One of the most exciting and long-awaited poker tournaments in the United Kingdom is already in action. Cards for the 2018 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Grand Final £2,140 Main Event went in the air Thursday afternoon at the famous The Poker Room above Grosvenor Casino Victoria and Manuel Bardon led the 40 players who survived Day 1A.
Bardon bagged the most chips at the end of the first starting flight of the tournament and will return to the poker tables for Day 2 this Saturday. With a massive stack of 255,000, he has great chances to be among the first finalists in the 2018 GUKPT Grand Final Main Event which has a £2,140 buy-in and a guaranteed prize pool of £400,000. The third, final day of the tournament will be held on Sunday and will include all players who qualify after Day 2.
Before that, however, more poker pros will enter the event on Friday as registration is open until 8:30 pm. The popularity of the tournament is expected to raise the Guarantee much like last year’s total prize pool of £608,000, which was collected after 304 entries decided to join in and play for the trophy. It was won by Ahmed Abdella who received a first-place prize of £89,000 following a great play and a final five-way deal.
Action on Day 1A started at exactly 13:00 on Thursday with only 35 players buying in, but until the end of the registration period, the field grew to a total of 122 entries. Players at The Poker Room received a 25,000 starting stack on a 60-minute clock and by the end of the day, only 40 of them had qualified for Day 2 on Saturday. The current chip count puts Manuel Bardon as Day 1A leader as he has 250,000 in tournament chips. He is followed by Carlos Sanchezdiaz (209,000) and Dominguez Garcia (204,700) who are the only ones with stacks of over two hundred.
The second starting flight of the 2018 GUKPT Grand Final Main Event has also started on Friday, featuring the same classic structure. Another 10 levels will be played, blinds start at 25/50 and players get a starting stack of 25,000. Once again, registration is open until 8:30 and poker enthusiasts enjoy unlimited re-entry.
Ali Zihni Takes Down the £250 Mini Main Event for £18,300
This year’s GUKPT Grand Final in London features a wide range of tournaments, attracting some of the best poker players in the United Kingdom. One of the events that have already crowned a champion was the GUKPT Grand Final £250 Mini Main Event which featured a £25,000 Guarantee. The tournament drew in a massive field of 487 entries and a total prize pool of a little over £120,000.
Only 47 players made it to the money levels and received a guaranteed $500. Ali Zihni managed to defeat them, including the tough final table, which brought him a surprisingly high top prize of £18,300. For his runner-up position, Timothy Chung received £15,500, but the three other players who were eliminated in the following places took home the same cash prizes – George White (3rd place), Victor Ilyukhin (4th place), and Ken Wong (5th place).
- Author
Harry Evans
