Brett Kennedy Takes Down 2016 GUKPT London For £45,470
The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour was in London this weekend for the latest leg of its 2016 tour. For the first time in the tour's history, the Main Event featured a more affordable £500 buy-in, and it attracted players in droves as 419 entries were processed over the two Day 1s, creating a £209,000 prize pool.
When it was all said and done, Brett Kennedy emerged victorious to earn the £45,470 top prize.
2016 GUKPT London final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brett Kennedy | £45,470* |
| 2 | Nguyen Khoa Le | £50,000* |
| 3 | Jose Bazan | £23,250 |
| 4 | Nick Rishover | £14,670 |
| 5 | Ravi Sharda | £9,840 |
| 6 | Chris Lamb | £7,130 |
| 7 | Sacha Brookes | £5,440 |
| 8 | Justin Kyrikides | £4,610 |
| 9 | Stephen Bean | £3,770 |
*Reflects a heads-up deal.
The field of 419 hopefuls were whittled to only 27 players by the time Day 3 came around, each of those returning players had locked up £1,470 for their efforts.
Five-and-a-half hours were needed to reduce the final 27 to the nine-handed final table, with Mark Davey falling in 10th place.
With blinds at 12,000/24,000/3,000, Stephen Bean was in push-or-fold territory and he did the former when he woke up with the A♦Q♦. Chris Lamb called with the 9♠9♥ and the 3♣J♥6♥5♦4♠ board sent Bean packing.
A few minutes after Bean's departure, Justin Kyrikides fell by the wayside.Jose Bazan led out with the board reading 3♠5♠10♥9♥, then called when Kyrikides moved all in. It was the A♥Q♥ for Kyrikides and the J♦J♥ for Bazan. The jacks held after the river came the 6♦, leaving seven players at the final table.
Seven became six with the exit of Sacha Brookes, and then Lamb busted next.
Mere minutes later, Bazan moved all in from the small blind and Ravi Sharda called for his 550,000 stack with the A♥10♥. Sharda was in good shape against the A♣3♣, but the 9♦3♦7♥10♣3♥ board was not what he wanted to see.
Fourth place went to Nick Rishover, and then Bazan busted in third.
At the start of the heads-up match, Nguyen Khoa Le held 6.2 million in chips to 2.1 million, yet he still agreed to a chop that saw him guarantee himself £50,000, Kennedy £40,000, and leave £5,450 for the champion.
Ninety-minutes later, Kennedy had not only pulled level, he had won every chip in play.
The final hand saw Kennedy’s A♠9♥ go head-to-head with Le's K♠Q♥. Despite Le catching some outs on the 9♦8♦J♦ flop, his tournament ended with the arrival of the 5♠ turn and 7♦ river.
Next up for the GUKPT is a trip to Edinburgh from Sept. 4-11, but before then there is the GUKPT Goliath to look forward to in Coventry between July 28-Aug. 7.
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