GUKPT
- GUKPT 2024 Schedule
- Qualifying Online at Grosvenor Poker
- Grovenor National Poker League
- Grosvenor 25/50 Events in 2024
- 25/50 Events Format
- 25/50 Events Schedule 2024
- The Goliath 2024
- All-Time Goliath Winners
- Live Streaming
- GUKPT Results 2024
- GUKPT Main Event Winners 2023
- GUKPT All-Time Grand Final Winners
- Players With Multiple GUKPT Titles
- GUKPT FAQs
Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) 2024
The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour is the group wide annual series of poker festivals that is run across several of the poker rooms in the Grosvenor Casinos estate. The largest casino chain in the UK is also the major provider of live poker in the country with over 30 poker rooms. The GUKPT, which started in 2007 and is now in its 18th season features week-long festivals several times a year, most with main events of £1,000 buy-in or more.
GUKPT 2024 Schedule
Grosvenor Casinos once again released their full Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) calendar for the year in advance of the start of the season. They have however now made some small changes to the schedule and as of January 17th, the revised 2024 calendar now looks like this:
| Leg | Dates | Venue | Main event buy-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 - 14 January | London - The Vic | £1,100+£150 |
| 2 | 1 - 11 February | Manchester - Bury New Road | £1,100+£150 |
| UK Open | 22 February - 3 March | Coventry | £1,350+£150 |
| 3 | 10 - 17 March | Blackpool | £1,100+£150 |
| 4 | 4 - 14 April | Edinburgh | £900+£100 |
| 5 | 25 April - 5 May | Luton | £900+£100 |
| 6 | 16 - 26 May | London - The Vic | £1,100+£150 |
| 7 | 30 May - 9 June | Leeds | £900+£100 |
| Goliath | 25 July - 4 August | Coventry | £160+£40 |
| 8 | 12 - 22 September | Luton | £1,100+£150 |
| 9 | 30 October - 10 November | Blackpool | £1,100+£150 |
| Grand Final | 21 November - 1 December | London - The Vic | £1,800+£200 |
Qualifying Online at Grosvenor Poker
In addition to running several live satellites for each stop on the tour, online customers have a very flexible qualifying system at Grosvenor Poker. Taking place several times per day at various different buy-in levels are live credit satellites. Winners receive a set amount of live credit that can be used to buy-in to any of the live poker events run in Grosvenor Casinos.
Grovenor National Poker League
Many of the poker tournament events run at Grosvenor Casinos are a part of an overarching leaderboard, which Grosvenor Casinos has run for several years. This includes not only the GUKPT main event and side events, but also 25/50 events, the UK Open, the UKPL and the Goliath. Points are awarded for finishing in the money (the higher you finish, the more points awarded) and at the end of the year, a minimum of £250,000 in prizes is paid out. The winner receives a sponsorship package valued at £40,000 and there are prizes all the way down to 219th place. Some online events also count towards the leaderboard as well, incentivising everyone who is playing poker with Grosvenor to take part, whether live or online from home.
Grosvenor 25/50 Events in 2024
These are one-off £250 buy-in events that form a part of the National League and take place throughout the year across the Grosvenor estate. They are named as such because players start with a 25k starting stack and the prize pool is guaranteed at £50,000. These events used to be called 25/25, however they have become so popular that this year, Grosvenor Casinos decided to double the guarantee, hence the name change for the events. In 2023 there were 32 of these 2-day events and not only did all of them at least double their £25,000 guarantees but 20 of them made prize pools of over £100,000. The biggest of them almost made it to £200,000!
25/50 Events Format
The format and of 25/50 games is the same in every location, each starting with an online day 1, followed by four live starting day flights before the tournament concludes on the second day.
| Buy-In | Guarantee | Re-entries | Late Reg Until | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £220+£30 | £50,000 | Max 2 re-entries per start day | Start of Day 2 | 25,000 |
| Day | Time | Event name | Levels played | Clock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | 20:00 | Day 1 Online | 15 | 15 mins |
| Thursday | 19:00 | Day 1A | 15 | 30 mins |
| Friday | 19:00 | Day 1B | 15 | 30 mins |
| Saturday | 16:00 | Day 1C | 15 | 30 mins |
| Sunday | 12:00 | Day 1D TURBO | 15 | 15 mins |
| Sunday | 16:30 | Day 2 | Until it Ends | 40 mins |
25/50 Events Schedule 2024
Grosvenor have not only doubled the guarantee to £50,000 for all 25/50 events in 2024, they also almost doubled the scheduling, with a total of 58 events taking place throughout the year.
