Grosvenor UK Poker Tour is expected to break attendance records from previous years for its 2017 Goliath poker tournament series. The event’s organisers released a press statement to announce the number of players who have so far registered for this year’s GUKPT’s Goliath has already surpassed the 5,000 mark. With two more days left to register for the event, the number of entries is expected to swell even further.
The 2017 GUKPT Goliath tournament is to take place between July 27 and August 6 at the Grosvenor Casino Coventry in the Ricoh Arena. This year’s Goliath Main Event offers as much as £250,000 in guaranteed prize money, with a reasonably low buy-in of £100+£20. There are six levels of late registration for the Main Event and players are allowed a maximum of two re-entries per day. The starting stack for the Main Event is set to 25,000 in chips, with the big and small blinds standing at 25/50. Breaks between levels will last 20 minutes.
Apart from the Goliath Main Event, players are granted an opportunity to partake in various team events and a Joker is Wild tournament, with limit cash games being hosted around the clock. Another option is to register for the Goliath Super High Roller which comes with a buy-in of £300+£30 and twelve levels of play for each of the two days it will last.
This year’s GUKPT Goliath has already attracted attention from some of the most notable players on the tournament poker scene, including poker pro William Kassouf. Kassouf was among the stand-out participants in last year’s World Series of Poker Main Event, where he caused a good deal of controversy with his speech play approach. The stalling tactics the British poker pro employed sparked off heated debates and ultimately led to his elimination in 17th place as Kassouf was sent to the rail by unnerved opponent Griffin Benger. It is expected that Kassouf will contribute with the same amount of excitement to this year’s GUKPT Goliath tournament.
Following the 2017 WSOP Main Event which boasted impressive numbers with a field of 7,221 players buying-in for $10,000, there is a good chance the GUKPT would also post its highest attendance results in 2017. The recent high attendance figures serve to indicate that the tournament poker scene is witnessing somewhat of a rebound, in the wake of several lean years following the ban of online poker websites in the United States back in 2011.
This year’s record numbers may potentially earn the GUKPT the title of the biggest live poker tournament to be held outside of Las Vegas. In comparison, as many as 5,232 players registered for the GUKPT Goliath series in 2016 to contribute to a massive prize-pool of £523,200. However, it was Londoner Vamshi Vandanapu, who emerged victorious and prevailed over the other 5,321 entries to pocket the first-place prize of £62,750.
- Author
Harry Evans
