Cash game player Kostas Patsourakis (pictured top left above with Final Table) showed he is also a whizz at live tournaments too when he took down the £1,000 buy-in GUKPT Leeds Main Event for £78,419 on Sunday night. Kostas only had one previous cash to his name prior to Leeds – a Road to PSPC event in his hometown of Newcastle four years ago. But at Leeds this week, he cashed twice – his spectacular Main Event victory followed a min-cash in the High Roller when he finished 13th for another £3,000. In a tough heads-up battle, Kostas beat Fraser Bellamy to take his first live tournament title. Bellamy, who was fourth in the GUKPT Main Event at Goliath in July, picked up £55,025 for his silver-place finish.
There were 361 entries in the Main Event, creating a £305,689 prize pool. A gripping Day 2 saw 110 players whittled down to 14 but the final table was nine-handed for well some 4.5 hours before the elimination of Natalia Breviglieri who snagged a £5,505 prize for her ninth-place finish.
Next up for Britain’s longest-running poker tour is GUKPT Blackpool, the penultimate Leg 9 of the 2023 GUKPT schedule. MainEventTravel can help you find the perfect accommodation for your trip to this popular seaside resort.
The flagship £1,000 GUKPT Leeds Main Event was the highlight of a busy 11 days of poker that also included a £150 + £150 + £30 Mystery Bounty tournament, the £250 Mini Main tournament, a £1,500 High Roller and the £550 GUKPT Luton Cup.
GUKPT Leeds Mystery Bounty
Daniel Maynard scored the biggest cash of his live poker career when he took down the Leeds Mini Main for £8,292. There were 390 entries generating a £56,510 prize pool. Others who cashed included Grosvenor Player of the Year Matt Davenport, Keith Littlewood, Brandon Sheils and Robbie Bull.
GUKPT Leeds Mini Main
Keith Littlewood (pictured below) won the three-day £220 Leeds Mini Main for £25,889 after outlasting a 622-entry field. It was a week of celebration for Littlewood who also finished fifth in the Mystery Bounty AND pulled the £10,000 top prize. Others who cashed in the Mini Main included Chris Cunliffe, John Bousfield, Arian Kashani, Leo Worthington-Leese and Carlo Citrone.
GUKPT Leeds High Roller
Hamza Nasir (pictured below) scored his first ever cash on the GUKPT tour when he took down the £1,350 High Roller tournament for £47,790. The 2023 GUKPT Leeds High Roller attracted 121 entries generating a £156,820 prize pool. Among the 13 players who cashed were GUKPT Luton champion Stuart Rutter who was third for £20,230. As always (seemingly!), Brandon Sheils and Robbie Bull also made the money, garnering yet more points in the Grosvenor National Poker League.
Matt Davenport, the 2022 Grosvenor Player of the Year, narrowly missed breaking his own record for Main Event cashes. After finishing 16th in the Luton Main Event last month for a record 21 Main Event cashes, the Macclesfield native was hoping for a 22nd cash in Leeds but bust just before the money on Day 2. Davenport’s haul also includes 10 Main Event final table appearances but his biggest cash on the tour came in July when he took down the GUKPT Main Event at Goliath for £116,200. Davenport’s Player of the Year title came with a three-year sponsorship deal worth £40,000 – a package he has certainly put to great use in 2023.
Player of the Year race
The GUKPT Player of the Year race is really hotting up with just two events left on the 2023 schedule following GUKPT Leeds. Up for grabs is a £40,000 Grosvenor Sponsorship Package along with the coveted Grosvenor Casinos Player of the Year Trophy. With just two events left this year, things are getting tense at the top of the leaderboard with Brandon Sheils and Robbie Bull both gaining valuable points in Leeds to narrow the gap with current leader Cal Morreale. There will be plenty more action at GUKPT Blackpool - Leg 9 in November and the Grand Final in London starting November 23.
Next up – 888 Coventry, GUKPT Blackpool & Grand Final
In just a few days, the first-ever 888Poker LIVE Festival will be kicking off at the Coventry Building Society Arena. With a £500,000 guaranteed prize pool up for grabs, the festival – which runs from October 20 to 29 – promises to be a real high point in this Autumn’s UK poker calendar. Grosvenor has already given away numerous seats for the £888 Main Event – among those who snagged their buy-ins for free are the GUKPT Leeds Day 1 chip leaders – Barrie Greenan, Ravi Sheth and GUKPT Blackpool champ Tuan Le.
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The packed 888Poker LIVE Festival schedule features a ton of events at varying buy-ins including a £200 + £200 + £40 Mystery Bounty to open the event, a two-day £110 Ladies Event, a £5k Super High Roller and £2,500 High Roller. The £888 buy-in Main Event, which kicks off on October 25, features four starting flights including a 1d turbo and all players get a generous 50k starting stack. Starting on Day 2, all events will be played with a 30-second shot clock.
GUKPT Blackpool
The next big event on the GUKPT calendar is GUKPT Blackpool which is taking place from November 9 to November 19 at Grosvenor Casino Blackpool. The festival kicks off with a £150 + £150 + £30 Mystery Bounty which features four different starting flights. The £1,250 Main Event gets underway on November 16. Also on the schedule are a £250 Mini Main tournament, a £2k High Roller, a £150 Seniors tournament, a £150 + £150 + £30 PLO 4/5/6 Bounty and the £550 GUKPT Luton Cup. Players will also have the chance to win a WPT Vegas package worth £14,000.
Following Blackpool, there is just one event left for 2023 - the GUKPT Grand Final London Victoria starting November 23.
Photo Credit - Grosvenor Poker
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