GUKPT Manchester starts tomorrow
Leg 2 of the 2020 GUKPT Tour starts tomorrow (Saturday, February 22) with the enduringly-popular £200 + £25 Mini Main event. The £200,000 guarantee Main Event starts next Thursday with unlimited re-entries for the £1,100 + £100 tournament. Players get a 20,000 starting stack and 60-minute blind levels, and can buy-in or re-enter up until the start of Day 2.
GUKPT Manchester runs February 22 to March 1 at Grosvenor Casino in Bury New Road and features the usual range of great side events, many with luscious guarantees.
The Manchester leg follows hot on the heels of the first event of the year in London where Artan Dedusha denied two-time GUKPT Grand Final winner Ben Winsor back-to-back victories at The Poker Room. Dedusha beat Winsor heads-up to take down the £300k guaranteed Main Event for £137,430. There were 379 entries in the event, with Victoria Coren-Mitchell finishing fifth for £23,570 and GUKPT Ambassador Richard Trigg min-cashing for £3,010.
As well as the Main Event and £200 + £25 Mini Main, the Manchester schedule includes a £135 + £15 No Limit tourney with £8,500 guaranteed, a £135 + £15 unlimited re-entry Seniors event, £150 + £15 Omaha 4/5/6, £100 Ladies Event, a £250 + £25 No Limit tourney with £15k guaranteed and a £110 NL tournament with £7k guaranteed.
National Poker League
The GUKPT Player of the Year contest, also known as the National Poker League, is now off to a cracking start with five 2021 Diamond GUKPT Packages up for grabs for leaderboard winners. Ben Winsor is now in second place with 191.02 points, just behind leader John Bousfield who has 207.07 points.
The contest awards points to players taking part in any of the ‘Grosvenor Presents’ live poker tournaments as well as selected online events – a total of some 150 different tournaments during the year, including the GUKPT, Deepstack and 25/25 Series.
As well as winning a stunning Grosvenor Casinos Player of the Year trophy, the GUKPT Player of the Year winner receives a lucrative £14,000 “Diamond GUKPT package” which includes entry into all nine GUKPT 2021 Main Events plus buy-ins for other selected Grosvenor tournaments, a £2,000 accommodation package and coveted Grosvenor merchandise and goodie bag. Last season’s winner was Richard Kellet who triumphed after finishing the year on 548.65 points.
Following Manchester, the tour heads north for GUKPT Edinburgh Leg 3 starting March 22. Other Grosvenor live poker action is also taking place over the next month with the 25/25 series continuing its tour round the UK. 25/25 Glasgow is taking place March 4-8 followed by Luton March 11-15 and Newcastle March 18-22. there are dozens more 25/25 events this year taking place at Grosvenor casinos all over the country including Birmingham, Stockton, Southampton, Leeds, Reading and Portsmouth.
This is Season 14 of the UK’s longest-running tour. The 2020 GUKPT will comprise nine legs each hosting a flagship Main Event – with buy-ins ranging from £560 to £2,500 and guarantees of between £100,000 and £500,000.