Edinburgh Prepares for a £100,000 Guaranteed GUKPT Event
The third leg of the 2017 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour begins on March 26 at the Grosvenor Maybury Casino in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the fourth consecutive season that the Scottish capital has hosted a GUKPT festival.
It may have taken the tour eight seasons before it headed north of the border but it was worth the wait as 192 players turned out for the inaugural GUKPT Edinburgh Main Event in 2014. Andrew Teng was crowned champion in Season 8 and won £26,000 for his £550 investment.
The following year, former Irish Open champion James Mitchell topped a field of 234 to get his hands on the £33,930 first-place prize, which is still the largest GUKPT Edinburgh prize to date. Last year, Tommy Le returned home £25,000 richer than when he arrived when he triumphed over 183 opponents.
Past GUKPT Edinburgh Champions
| Season | Buy-in | Entrants | Prize pool | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | £550 | 192 | £100,000 | Andrew Teng | £26,000 |
| 9 | £550 | 234 | £117,000 | James Mitchell | £33,930 |
| 10 | £550 | 184 | £100,000 | Tommy Le | £25,000 |
Like previous editions of the GUKPT Edinburgh festival, there is a £100,000 guaranteed Main Event costing £550, which is the showpiece of the stop. Complementing the Main Event are a range of side events including a £10,000 guaranteed Mini Main Event costing £110 to enter, a brace of no-limit hold’em tournaments, a six-handed event, ‘Win The Button,’ and a bounty and pot-limit Omaha tournament, plus several satellites feeding into the Main Event.
It is still possible to qualify for the GUKPT Edinburgh Main Event online at Grosvenor Poker. If you download Grosvenor Poker via PokerNews and deposit £25, you receive £100 which includes a £50 bonus bag; the welcome bonus is a 200 percent match up to £700.
2017 GUKPT Edinburgh Schedule
| Date | Time | Tournament |
|---|---|---|
| March 26 | 12 p.m. | £100+£10 NLHE Mini Main Event Flight 1 |
| March 26 | 7:30 p.m. | £20+£6 Super Satellite to Main Event |
| March 27 | 4 p.m. | £20+£6 Super Satellite to Main Event |
| March 27 | 6 p.m. | £100+£10 NLHE Mini Main Event Flight 2 |
| March 28 | 4 p.m. | £20+£6 Turbo Satellite to Main Event |
| March 28 | 6 p.m. | NLHE Mini Main Event Final |
| March 28 | 7:30 p.m. | £150+£15 No Limit Hold’em |
| March 29 | 4 p.m. | £20+£6 Turbo Satellite to Main Event |
| March 29 | 6:30 p.m. | No Limit Hold’em Final |
| March 29 | 7:30 p.m. | £100+£10 No Limit Hold’em 6-Max |
| March 29 | 9 p.m. | £75+£7 Super Satellite to Main Event |
| March 30 | 1 p.m. | £500+£50 GUKPT Edinburgh Main Event Day 1a |
| March 30 | 4 p.m. | £20+£6 Turbo Satellite to Main Event |
| March 30 | 6 p.m. | £75+£7 Pot Limit Omaha 4/5/6 ROI |
| March 31 | 1 p.m. | £500+£50 GUKPT Main Event Day 1b |
| March 31 | 9 p.m. | £100+£10 NLHE Bounty |
| April 1 | 1 p.m. | GUKPT Main Event Day 2 |
| April 1 | 6 p.m. | £100+£10 NLHE Win The Button |
| April 2 | 12 p.m. | Main Event Final Day |
| April 2 | 4 p.m. | £75+£7 No Limit Hold’em |
As mentioned, the Edinburgh festival is the third stop on the 2017 GUKPT. The tour opened in London where 435 players turned out for the £1,100 buy in Main Event, smashing the £200,000 guarantee by £435,000. Michael Zhang won on that day, leaving the Poker Room, formerly The Vic, in February with £113,000.
More recently, at the beginning of March, Andrew Hills won £46,988 after a five-way chop before claiming the winner’s trophy in the GUKPT Manchester Main Event.
Perhaps Hills will be in Scotland in an attempt to become the second player in the GUKPT’s history to win back-to-back Main Event titles, a feat only achieved by Priyan de Mel who won the 2009 season-ending Blackpool Main Event and the 2010 opening Bolton tournament.
