Jack Hardcastle added to his already glowing reputation by taking down the Goliath X GUKPT Main Event in Coventry for yet another six-figure score. Hardcastle won the GUKPT Leeds Main Event in 2021 and can now call himself a two-time GUKPT champion after navigating his way through a 549-strong field in this £1,000 buy-in tournament.
Goliath X GUKPT Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Hardcastle | £125,450 |
| 2 | John Adderley | £85,400 |
| 3 | Yucel Eminoglu | £50,750 |
| 4 | Francis Obadun | £31,300 |
| 5 | Mitchell Hynam | £20,400 |
| 6 | Dayne Tinnuche | £14,700 |
| 7 | Lorenc Boci | £10,900 |
| 8 | I.B. | £8,500 |
| 9 | M.B. | £7,150 |
The top 47 finishers won a slice of the £494,100 prize pool. Ireland's Eoin Starr was the first player to bust out of the tournament inside the money places. Starr walked away with £1,900 for his efforts.
The likes of Rupinder Bedi, Robbie Bull, Usman Siddique, John Hesp, Andrew Hedley, and Paul Rigg were among the 47 players who saw a return on their £1,000 investment.
All but two of the nine players who navigated their way to the final table saw at least five figures hit their bank accounts. Anonymous players "M.B." and "I.B." were that pair. They scooped prizes of £7,150 and £8,500, respectively.
Lorenc Boci, winner of the £1,000 888Poker Cup in London in April 2022, finished in seventh-place for £10,900 before Dayne Tinnuche claimed the £14,700 sixth-place prize, which is a career-best for him.
Fifth-place and £20,400 went to Mitchell Hynam, again a career-high. Hynam's previous best score weighed in at £12,100, his reward for a sixth-place finish in the 2022 GUKPT Coventry Main Event, won by Joe Hindry.
The pay jumps for the remaining finishing places were substantial, and nobody would have looked down on the final four had they struck a deal to lessen them. However, no deal was done, and the talented quartet continued on the tournament's original path.
Francis Obadun reeled in his second-largest career cash, one worth £31,300. Obadun finished second in the £1,000 888Poker Cup, the event the aforementioned Boci took down.
The ever-popular Yucel "Mad Turk" Eminoglu scooped the £50,750 third-place prize. Only the runner-up finish in the 2021 GUKPT Grand Final (£183,650) earned Eminoglu more in the live poker arena.
Eminoglu's untimely demise left Hardcastle heads-up against Liverpool's John Adderley. Hardcastle got the job done and resigned Adderley to his second GUKPT Main Event runner-up finish, with Adderley finishing second in the 2022 GUKPT Manchester Main Event. This bridesmaid finish came with an £85,400 payday, leaving Hardcastle to walk away with his second GUKPT title and another £125,400 in prize money.
Ciaran Duffy Secures the Goliath X High Roller Title
Ireland's Ciaran Duffy has $2,877 in live poker tournament winnings before he decided to jump into the £1,500 Goliath X High Roller event alongside 142 opponents. Now Duffy has a huge five-figure haul to his name after getting his hands on £61,750 of the £214,500 prize pool.
Duffy came out on top after defeating Scotland's Gajanthan Kamalanathan heads-up. The Glaswegian runner-up received £40,150 for his vast efforts, which is by far his largest live result and his first tipping the scales at five-figures.
Any of the nine finalists would have made a worthy champion, but it was Duffy's day. Tan Le fell in ninth for £5,150 before "J.C." reeled in a £5,750 score. GUKPT regular Matt Davenport's quest for glory ended in a seventh-place finish worth £6,800 before Jack O'Neill bowed out in sixth for £8,650.
The first five-figure prize, £11,950, went to Chris Wood. This is the second-largest GUKPT prize Wood has received, falling behind the £15,390 awarded for a fifth-place finish in the 2017 GUKPT Blackpool Main Event.
Minvydas Kersulis crashed out in fourth for a career-best £17,300 before Anthony Hughes fell by the wayside in third, a finish good for £25,750. Hughes' exit left Duffy one-on-one with Kamalanathan, and Duffy got the job done.
Goliath X High Roller Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ciaran Duffy | £61,750 |
| 2 | Gajanthan Kamalanathan | £40,150 |
| 3 | Anthony Hughes | £25,750 |
| 4 | Minvydas Kersulis | £17,300 |
| 5 | Chris Wood | £11,950 |
| 6 | Jack O'Neill | £8,650 |
| 7 | Matt Davenport | £6,800 |
| 8 | J.C. | £5,750 |
| 9 | Tan Le | £5,150 |
Goliath X Smashes Through 5,000 Entrants
Four of the scheduled eight Goliath X flights are in the bag and the tournament already has an attendance way in excess of 5,000. Through to the completion of Day 1D, some 5,524 players have bought in for £120 and almost ten percent of those entrants, 537 to be exact, have punched their Day 2 tickets.
Four more flights remain, pointing towards a 10,000+ field, which would mean a prize pool of £1 million or more, which is incredible for such an affordable buy-in.
| Day | Start time | Buy in | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed, Aug 31 | 12pm | £150 | Goliath Flight E |
| Thu, Sept 1 | 12pm | £150 | Goliath Flight F |
| Fri, Sept 2 | 11am | £150 | Goliath Flight G Turbo |
| Fri, Sept 2 | 6pm | £150 | Goliath Flight H Turbo |
| Sat, Sept 3 | 11am | - | Goliath Day 2 |
| Sun, Sept 4 | 11am | - | Goliath Day 3 |
Anyone planning on competing on Day 1E on August 31 are politely requested to park in Car Park C because Coventry City Football Club has a home fixture in the evening; the tournament takes place in Coventry City's stadium.
PokerNews' Live Reporting team will be on the ground bringing you live and exclusive updates from the massive Goliath X from Day 2 onwards. Tune into the dedicated Goliath X Live Reporting page on September 3-4 as we bring you all the action, as it happens, from the potentially record-breaking Goliath X!
