Record-breaking poker tournaments are becoming the norm this year and, in the coming days, the GUKPT Goliath could set another.
The £150 behemoth has been pulling in huge crowds since 2011 and, this year, the tournament team at Grosvenor HQ is hoping to break another record.
As always, the action will take place inside Coventry’s Grosvenor G Casino. There will be eight starting flights spread over seven days, with first getting underway on Saturday July 29.
GUKPT Goliath maintains giant reputation
Last year’s GUKPT Goliath paid out more than £1.2 million thanks to the total number of entries topping 10,584. That turnout not only gave winner Kyle Jeffrey a £200,000 payday, it set the record for biggest live poker tournament outside of Las Vegas.
2022 was a special year for the GUKPT Goliath as it was the 10th anniversary event. Not only that, it was the first live Goliath since the UK’s COVID restrictions had been lifted. These factors, combined with the fact Goliath has grown almost every year since its inception, led to a record turnout.
Can this year’s tournament surpass expectations? Grosvenor’s tournament team appears to be banking on it. Last year, the projected prizepool was £1 million and the final payouts surpassed that amount. Heading into this year’s Goliath, the projected prizepool is £1.5 million.
A strong schedule of side events will help bring in players. The £1,000 GUKPT Coventry main event gets the festival underway on July 27. Also on the docket are small stakes amateur events, a ladies tournament, and a £2,000 high roller.
Positive omens for Grosvenor’s Goliath
The GUKPT Goliath series also includes a mystery bounty event. The organizers added a mystery bounty event last year and it proved hugely popular. Over 100 bounties were available, and Natalie Wood-Stoddard picked the jackpot prize worth £20,000 (see video below).
Natalie Wood-Stoddard pulls the £20,000 Mystery Bounty prize at GOLIATH X!! pic.twitter.com/UY4W59brjy
— Grosvenor Poker (@GrosvenorPoker) September 1, 2022
Another positive omen for the 2023 Grosvenor Goliath are recent events from the WSOP in Las Vegas. The 2023 WSOP will go down as one of the biggest poker festivals in history, not least because the Main Event set a new record. With 10,043 players entering the $10,000 tournament, a record that had stood since 2012 was broken.
This alone is a sign that poker is in a good place. Indeed, the WSOP Main Event is often used as a yardstick to measure the state of the industry and, when it’s strong, everything else is strong. This bodes well for the 2023 Goliath. Will we see more than 11,000 entries ante up in Coventry? We’ll find out in the coming days.
