Luke Porter Wins London GUKPT

But opportunities did not arise and although he did brielfy regain the chip lead, Hall was unable to add a second GUKPT title to his poker CV. In the final hand Luke held

Hall was gracious and modest in defeat, telling GUKPT live stream host Phil The Tower Heald that despite having a huge chip lead for much of the final day, he never “expected” to win. Tom Hall will have to wait a little longer for his second GUKPT title, but it would be no surprise to see him grace further final tables this year. 

A victorious Porter almost caused a minor ripple in poker's space-time continuum when he was asked how old he was. The Tower expressed utter disbelief at the winner’s revelation that he is 40 years old. Co-commentator Jay Harwood remarked that he looked younger than Luke Littler, the 16 year old who took the darts world by storm last week when making the final of the PDC World Championship.

Narrowly missing out on a seat at the final table was Grosvenor Poker’s newly unveiled sponsored pro, Ludovic Geilich. The highly respected Scottish player’s attempt at a maiden win at the dawn of his new deal was scuppered when he hit the rail in 13th place, having been one of the short stacks with two tables left. 

The opening event of the year marks the start of the 18th season of the legendary poker tour. It started life back in 2007, with ten fully televised stops featuring £1k buy-in main events and a £3k grand final. Launching just a year after the European Poker Tour came into existence, the tour became the focal point of the UK poker community and is still considered a very prestigious event to win. Several players have won multiple main event trophies, including Tony Cascarino, Julian Thew, Neil Channing and Rick Trigg. 

The next stop on the GUKPT is in just three weeks time when the tour moves north to Manchester. Online qualifying options abound on Grosvenor Poker, where tour credit satellites take place several times a day for varying buy-ins. This unique qualifying program enables players to accumulate credit to use on the event of their choice at Grosvenor Casinos. And with the GUKPT taking place multiple times a year, in addition to the National Poker League and the popular 25/50 tournaments, there really is no shortage of events for Grosvenor’s online players to target via online qualification. 

I might be somewhat biased when it comes to the GUKPT, but that’s because it’s my baby. I was the creator of the tour and ran it for its first 3 seasons from 2007-2010. It’s something I’m still very proud of and I hope it continues for many more years. I don’t live in the UK any more, but if I did, I’d regularly be playing on the GUKPT circuit.