| Leg | Dates | Venues |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 17 - 21 January 2024 | Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds, Portsmouth |
| Round 2 | 24 - 28 January 2024 | Luton, Dundee, Blackpool, Birmingham Hill St, Newcastle |
| Round 2 | 7 - 11 February 2024 | The Vic - London |
| Round 3 | 14 - 18 February 2024 | Sheffield, Bolton, Walsall, Reading South |
| Round 4 | 6 - 10 March 2024 | Leicester, Manchester BNR, Newcastle, Edinburgh |
| Round 4 | 20 - 24 March 2024 | The Vic - London |
| Round 5 | 17 - 21 April 2024 | Glasgow, Coventry, Luton, Portsmouth, Stockton |
| Round 6 | 8 - 12 May 2024 | Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Reading South |
| Round 7 | 28 August - 1 September 2024 | Edinburgh, Coventry, Blackpool, Stockton, Sheffield, Portsmouth |
| Round 8 | 25 - 29 September 2024 | Leeds, Blackpool, Leicester |
| Round 9 | 2 - 6 October 2024 | Leicester, Reading South, Bolton, Newcastle, Edinbrugh |
| Round 10 | 23 - 27 October 2024 | Walsall, The Vic - London, Manchester BNR, Leeds, Glasgow |
| Round 11 | 13 - 17 November 2024 | Liverpool, Portsmouth, Luton, Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh |
| Round 12 | 6 - 10 December 2024 | Walsall, The Vic - London, Manchester BNR, Sheffield, Glasgow |
The Goliath 2024
The Goliath is the jewel in Grosvenor Poker’s crown. This annual event had been running since 2011 and every live edition has broken the previous attendance record. The event is now so big that the 11,493 entries in the 2023 edition made it the largest single event ever to take place outside Las Vegas. That event was won by Alex Todd, who took home a massive £178,000 in the £120+£30 event.
This year there is a slight change to the event, as the buy-in is increasing from £120+£30 to £160+£40. It remains to be seen whether this massive event will keep growing its attendance with this 33% hike in the cost to play, but it is still expected to be the biggest live poker event in the UK, by quite some distance. It takes place at Grosvenor Coventry from July 25 - August 4, 2024.
All-Time Goliath Winners
Apart from in 2020 and 2021, when the Goliath did not run, the event has seen growth in participation every year it has been held. These are all the previous winners of the Grosvenor Goliath.
| Year | Winner | Entries | Prize Pool | 1st Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Lee Rawson | 1,765 | £176,500 | £32,705 |
| 2012 | Leslie Fenton | 1,954 | £200,000 | £35,800 |
| 2013 | Jake Skidmore | 2,568 | £257,000 | £29,690 |
| 2014 | Ryan Foster | 3,394 | £339,400 | £62,320 |
| 2015 | Miikka Toikka | 4,210 | £421,000 | £70,800 |
| 2016 | Vamshi Vandanapu | 5,232 | £523,200 | £62,750 |
| 2017 | Elliott Marais | 6,385 | £638,500 | £85,760 |
| 2018 | Florian Duta | 7,584 | £758,400 | £101,450 |
| 2019 | Lee Reynolds | 9,300 | £911,410 | £64,601 |
| 2022 | Kyle Jeffrey | 10,584 | £1,219,310 | £200,000 |
| 2023 | Alex Todd | 11,493 | £1,324,000 | £176,860 |
Live Streaming
Grosvenor have a live stream for all the GUKPT the UK Open and the Goliath, hosted by Phil “The Tower” Heald and Jay Harwood. In addition to calling the action on feature and final tables, the stream features competitions and online ticket giveaways and is a perfect companion for anyone playing online poker on Sunday evenings, when most of the live final tables take place.
GUKPT Results 2024
The first GUKPT festival of 2024 in London was won by Luke Porter, who scooped the first prize of £116,710 after beating Tom Hall heads-up for the trophy. Click here to read about his victory.
The second leg of the tour took place in Manchester in February and was won by the mercurial Vincent Meli, who outlasted a field of 426 players to take the top prize of £83,895. Read about his win here.
