The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) has been traversing major poker rooms across the landscape of the United Kingdom since 2007. This year, the tour scheduled its first stop in Leeds, the third largest city in the UK, located in West Yorkshire, England. The GUKPT Leeds Main Event drew 228 entrants, lasting two days before British poker pro Harry Law emerged victorious to take down the top prize of £32,500.
A £500 buy-in poker tournament, the sizeable field swelled the prize pool to £114,000. Before the first day of action drew to a close, the prize bubble was popped when Renee Xie, the last woman standing in the GUKPT Leeds Main Event, put her tournament life on the line with pocket Aces. Unfortunately for Xie, she was followed to the showdown by a pair of Kings that rivered into a set.
The final 23 was quickly reduced to 16 before the tournament officials called it a night. When the tables reconvened at the Leeds Westgate Casino on Sunday, it took another four blind levels to round the field to a final table of nine. At that time, UK poker player Michael Howard held the largest stack of 883k, followed closely by fellow Brit Mark Evans at 724k. Harry Law, however, was at the bottom of the pile, holding the lowest stack of just 264.5k.
Things turned around immediately for the British poker pro when he managed to wrangle up over a million chips in the first hour of final table play. As the short stack, he had to make a move early, managing to pick up several rounds of blinds in the process. His aggressive gameplay landed him a sizeable pot when half the table contributed pre-flop before folding to Law. He then proceeded to send Michael Devlin to the rails in 9th (£2,400) with pocket 8’s over Devlin’s deuces, followed by the elimination of Dom Mahoney in 8th (£2,850) when his A-K held up to Mahoney’s A-8. By then, Law had a substantial lead with 1.3mm chips.
Over the next many hands, Willie Tan (7th, £3,550), Ben Turnstill (6th, £4,450) and Martin Paul (5th, £5,900) made their way to the casher cage, leaving just four at the table. Johnny Cooper shoved his stack on pocket Kings and looked to double up through Howard, who held A-6 on a 9-3-7 flop. Against all odds, the 8 turn and 5 river gave Howard the runner-runner straight and sent Cooper packing in 4th (£8,700).
Shortly thereafter, Evans was short-stacked, but found a great opportunity to shove on 2-2 with a board of 10-2-2-K. What he didn’t know was that Law held 10-10. Having flopped a full boat, Howard instantly called, swiping Evans chips and eliminating him in 3rd for the first 6-figure cash of the GUKPT Leeds Main Event (£13,300).
Howard and Law went at it in heads up with Law holding more than a 5-to-1 chip ratio over his fellow British opponent. It took just 10 minutes for Law to wrap up the tournament. On what would be the final hand of play, Howard re-raised all-in on a flop of 4-10-4. Howard tabled pocket 7’s, while Law showed 10-8; giving him the better two pair hand. An Ace turn and Jack river offered no help, awarding Michael Howard the 2nd place prize of £21,350. UK poker pro Harry Law scooped the 1st place prize of £32,500 and was crowned the very first winner of the GUKPT Leeds Main Event.
| 2014 GUKPT Leeds Main Event Final Table Results | ||
| 1st | Harry Law | £32,500 |
| 2nd | Michael Howard | £21,350 |
| 3rd | Mark Evans | £13,300 |
| 4th | Jonny Cooper | £8,700 |
| 5th | Martin Paul | £5,900 |
| 6th | Ben Turnstill | £4,450 |
| 7th | Willie Tan | £3,550 |
| 8th | Dom Mahoney | £2,850 |
| 9th | Michael Devlin | £2,400 |