Grosvenor Ambassador Jamie Nixon has won his first GUKPT Main Event at the GUKPT Grand Final in London for a career-best live cash of £93,970.
The GUKPT Grand Final festival is the Grosvenor tour’s biggest event and is taking place at the Poker Room at the iconic Victoria Casino. The festival started on December 1 and has another week to go – see remaining dates below. The £2k Grand Final itself starts on Thursday with three starting flights, a 20,000 starting stack and two re-entries per flight.
Nixon’s victory in the GUKPT Main Event
Nixon, (pictured below) who was battling a nasty bout of food poisoning during the GUKPT Main Event, was especially keen to win the title after a string of runner-up finishes in major events earlier in the year. He came second in the UKIPT London High Roller for £40,323 and then had another runner-up finish in the Irish Open High Roller a week later for €44,600. He did win the Mini Main event at GUKPT Leeds in September last year – for £27,840 – but had yet to seize victory in the GUKPT Main Event.
The 32-year-old Geordie said: “I was definitely delighted to eventually get the monkey off my back and get my first GUKPT Main win. I had a bit of a reputation as a “bottle job” – that is, you get heads-up and then you bottle it! Turns out all I needed was a terrible bout of food poisoning. Seriously though, it meant I had to play ABC on Day 2 without getting out of line and it worked out well. I felt much better on Day 3. Of course, when I eventually got heads up, I was worried I was going to bottle it again. I’ve done a lot of heads-up study this year but luckily, I didn’t have to use it. A massive cooler went my way and I managed to win it within four hands!”
Among those who made the final were Irish Open winner Ryan Mandara, WSOP Main Event Finalist Antoine Labat, and Bellagio Cup winner Killy Sidhu. There were 347 entries in all and among those who cashed were Chris Johnson, Yiannis Liperis and Tim Chung.
GUKPT Main Event final table (pictured above)
GUKPT Final side events so far
After a three-handed deal, Scott Berko (pictured) took down the GUKPT Grand Final PLO 4 Card tournament, beating the 141-entry field to win £5,844.
Jack Hardcastle (pictured below) beat a 77-entry field to win the GUKPT Grand Final High Roller for £52,900. The win banked him a seat into next year’s new UK Poker Open event plus 25 National Poker League points, securing him a £10k package.
Sebastian Jung (pictured below) won the new £500 GUKPT London Cup event for £38,080 after beating a 312-entry field.
Fabian Donovan (pictured below) took down the £220 Grand Final Mini Main for £29,150. The final six players did an ICM deal and then played on for the remaining £10k.
Remaining events at the GUKPT Grand Final
There are still plenty of events left on the GUKPT Grand Final schedule – and, as the GUKPT’s Official Travel Partner, MainEventTravel has plenty of rooms nearby to suit various budgets!
Nixon, who has been a member of Team Grosvenor since the start of 2021, is now hoping to get back-to-back victories with a win in this week’s £2k Grand Final!
The whole festival runs through to December 18 and, in addition to the Grand Final itself, has several big events coming up this week including the £340 “The Hundred” – with a £100k guaranteed prize pool, the £1k High Roller PLO 4/5/6 and £200 + £200 + £50 PLO 4/5/6 Bounty as well as the popular £150 Seniors event.
Photo credit: Grosvenor Poker