Paul Foltyn wins GUKPT Grand Final, JC Tran wins Party Poker Premier League

Paul Foltyn wins GUKPT Grand Final
184 players, including all the previous GUKPT main event champions, entered the £3000 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour grand final at the Vic last weekend. It was a top calibre final table that featured a fantastic mix of old school UK players including Jeff Duval, Surinder Sunar and GUKPT Bolton champion Tony Cascarino. It also featured some of the new school in the shape of Stuart Rutter, Richard 'Chufty' Ashby and Paul 'Pab' Foltyn.

But they all had to overcome the massive chip lead of Norwegian player Eirik Svanes, who was the 2nd Norwegian to make a GUKPT main event final in a row (As Andreas Hoivold did in Blackpool). Svanes was eventually taken

out in 4th place and Guy Steel after him in 3rd, which left one of the most epic heads up battles in GUKPT history, between Jeff Duval and Pab Foltyn.

The structure was so good that there was still plenty of play left in the heads up match, but that didn't stop both men going at it all guns a blazing. This somehow lasted a full three hours which saw both men grab and lose massive chipleads, until Pab, from Doncaster, turn a straight with 6-4 against the middle pair of fives from Duval, holding 6-5. Foltyn took the title and the £167,050 first prize.

This was a long time coming for most of the UK poker community, as Pab is one of the most popular young players on the circuit. He is one of the most successful online tournament players in the UK and in 2006 he made the final table of $5000 short handed event at the WSOP. He was very well supported, not at least by a large contingent of players who had placed a bet on him to win outright at 125/1 on Blue Square.

Final Table Payouts
Paul Foltyn £167,050
Jeffrey Duvall £96,600
Guy Steel £69,000
Eirik Svanes £46,900
Stuart Rutter £35,900
Tony Cascarino £27,600
Stuart Nash £22,100
Surinder Sunar £16,550
Richard Ashby £13,800

All eyes are now on the Champion of Champions event this week in Luton. Yesterday Sam Trickett took down another side event, making it three GUKPT titles this year, which means he will go into the freeroll with a 20,000 starting stack and very much the chip leader.

Picture courtesy of Blue Square

JC Tran wins Party Poker Premier League
He came, he saw, he conquered. Party Poker Premier League new boy and tournament specialist JC Tran dominated the Premier league from the very start all the way to the final table. He went into the final as chip leader because of the amazing run he went on in the preliminary heats and really got a hold of the final when he eliminated WSOP main event champion Peter Eastgate first off in the final. Tran defeated Premier League veteran Tony G heads up when he flopped top pair holding 9-7 on an 5-7-6 board against the open ended straight draw of Tony's, holding K-8. All the money went in on the flop and no help for Tony saw Tran crowned the third Party Poker Premier League Champion.

1st: JC Tran - $300,000
2nd: Tony G - $150,000
3rd: Juha Helppi - $80,000
4th: Tom Dwan - $50,000
5th: Roland de Wolfe - $40,000
6th: Peter Eastgate - $30,000

2009 GUKPT going to be bigger and better than ever
This year's GUKPT has been even better than the last one, what with the emphasis on bringing back UK festivals as well as all the added value to the competitions such as the champion of champions event. We eavesdropped on an interview with Russell Tamplin who worked on the tour, as he was giving an insight into what we can expect in 2009. The tour will restart in Brighton in 2009 and the Bolton leg is out, replaced by the Cardiff leg that was popular last year. There is also set to be a lower buy-in summer series scheduled, presumably for those players that don't make it out to Vegas as well as a National league set over local Grosvenor and G Casinos.

There will once again be a festival feel, with at least 7 days for each stop and finally even more added value including £100,000 for the champion of champions event and £50,000 for the GUKPT leader board winner. Once again proving that the GUKPT is not only the best home grown poker tour but also one of the best value tours in the World.

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