Manchester brought you iconic bands such as The Stone Roses, The Smiths, and Oasis, but did you know it is also the city that has hosted one of the longest-running stops of the popular Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT)?
GUKPT Manchester has taken place every year since 2007, including during the COVID-19 hit 2020 when live poker ground to a halt globally. The 2020 edition of the GUKPT Manchester Main Event was the last event that Grosvenor ran that year.
The latest edition of GUKPT Manchester takes place at Grosvenor Casino Bury New Road from February 1 through February 11, and the £1,250 buy-in Main Event is expected to have a bumper crowd in attendance.
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Each of the last three GUKPT Manchester Main Events have awarded their champion a six-figure sum thanks to over 440 players turning out in force. The 2022 edition broke through 500 entrants, with 526 players fighting it out for a £141,000 top prize, the largest ever awarded at this stop. Trevor Reardon got his hands on that record-breaking sum.
After the recent GUKPT London Main Event saw 529 player buy in, a 13% increase on 2022, everything points to this latest edition of the GUKPT Manchester Main Event being huge.
Day 1A shuffles up and deals at 12:00 p.m. GMT on February 8, with Day 1B commencing at the same time on February 9. There is a Day 1C with a turbo blind structure taking place at 9:00 p.m. on February 9. It is possible to buy in before the start of Day 2, but those super-late entrants will enter the fray armed with a sub-10 big blind stack.
Several side events adorn the schedule and compliment the Main Event. The festival kicks off with a £330 buy-in Mystery Bounty tournament, with a £250 Mini Main Event following on from that. Grosvenor Casinos calls it a Mini Main Event, but last year’s equivalent tournament attracted 759 entrants and awarded Marian Dumitrache £38,140 when they emerged victoriously after three days of grinding.
2024 GUKPT Manchester Schedule
In addition to regular tournaments, four £110 buy-in cashout satellites are scheduled, which award a £1,000 GUKPT voucher for every £1,000 in the prize pool. Online satellites are also available at Grosvenor Poker.
Past GUKPT Manchester Main Event Champions
Plenty of household names have left Manchester with the GUKPT Main Event trophy under one arm and a bank balance boosted by some chunky prizes over the years.
The late Dave “El Blondie” Colclough won the inaugural event all the way back in 2007. Such luminaries as Marc Goodwin, Simon Moorman (Chris Moorman‘s dad), Kully Sidhu, Rhys Jones, Ali Mallu, World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Ben Dobson, former Team Grosvenor member Richard Trigg, and the sun-runner that is Calogero Morreale can all call themselves GUKPT Manchester champions.
It was his victory in the 2023 GUKPT Manchester Main Event that gave Morreale a platform on which to build a National Poker League-winning run. The Italian finished top of the pile and won a £40,000 sponsorship package plus the Grosvenor Casinos Player of the Year trophy.