Ganesh Rao Wins GUKPT Newcastle

May 19 2008, Barry Carter

The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour made its second appearance in Newcastle last week, after the same event was won by Mazhar Nawab last year. 189 players bought into the £1000 main event for a shot at the £57,175 first prize and it was a man who was no stranger to GUKPT finals that would eventually take it down. Ganesh Rao made the final table of the GUKPT Walsall leg earlier this year and his first place win last night more than made up for his disappointment of finishing 9th last time out.

Like the previous winner Mazhar Nawab, Rao is from Sheffield but now living in Newcastle. The Doctor wore his heart on his sleeve throughout this rollercoaster ride and buried his head in his hands every time he was all in, but as his pocket jacks held he let out an almighty roar as he was proclaimed the champion.

For most of the three day event, Hit Squad member James Akenhead was the monster chip leader and looked the big favourite going into the final table. In form Pete Linton narrowly missed out on another big final table and the following players were left to fight it out:

Fraser MacIntyre -- 385,900
James Akenhead -- 361,900
Ian Farrell -- 323,300
Mark Dalimore -- 205,100
David Allan -- 186,000
Ganesh Rao -- 151,700
Cheryl Routledge -- 104,500
Michael Hill -- 100,800
Alan Vinnicombe -- 80,900

Two players who will be feeling very pleased with themselves today are David Allan and Ian Farrell, both of whom qualified for this event via freerolls. The latter managed to outlast the other seven finalists to get heads up against Rao with the chip lead. After several super fast GUKPT heads up matches in recent times this one was a gruelling affair, with the chip lead switching between the two for more than two hours. Eventually Farrell moved all in on a complete bluff with 5-2 and was looked up by the pocket jacks of Rao, which held up and made him the latest GUKPT champion.

1st Ganesh Rao £57,175
2nd Ian Farrell £33,075
3rd James Akenhead£23,624
4th Mark Dalimore £16,075
5th David Allan £12,275
6th Fraser McIntyre £9,450
7th Mike Hill £7,550
8th Alan Vinnicombe £5,675
9th Cheryl Routledge £4,725

The tour is now on a 2 month summer holiday as everyone and their cat is making their way to the World Series of Poker. The tour returns in August at the G Casino in Luton and a special online GUKPT series if scheduled between 21st and 25th of July – the winners of which will get seats in the GUKPT Champion of Champion's event at the end of the year.

(photo courtesy of Grosvenor UK Poker Tour)

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