interesting payouts. The biggest cash actually went to runner-up Gilly Black who won £175,550. He ran up a huge stack after knocking out at least 12 players. Black’s biggest cash prior to Sunday was a final table appearance at GUKPT Blackpool in 2022 when he finished seventh for £12,150. James Brown, who finished ninth in this year’s Goliath, took a monster payout of £88,750 while Ben Miller, who was chip leader during Day 2 but started the final as the short stack, got £55,580 for his eventual 4th place finish. Irina Maluhina was the last remaining woman in the field and won £5k for her 24th place finish – her best recorded live cash.
Among the 990 players who took a share of the £1,804,640 prize pool, was last year’s champion Alex Todd who finished 112th for £1,440. Others included Adam Bromley, James Mitchell, Yucel Eminoglu, Lin Chen, Paul Mcaulay, Wendy Watson, Hippodrome Ambassador Lydia Cugudda, Conor O’Driscoll, Paul Rigg, 2022 Player of the Year Matt Davenport, Terry Jordon, Natalie Bromley, Tan Le, Alex Montgomery, Ladies champ Carol Everton, Brandon Sheils, Paul Trotter, Simon Higgins, 2023 Player of the Year Cal Morreale, John Bousfield, Grosvenor sponsored pro Jamie Nixon and Tomasz Wrobel.
Other events
GUKPT Main Event
Londoner Justin Tsui took down the massive £1,100 GUKPT Main Event at Goliath for £100,000. Tsui was involved in a four-way ICM chop that also saw Andy Wilson, Eliot Catterson and Rob Shields finish the day with substantial cashes (pictured below). There were 632 entries creating a £667,400 prize pool.
Goliath Cup
Rhys Edward Jones won the £550 Goliath Cup after outlasting the 792-entry field. He beat Kully Sidhu heads-up to snag the £76,990 first prize (pictured below). Kully got £56,610 for his silver podium finish while bronze medallist Benjamin Teague won £37,410. Among those on the receiving end of the 101 payouts were Ravi Sheth – on a tear during this year’s Goliath, Tim Chung, Grosvenor Ambassador Katie Swift, 2023 Player of the Year Cal Morreale, Steve Jelinek, Matt Davenport, Waheed Ashraf and Brandon Sheils.
£100,000 guaranteed Goliath High Roller
Pat Donohue triumphed in a record-breaking £100k guaranteed High Roller after dominating the final table last Monday. The tournament was the biggest High Roller in Grosvenor poker history and attracted 200 entries, nearly double last year’s field. Donohue beat Iwan Jones heads-up to take the top prize of £75,1000. Jones won £49,100 with Dan Laidlaw finishing third for £30,500. Yucel Eminoglu was fourth for £20,000. The prize pool totalled £259,200 with 20 players making the money.
Goliath Ladies event
The two-day £115 buy-in Ladies Event was a huge success attracting 191 entries and creating a £18,340 prize pool. A total of 22 players made the money with Day 2 with Carol Everton winning £4,150 and her first Grosvenor trophy.
Goliath Deep and Steep & Goliath Giant
Calum Owen won the £225 Deep and Steep tournament, beating a 450-entry field to take home £10,740 after a five-way deal. Joseph Gibbons took down the £225 Giant, winning £18,250 after beating Stephen Mcgrath heads-up. There were 470 entries, with 56 players getting a share of the £90,240 prize pool.
Ravi Sheth wins Mystery Bounty
Congrats to Ravi Sheth who outlasted a 1,176-entry field in the £200 + £200 + £40 Mystery Bounty event. Sheth beat Yuet Wong heads up to win £42,130 while Wong takes home £30k. Sheth was also runner-up in the 4-card Only Omaha tournament winning £9,130 and cashed in the Goliath Cup. Also in the money in the Mystery Bounty was Ben Miller who picked up £40k in bounties. He then went on to finish fourth in the Goliath Main Event (pictured below). A total of 148 players took a share of the £225,790 prize pool.
Nick Slade wins Jokers Wild
Nick Slade won the Jokers Wild tournament for £4,850. The massively popular £100 turbo tournament is many people’s favourite event of the Goliath festival. The Tower always comperes the event in fancy dress and turned up this year in a giant inflatable clown outfit. The tourney attracted 469 entries, generating a £35,175 prize pool with 56 players paid and thousands of pounds raised for the Carers Trust.
Morris wins Seniors
The £150 buy-in Seniors event attracted a ton of entries – way up on last year. Ian Morris took it down for £6,280 after besting the 469-entry field. A total of 63 players got a share of the £59,750 prize pool.
MainEventTravel Goliath Promotions
MainEventTravel, the Official Travel Partner for Grosvenor and Goliath, ran a number of promotions for the event including Goliath and Ladies Event Package Giveaways and an on-site Plinko game offering players a chance to walk away with MET Travel Credit!
Retail Sales and Marketing Consultant Kelly Saxby (pictured below) said MainEventTravel was thrilled to have been part of this year’s record-breaking event. She said: “Congrats to the new Goliath champion Will Watkins, as well as Sara Hart who turned her Ladies Event ticket onto a 16th place finish!! And thank to the hundreds of players who visited MET on-site to play Plinko. Everyone had so much fun, we gave away thousands in travel credits!”
Goliath 2025
It's fair to say we are all highly anticipating Goliath 2025 dates, watch this space!
Photo Credit: Grosvenor Poker, Mickey May
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