The third GUKPT festival of 2024 was in Blackpool and was won by Ludovic Geilich, who dominated a field of 207 players to scoop the £56,150 first prize and his second GUKPT main event title in less than a year. Read the story of his victory here.
GUKPT Main Event Winners 2023
| Leg | Winner | Entries | Total Prize Pool | 1st Place Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leg 1 - London | Jonathan McCann | 459 | £475,750 | £89,600 |
| Leg 2 - Manchester | Calogero Morreale | 445 | £460,950 | £106,700 |
| Leg 3 - Blackpool | Lin Chen | 305 | £321,080 | £65,310 |
| Leg 4 - Edinburgh | Ludovic Geilich | 366 | £310,220 | £75,590 |
| Leg 5 - Luton | Christopher Day | 331 | £343,550 | £88,150 |
| Leg 6 - London | Weixiao Liao | 405 | £423,372 | £75,501 |
| Leg 7 - Luton | Stuart Rutter | 223 | £231,933 | £62,368 |
| Leg 8 - Leeds | Konstantinos Patsourakis | 361 | £305,844 | £78,419 |
| Leg 9 - Blackpool | Ian Gascoigne | 347 | £360,430 | £62,198 |
| Grand Final - London | Paul Nunes | 325 | £555,600 | £140,000 |
GUKPT All-Time Grand Final Winners
There has been a Grand Final every year, except in 2020, when the GUKPT moved online, due to Covid lockdown. Benjamin Winsor is the only player with two GUKPT grand final titles under his belt.
| Year | Winner | Entries | Total Prize Pool | 1st Place Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Mike Ellis | 198 | £594,000 | £197,600 |
| 2008 | Paul Foltyn | 184 | £552,000 | £167,050 |
| 2009 | Tony Cascarino | 183 | £549,000 | £168,800 |
| 2010 | Luong-Huu Bui | 207 | £517,500 | £144,905 |
| 2011 | Fabian Quoss | 195 | £487,500 | £119,996 |
| 2012 | Sam Grafton | 137 | £342,500 | £102,700 |
| 2013 | Kevin Allen | 294 | £587,300 | £158,700 |
| 2014 | Charlie Carrel | 212 | £424,000 | £108,625 |
| 2015 | Benjamin Winsor | 321 | £400,000 | £178,600 |
| 2016 | Marc Wright | 276 | £552,000 | £132,380 |
| 2017 | Ahmed Abdella | 304 | £607,400 | £89,000 |
| 2018 | Jerome L'Hostis | 325 | £650,000 | £140,445 |
| 2019 | Benjamin Winsor | 273 | £668,850 | £188,610 |
| 2021 | Trung Moc | 607 | £1,092,600 | £265,350 |
| 2022 | Daniel Bedson | 328 | £576,480 | £105,000 |
| 2023 | Paul Nunes | 325 | £555,600 | £140,000 |
| 2024 | ??? | ??? | £???,??? | £???,??? |
Players With Multiple GUKPT Titles
While some tours take years to produce a double winner, the GUKPT achieved that very early on in its existence, with Julian Thew becoming the first double winner. He would go on to win for a third time and is one of three players to have a hat-trick of GUKPT titles. Praz Bansi, the winner of the very first GUKPT Main Event is also a double champion. in total 14 players have lifted a main event trophy on more than occasion.
| GUKPT Main Event Titles | Player |
|---|---|
| 3 | Julian Thew |
| 3 | Benjamin Winsor |
| 3 | Richard Trigg |
| 2 | Tony Cascarino |
| 2 | Paul Foltyn |
| 2 | Priyan de Mel |
| 2 | Praz Bansi |
| 2 | Sunny Chattha |
| 2 | Andrew Teng |
| 2 | Driton Haxhiaj |
| 2 | Ali Mallu |
| 2 | Jack Hardcastle |
| 2 | Paul Nunes |
| 2 | Ludovic Geilich |
GUKPT FAQs
What is the GUKPT?
The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) is the live poker tour operated by Grosvenor Casinos
When did the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour start?
The GUKPT began in 2007, when all 11 stops in the first season were televised on Channel 4, with coverage presented by Dougie Anderson.
What is the main event buy-in for the GUKPT?
Most GUKPT festivals in 2024 feature a main event with a £1,250 buy-in
What is the Goliath poker event?
The GUKPT Goliath is the tour's low buy-in evenb, which tales place every August at Grosvenor Coventry. It is the largest low buy-in tournament ever held outside
Las Vegas.
