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The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) kicked off its 2020 season in style over the weekend when 379 players piled into The Poker Room at the famous Grosvenor Victoria Casino in the heart of London. These entrants created a mammoth £511,650 prize pool that was shared among the top 34 finishers and it was Artan Dedusha who got his hands on the lion’s share of this money, namely a cool £137,430.

2020 GUKPT London Final Table Results

The money bubble burst just after 9:00 p.m. on Saturday’s Day 2 and it was Pancios Ellianas who was the unfortunate soul to pop it. Down to 40,000 chips at the 3,000/6,000/6,000a level, Ellianas moved all-in with ace-six and Daniel Harwood called with pocket tens. Those tens held and Ellianas busted in 34th place.

Harwood would eventually bust in 24th place for a £3,510 score.

Jean Chanpan Cheong was the first player to collect some prize money for his efforts. The likes of Rick Trigg (32nd - £3,010), GUKPT regular Yiannis Liperis (29th - £3,010), and Haresh Thakker (23rd - £4,010) followed suit.

Day 2 concluded with 17 players in the hunt for the title and Dedusha in the driving seat being the only player with a seven-figure stack.

Paul Tedeschi was a high profile bust out at the start of Day 3. The talented Frenchman got his chips into the middle with king-queen only to run into the queen held by Patrice Brandt. The queens remained the best hand and Tedeschi crashed out in 14th place for £5,310.

Another elite player fell by the wayside when Phil Souki headed to the cashier’s desk with a slip awarding him 13th place money.

The final table was set three hours after Day 3 began. Emrah Cakmak jammed for 11 big blinds with king-ten and Brandt called with ace-queen. Cakmak soared into the lead courtesy of a ten on the flop, but an ace on the river, known as a Greenstein after the legendary Barry Greenstein, sent Cakmak to the showers.

2020 GUKPT London Final Table Chip Counts

Paul Siddle’s appearance at the nine-handed final table was short-lived. He committed 21 big blinds with ace-king only to lose to Ben Winsor’s pocket tens. Siddle has recently won the $2,200 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS UK Warm Up for $23,835.

Oliver Bithnall busted in eighth-place and became the first player to collect a five-figure prize. Bithnell was all-in with king-four on a king-high flop for his last seven big blinds but was out-kicked by the king-jack in the hand of Dedusha.

Seventh-place and £13,040 went to Jack O’Neill. He looked down at ace-trey in the small blind and open-shoved for 17.5 big blinds. Unfortunately for O’Neill, Dedusha was dealt pocket sevens in the big blind and he called. The board ran void of drama and the players at the final table gained a little more elbow room.

Then came the demise of Damian Bell in sixth-place. A seven-high flop with two diamonds was enough for Bell to get his stack in with king-jack of diamonds. A player referred to simply as “Mo” called with ace-queen of diamonds. Neither player improved, but Mo didn’t need to. Game over for Bell.

Coren-Mitchell Loses Coinflip To Bust

Two-time European Poker Tour Main Event championVictoria Coren-Mitchell is no stranger to The Poker Room in London and she would have made a very popular GUKPT London champion. It wasn’t to be, however, as she lost a crucial coinflip against Dedusha. Coren-Mitchell was all-in with ace-king against Dedusha’s pocket threes. The flop gave her an inside straight draw, but the turn and river bricked to send the Only Connect quiz show host to the rail in fifth-place, good for £23,570.

The man with no surname was the next to bust. He lost a huge pot at the hands of Dedusha when his aces were cracked by Dedusha’s set of seven. Tha left Mo with nine big blinds and he busted soon after, while Dedusha stacked up 4,200,000 of the 7,500,000 chips in play.

Heads-up was set 20-minutes later when Dedusha sent Brandt into the dark London night. Brandt pushed his 15 big blinds into the middle with ace-eight and lost to the hot-running Dedusha’s king-queen. Third-place locked up £55,670 for Brandt.

Dedusha held a massive 6,000,000 to 1,500,000 chip advantage over Winsor going into heads-up and it proved too substantial a gap for Winsor to bridge.

