James Jones Comes Out On Top in the GUKPT Leeds Main Event
The £1,000 buy-in Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) Leeds Main Event was much smaller than usual, a direct result of the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) being in full swing, but it still saw 192 entrants create a £160,890 prize pool and a £36,150 top prize. James Jones was the last player standing in the GUKPT Leeds Main Event, and he turned his £1,000 investment into £36,150, a new career-high for the champion.
The top 25 finishers from the 192-strong crowd received a slice of the $160,890 prize pool. The likes of Tuan Le, Renee Xie, and Matt Davenport were among the first players to bust inside the money. Davenport's latest GUKPT Main Event cash, his 26th, is six more than anyone else in the tour's history. The serial crushers also finished fourth in the £1,650 High Roller for £5,800 earlier in the week. Davenport is soon heading to the WSOP, so look out for his name in PokerNews' updates.
Alex Montgomery, Carl Spicer, Simon Higgins, Michael Rosaman, and Tim Slater also cashed, the latter busting in 12th place. Mark Johnston's elimination in tenth set the final table.
2024 GUKPT Leeds Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Jones | £36,150 |
| 2 | John Bousfield | £27,075 |
| 3 | Garry Spinks | £18,985 |
| 4 | Abdulkadir Ahmed | £12,630 |
| 5 | Christopher Johnson | £8,930 |
| 6 | Robert Douras | £6,675 |
| 7 | Mark Earl | £5,390 |
| 8 | K.M. | £4,585 |
| 9 | Callum Gordon | £4,025 |
It was not to be Callum Gordon's day, who crashed out in the first 20 minutes of the final table's action. He can count himself unlucky because, in those 20 minutes, he found pocket queens and ace-king, and ran into pocket aces on both occasions, one for all of his stack.
A player wishing to remain anonymous bowed out in eighth before Mark Earl got the last of his chips in with pocket fours and lost to the ace-trey of John Bousfield courtesy of an ace on the turn.
GUKPT regular Robert Douras was the next in line at the cashier's desk after he "did a Callum Gordon." Douras committed his last eight big blinds from the button with king-queen, only for the big blind to wake up with pocket rockets! Those aces held, and Douras was gone; the £6,675 he won pushed his lifetime earnings through the $350,000 mark.
Christopher Johnson won the GUKPT Leeds Main Event in 2022 and looked set to rake in its top prize again. However, after finding himself down to five big blinds, Johnson moved all-in with queen-nine, and Bousfield called with ace-five. No help arrived for either player, but Bousfield didn't need any, so it was good game for Johnson.
Fourth place and £12,630, the first £10K+ prize of the tournament, went to Abdulkadir Ahmed, who first lost a coinflip against Garry Spinks to be left short-stacked. Ahmed's last seven big binds went into the middle with jack-four, but the Robbie Lew hand couldn't beat Bousfield's ace-king. Ahmed has 22 cashes in 2024 alone and continues knocking on the door of a big win.
Heads-up was set when Spinks, sporting a Triton Poker patch throughout the final day, shoved when holding second pair, only four Bousfield to snap-call with top pair. Spinks didn't improve, and he fell in third for £18,985.
Bousfield's one-man wrecking spree was halted by Jones. All the chips went into the middle of a five-six-seven flop, Bousfield holding eight-five for bottom pair and an open-ended straight draw, but Jones called with pocket nines, and was holding two of Bousfield's outs. Both the turn and river bricked, Bousfield bowed out, and Jones lifted the winner's trophy aloft.
What's Next for the GUKPT?
The GUKPT heads on a six-week hiatus while the WSOP swallows up every available live poker player, but it returns with a bang in late July with the eagerly anticipated 2024 edition of the Goliath.
Satellites for the Goliath are running on Grosvenor Poker and, for the first time, at PokerStars, which should help push the prize pool towards £1.5 million!
