For eleven years now, the British casino The Grosvenor has hosted a tournament with the apt name Goliath, which boasts the title of the world's largest poker tournament outside the US. Last year, this tournament, which was also held at the football stadium in the past, celebrated its tenth year, when it managed to surpass the 10,000 mark in the number of entries for the first time.
Bolstered by this success and considering the fact that live poker is experiencing a big boom this year, the organizers made no secret of the fact that they would like to push the 10,584 entries from last year into oblivion and set the bar a little higher again. They did it to the letter, and the final numbers of this year are once again respectable - 11,493 entries took care of the prize pool worth £1,379,160!
A total of 5,707 unique players participated in the tournament, but the biggest flight was day 1f, which recorded 1,814 entries. After two days of play, the field was whittled down to the final 44 players, who faced off on the final day on Sunday. You could also watch the course of this day live through a live stream, which you can recall here:
Due to the fast-paced structure of this tournament, after only a few hours of play it was possible to form the final table, on which the following players sat:
- Yu-San Chan - 52,725,000
- Richard Birchall - 44,450,000
- Alex Todd - 44,150,000
- Min Ji - 43,000,000
- Andrew Mackenzie - 36,175,000
- Peter Seager - 21,225,000
- Wayne Penford - 20,475,000
- Nigel Brampton - 17,800,000
- William Picot - 7,525,000
After three eliminations, in view of the looming life win, the remaining six players got into a debate about the deal, which found a fairly quick agreement. While there was still a £44,000 in play, a trophy and a title ahead of us, players could take it easy with the following rewards:
After the deal, chipleader Alex Todd left nothing to chance and managed to take the rest of the bonus with a clear eye, thanks to which he took home the bonus of £178,860 as this year's champion. Tournament director Michael Stephenson was able to present two trophies (one his own and one itinerant) to the satisfied champion along with a check for a 6-figure bonus.
As the winner himself said: “I had run like a god, really, tournaments are about a lot of luck and variance, but when you have your day, everything works out. I've been waiting for this day for a very, very long time." At the end of the entire festival, the organizers pleased the players and interested parties with information about the next year, which will take place from July 25 to August 4, 2024 - so hurry up and book a room!
Source: MainEventTravel, GrosvenorCasinos, FB/GrosvenorPoker
