James Jones wins GUKPT Leeds 2024 Main Event (£36,150)

The purchase of £1,000 The main event of the Leeds Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT). was much smaller than usual, a direct result of the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) being in full swing, but still 192 entrants created a prize pool of £160,890 and a top prize of £36,150. James Jones was the last player to enter the GUKPT Leeds Main Event and turned his £1,000 investment into £36,150, a new career high for the champion.

The top 25 finishers out of 192 viewers received a share of the $160,890 prize pool. As of Tuan Le, Renee Xieand Matt Davenport were among the first players to break into the money. Davenport’s latest GUKPT Main Event cash, his 26th, is six more than anyone else in tournament history. Serial crushers also finished fourth in the £1,650 High Roller for £5,800 earlier in the week. Davenport is headed to the WSOP soon, so watch out for his name PokerNews‘updates.

Alex Montgomerycarl spicer Simon Higgins, Michael Rosamanand Tim Slater also cashed in, the latter exploding at No. 12. Mark JohnstonHis elimination in tenth place at the final table.

GUKPT Leeds 2024 Main Event Final Table Results

It wasn’t meant to be Callum GordonHis day, which collapsed within the first 20 minutes of final table action. He can be considered unlucky because in those 20 minutes he found pocket queens and ace-kings and ran into pocket aces on both occasions, one for his entire stack.

A player who wishes to remain anonymous folded in eighth place before Mark Earl put in the last of his chips with four hearts and lost to the ace tree. John Bousfield courtesy of an ace on the turn.

Regular GUKPT Robert Douras he was next in line at the cashier’s desk after “doing 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 over the $350,000 mark.

Christopher Johnson won the GUKPT Leeds Main Event in 2022 and looked set to win the main prize again. However, after reaching five big blinds, Johnson moved all in with queen nine and Bousfield called with ace five. No help came for either player, but Bousfield didn’t need it, so it was a good game for Johnson.

Fourth place and £12,630, the tournament’s first £10,000+ prize, returned Abdulkadir Ahmedwho lost first a coinflip against Garry Spinks to be left in the short stack. Ahmed’s last big seven ties went into the middle with jack-four, but Robbie Lew’s hand couldn’t beat Bousfield’s ace-king. Ahmed has 22 cashes in 2024 alone and continues to knock on the door to a big win.

Heads-up was established when Spinks, wearing a Triton Poker patch throughout the final day, shoved when holding second pair, just four Bousfield to snap-call top pair. Spinks did not improve and fell to third place for £18,985.

Bousfield’s one-man destruction rate was halted by Jones. All the chips went in mid-flop on a five-six-seven, with Bousfield holding eight-five for bottom pair and an open straight draw, but Jones called with pocket nines and held two of Bousfield’s outs. Both rook and river were bricked, Bousfield folded and Jones raised the winner’s trophy aloft.

What’s next for GUKPT?

The GUKPT goes on a six-week hiatus while the WSOP gobbles up all the available live poker players, but it roars back at the end of July with the eagerly awaited. The 2024 edition of Goliath.

Goliath satellites are running on Grosvenor Poker and, for the first time, PokerStars, which should help push the prize pool to £1.5 million!