Luke Porter has won his first-ever major tournament after taking down GUKPT London, the first GUKPT event of 2024. The 40-year-old beat British poker pro Tom Hall heads-up to secure his victory and a £116,710 first prize, nearly ten times his previous total in live tournament winnings.
The £1,250 buy-in GUKPT London Main Event attracted 529 entries, generating a £552,625 prize pool. A total of 62 players were paid with a min cash worth £2,485. Champion Luke Porter, plus all the Day 1 chip leaders, also win a seat into the new 888poker UK Poker League tour which starts January 16 in Coventry.
Porter, (pictured) who has only been playing live events for a couple of years, started the final with just 635,000 in chips and was the rank outsider when it came to the Grosvenor sportsbook odds. Anyone betting on him would have made a killing at 66:1 so let’s hope his friends and family found time to have a punt!
Prior to London, Porter’s biggest live cash was just £4,240 but he also had a deep run in the GUKPT Main Event at last year’s Goliath, finishing 18th for £3,300.
Hall meanwhile began the final with a commanding chip lead and was Grosvenor Sports’ soaraway 5:1 favourite. He won GUKPT London two years ago for £90,965 and has come close to winning other GUKPT titles numerous times. He was fourth in the GUKPT Grand Final Main Event just before Christmas, runner-up to Tom Middleton at GUKPT Blackpool in 2016, tenth in Luton in 2021 and, in 2013, he was fourth at back-to-back Main Events in Stockton and Didsbury. He described the London event as a “fun ride”. He added: “I’m grateful for whatever happens – getting in the money, getting to the final table. It’s all a blessing.” He took £86,595 for his runner-up finish.
The stacked final table also included the likes of GUKPT Coventry champion Joe Hindry, Martins Adeniya and GUKPT Manchester chap Kully Sidhu. Sidhu finished fifth for £25,200 while Adeniya was sixth for £17,460. Hindry continued his impressive run at the Vic by finishing eighth for £12,435. New champion Porter said: “It was really fun to play all these guys. I really enjoyed it – and it helps when you win all these hands and run as well as I did!”
Others who cashed included two-time GUKPT champion Jack Hardcastle (16th, £3,980), former November Niners Kenny Hallaert and Antoine Saout, EPT founder John Duthie, John Bousfield, Callum Gordon, Harry Lodge and Grosvenor Sponsored Pro Jamie Nixon. Alexandra O'Brien was the last remaining woman in the tournament – she finished in 17th place for £3,980, just outlasting Cassandra Yong who was 18th for £3,705.
One of the highlights of GUKPT London was the announcement that GUKPT Edinburgh champion Ludovic Geilich (pictured below) has been signed by Grosvenor as a Sponsored Pro. Geilich got off to a cracking start in his new role by finishing 13th in the Main Event for $4,700. The 36-year-old Glaswegian, one of the UK’s most accomplished poker players, said he was “over the moon” to be joining Team Grosvenor. He started his professional career on the GUKPT back in 2007 and since then, has amassed more than $3.6 million in live tournament winnings. He is currently ranked in third place on the Scotland all-time money list. Over the last two years, Geilich has competed at nearly all the GUKPT festivals and cashed nine times. He won his first Main Event victory in Edinburgh last May for £79,590.
Cal Morreale
GUKPT London also saw Cal Morreale (pictured below) make his debut as a member of #TeamGrosvenor after winning the 2023 National Poker League and a £40k Grosvenor sponsorship package. His campaign to win the Player of the Title started in London a year ago when he finished second in the GUKPT London Main Event and then went on to cash for over £350,000 during the year. Cal was seventh in the GUKPT London High Roller for £9,540, 31st in the Main Event for £3,040 and 15th in the Mini Main for another £1,430.
Side events
GUKPT Blackpool finalist Leo Worthington-Leese (pictured below) took down the £2k High Roller for £55,140 for the second biggest cash of his career. The Brighton-based pro beat a 131-entry field. Others who took a share of the £232,660 prize pool included Candice Nice, Tom Hall, Tamer Kamel and Trevor Reardon.
Chris Wood (pictured below) finally got his hands on a second GUKPT trophy when won the £200 + £200 PLO Bounty for £3,058. His last GUKPT victory was in 2009 when he took down a £100 side event in Luton. There were 59 entries in London creating a £11,325 prize pool.
Hang Xu (pictured below) won the GUKPT London Cup for £21,925. The final table included Fraser Bellamy who was sixth for £4,900 and John Bousfield who finished seventh for £3,890. Bousfield, who won a £10k Diamond Package in the 2023 National Poker League, holds the record for the most GUKPT cashes ever.
Peter Charalambous won the GUKPT London Mystery Bounty tournament after a five-way chop. He defeated a 529-entry field to win £13,040. Congrats also to Ravi Sheth who pulled the top bounty prize of £15,000.
The £340 buy-in Mini Main attracted a massive field of 722 entries, creating a £209,710 prize pool. London-based Italian Giulio Mascolo (pictured below) took it down for £39,200.
GUKPT London took place from January 4 to 14 at the Poker Room at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino with a total of 11 different live tournaments including the Main Event.
The Leg 1 festival also hosted the 2023 National Poker League Play off to determine which players from the 2023 Leaderboard receive £5k prize packages for the 2024 season. GUKPT London is the first qualifying event in the 2024 National Poker League and a huge number of tournaments are involved. The first prize in the league is a Grosvenor sponsorship package which has been massively increased this year to a value of £75,000.
MainEventTravel’s #FinalTableFreeroll promotion
Live poker is booming right now and MainEventTravel plans to help you make the most of it with our amazing #FinalTableFreeroll. The promotion premiered in Vegas last summer and nearly 100 tournaments are already on the list for 2024.
All you have to do to enter is book your poker travel with MainEventTravel.com and then tag @MainEventTravel.com and #FinalTableFreeroll before the eligible event starts. If you reach the official final table, post a pic of yourself – including the tags – before the event begins and you’ll get a travel credit worth 10% of your MET-booked travel costs. Make it to heads-up and you’ll score a travel credit worth 50% of your travel costs and, if you win, you’ll receive a travel credit worth the full amount of your MET-booked travel. Globally, there are at least 25 Eligible Events to choose from in January alone! Upcoming events include all the GUKPT festivals, the UK Poker Open event starting February 22 in Coventry and the flagship Goliath in July plus all seven stops on the new 888poker UK Poker League tour including UKPL Coventry starting January 16 and UKPL Edinburgh in February. Also eligible are the Main Events at all the 888poker LIVE stops in 2024 including 888poker LIVE London and Coventry.
GUKPT stops in 2024
Following London, the GUKPT tour will be heading to Manchester for Leg 2 next month, followed by Blackpool in March, Leeds from April 4 to 14 and Luton starting April 25. Then it’s back to London in May, Edinburgh in June, a second trip to Luton in September, Blackpool #2 in October and then the final leg of 2024 back in London for the Grand Final.
Photo Credit - Grosvenor Poker
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