Posted on: September 2, 2022, 06:53h. 

Last updated on: September 2, 2022, 12:47h.

The Goliath X poker tournament, part of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT), kicked off late last month. Already the biggest poker tournament outside Vegas, it’s set to break a new record before it wraps up.

Grosvenor UK Poker Tour
Poker players participate in the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour in 2018. In the latest tournament series, the Goliath X, is breaking records. (Image: GUKPT)

The first flight of the event, which Grosvenor Casino hosts, was on August 27. That flight registered 1,294 entries, already an indication that this tournament was going to be bigger than others.

Since then, the field has continued to grow. The last live Goliath tournament was in 2019 and saw more than 9,300 entries. This year, the £150 (US$173) Goliath X already broke the 10K mark, with another flight to come.

Flying High at the Grosvenor

There are a total of eight flights before players dig in and make a serious run for the money. The fifth flight was on Wednesday and added 1,432 to the running total. The next flight, Flight 1F on Thursday, brought another 1,572.

The Goliath had to take a break because of COVID-19. The following two years continued in an online format, which still proved to be popular.

Now, the live event is back and proving why it can claim to be the biggest poker tournament outside the World Series of Poker. There have been more than 11,800 entries so far, confirming Grosvenor’s earlier suspicions that it would break the 10K barrier.

Because the turnout has been so great, the £1 million (US$1.15 million) guarantee will increase even further. Only after all the flights are done and the entries tallied will Grosvenor be able to announce the complete prize pool and breakdown.

In 2019, with 9,300 entries, Lee Reynolds took the top prize of $78K when he cut a deal with the other four finalists. To put things in perspective for this year, all of the top five finishers that year bagged at least $80K, and 922 players finished in the money.

There’s still a lot of action remaining at the felt. The Goliath X event runs through September 4, when it crowns a winner.

GUKPT Awarding Cash

As it makes its rounds, the GUKPT has already begun dishing out the cash. Jack Hardcastle is now a two-time winner after taking down the GUKPT Main Event a couple of days ago.

Hardcastle won the GUKPT Leeds Main Event last year for £72,200 (US$83,506). In taking down this year’s Main Event in Coventry, he added another £125,450 (US$145,145). The British poker pro has amassed more than $1.2 million in live poker winnings, according to Hendon Mob.

Ciaran Duffy is the perfect example of how poker is anyone’s game. Before he sat down at the table in the £1,500 High Roller, he only had $2,877 in live tournament winnings. However, he turned a strong performance and a first-place finish into $71,500.