Stars Turn Out for GUKPT Luton Main Event as Sheth Triumphs in the High Roller
Luton may not be the United Kingdom's most glamorous location, but it is a proverbial poker hotbed. The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) has been at the G Casino in Luton since September 12, with the ￡1,250 buy-in Main Event kicking off yesterday, September 19.
Day 1a of the GUKPT Luton Main Event attracted 82 players, who were reduced to only 17 by the time the curtain came down on proceedings. A whole host of stars were among the starters, and plenty punched their Day 2 tickets at the first time of asking.
Paul vas Nunes, the 2023 GUKPT Grand Final champion, bagged up one of the shorter stacks, his 40,000 chips placing him 16th from the 17 surviving players. Thomas Clack (64,500) also progressed after finishing seventh in the ￡1,650 High Roller for ￡6,500.
Tamer Kamel (64,600) is another top-tier player safely through to Day 2 on September 21. The popular pro has several top three finishes in GUKPT events but an outright victory still eludes him.
￡1,250 GUKPT Luton Main Event Day 1A Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joseph Bold | 288,000 |
| 2 | Van Pham | 183,000 |
| 3 | Ankit Ahuja | 181,000 |
| 4 | Stefan Voudouri | 106,000 |
| 5 | Nathan Jones | 98,000 |
| 6 | Jack Sinclair | 92,700 |
| 7 | Kuljinder Sidhu | 88,000 |
| 8 | Daniel Tankel | 80,300 |
| 9 | Peter Schneider | 71,300 |
| 10 | Keith Johnson | 70,400 |
Joseph Bold has set the early pace with a tournament-leading 288,000 stack. Bold went deep in the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, falling in 134th place for $85,000. The Londoner looks set for another deep run in a prestigious tournament.
Second place currently belongs to Van Pham (183,000) although Indian superstar Ankit Ahuja (181,000) is within touching distance. Ahuja ranks fourth on India's all time money list, with $2,885,193 in live tournament earnings. Last time out, Ahuja won the ￡2,200 No-Limit Hold'em 7-Max High Roller at the WPT Prime UK festival and banked ￡33,500. It seems he has carried his form over into this event.
Others in the overnight top ten include the 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Jack Sinclair (92,700), serial crusher Kully Sidhu (88,000), and all-round nice guy Keith Johnson (70,400). You may recall Johnson finished fifth in another GUKPT Luton Main Event earlier this year.
Day 1B shuffles up and deals at 12:00 p.m. local time on September 20, with a turbo-structured Day 1C starting at 9:00 p.m. local time on the same day. Surviving players progressed to Day 2 on September 21, with the GUKPT Luton Main Event crowning its champion some time on September 22.
Sheth Among the GUKPT Luton Side Event Winners
The biggest prize awarded at the GUKPT Luton festival so far belongs to Ravi Sheth, courtesy of him taking down the ￡1,650 High Roller for ￡31,770. Sixty-three players bought in on Day 1, but only 20 navigated their way through the shark-infested waters. However, another 20 grinders took advantage of late registration remaining open until Day 2, bringing the total attendance to 83 and the prize pool to ￡119,520.
The top ten finishers won a slice of that pot, with start-of-the-day chip leader Yonghao Zhou busting in tenth and claiming ￡4,500. Zhou's elimination set the nine-handed final table, which like the Main Event's first flight, was crammed with talent.
Mukhtar Ahmed (￡5,000) was the first casualty of the final table. Chen Cheng (￡5,750) joined the list of busted players. Cheng loves life in Luton, having won the ￡200 Opener for ￡29,445.
Thomas Clack (￡6,500) fell in seventh, Keith Johnson (￡7,500) in sixth, and Abdul Ahmed (￡8,500) seeing his run end in fifth place. Ahmed recently won the ￡1,100 High Roller at the 888poker UKPL Leeds festival for ￡13,540 and finished fourth in the ￡1,000 GUKPT Leeds Main Event for ￡12,630.
Matthew Davenport recently broke through $2 million in live earnings and added ￡11,500 to his total after falling in fourth. The 2023 Goliath champion Alex Todd saw his participation end in a third-place finish (￡16,00), leaving Ali Abdulzahra to fight one-on-one with Sheth.
The heads-up duo clashed for two hours before Sheth came out on top and claimed the ￡31,770 top prize. Abdulzahra had to make do with a ￡22,500 consolation prize.
￡1,650 GUKPT Luton High Roller Day 2 Top 10
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ravi Sheth | ￡31,770 |
| 2 | Ali Abdulzahra | ￡22,500 |
| 3 | Alex Todd | ￡16,000 |
| 4 | Matthew Davenport | ￡11,500 |
| 5 | Adbul Ahmed | ￡8,500 |
| 6 | Keith Johnson | ￡7,500 |
| 7 | Thomas Clack | ￡6,500 |
| 8 | Chen Cheng | ￡5,750 |
| 9 | Mukhtar Ahmed | ￡5,000 |
Other GUKPT Luton Results
As mentioned, Chen Cheng triumphed in the ￡200 No-Limit Hold'em opener for ￡29,445. Other completed side events include the ￡250 Mini Main Event, which Neil Benardout won for ￡25,160. Lorenc Boci turned his ￡200 investment into a ￡3,408 score in the ￡200 Pot-Limit Omaha event.
| Event | Entrants | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ￡200 NLHE Opener | 837 | ￡140,615 | Chen Cheng | ￡29,445 |
| ￡250 NLHE Mini Main | 605 | ￡127,770 | Neil Benardout | ￡25,160 |
| ￡200 PLO | 93 | ￡15,285 | Lorenc Boci | ￡3,408 |
Remaining GUKPT Luton Schedule