It was a coinflip then brought an end to proceedings. Winsor, who last year became the first player to win two GUKPT Grand Finals, chose pocket fives to jam his last 15 big blinds in with. Dedusha called with queen-ten and the race was on. A ten on the turn proved more than enough for Dediusha to win, which resigned Winsor to the £91,270 consolation prize.

Next up for the GUKPT is a journey north to Manchester from February 23rd. The Main Event here is a £1,110 buy-in affair with £200,000 guaranteed.

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• »APT Reverses and The Star Sydney Cancels Live Poker

The news for poker players in Australia is not good. Live poker is going to be slower to return than anticipated, especially in tournament form. Many tournament organizers and poker room managers who believed they could schedule some events for later in 2020 are discovering that their plans must be scrapped.

Places like The Star Sydney are acknowledging that there will be no live poker at all through the end of the year. And the Australian Poker Tour is already cancelling its recently-announced September event.

Not only is the coronavirus pandemic still lurking and threatening another wave of positive Covid-19 cases, but its unpredictable nature is also forcing businesses to refrain from taking chances. Cancelling an event after putting time and effort into planning it can be more costly and troublesome for organizers and players than a preemptive shutdown.

APT Cancels at Southport Sharks

Less than one month ago, the Australian Poker Tour excitedly announced its return to the live tables. After much planning and clearance with the venue, not to mention new protocols in place for the event, the APT announced an 11-tour series at Southport Sharks on the Gold Coast over the first weekend in September.

CEO David Miles worked with the venue to plan for social distancing and sanitization at the series. They would set the tables at least 1.5 metres apart, limit the number of players at the tables, encourage online registration, and check the temperatures of players. They planned to offer hand sanitizer, masks, and gloves to all who wanted them.

It was going to be a unique weekend of tournaments, but the APT wanted to do it.

Just weeks later, the APT felt the need to postpone it. They offered this message on the website and through social media channels:

“We regret to inform that the Australian Poker Tour has had to postpone our upcoming event scheduled for the 4^th of September at Southport Sharks. Unfortunately, our venue could not facilitate our series due to a scheduling conflict, as well as in response to increased public health concerns with Covid-19 restrictions.

“Once again, the APT apologises to all our players and affiliates who had booked flights and accommodation, as this has caused great inconvenience to some.”

However, the APT is allowing its next event to remain on the schedule for now. That series is planned for October 7-11 at the Eatons Hill Hotel in Queensland.

The Star Cancels All Poker in 2020

On June 1, The Star Sydney welcomed players back into its casino per the approval of the NSW government. It took only three days for an incident to develop, one in which people gathered too closely in a casino bar on a weekend night…and a person tested positive for Covid-19.

NSW Liquor & Gaming was more than a little displeased and levied a $5,000 fine. It wanted to send a strong message that the facility must mitigate risks or face more penalties and a possible shutdown.

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As the casino did remain open, it was restricted to members of The Star Club and no guests. They are able to patronize some of the restaurants and bars and play the pokies.

The Star made no mention of its poker room during the reopening process. The poker room’s page of the website addressed the Star Poker community: “We are very appreciative of your many years of support and humbled by the outpouring of messages from our regulars. Thank you for your patience as we work towards a reopening date.”

Players remained hopeful…until a July 19 Twitter post from @StarPokerSydney:

“Star Poker cash games and tournaments for the remainder of the year have been cancelled until further notice. We apologise for the inconvenience and thank everyone for understanding.”

This came just days before the Sydney Championships live poker series was supposed to begin. And according to Poker Media Australia, a spokesperson for The Star Sydney also confirmed that the WSOP Sydney scheduled for November 2020 is “on hold indefinitely until the necessary easing of restrictions presents options.”

Other Closures or Non-Openings

The Star Poker Gold Coast also halted all hopes for poker players there, closing what had reopened. However, there is no update on the website regarding the new closure and any potential second reopening plans.

Crown Casino in Victoria is keeping its casino action shuttered until further notice. There have been no updates on the Crown website or on the Crown Poker Twitter account since March.

Coronavirus Update

The resurgence of Covid-19 since late June concerned many, especially those watching Victoria cases begin to overtake the previous hot spot of NSW.

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In the last week, the daily average of newly reported cases was 355, with the majority from Victoria. The last 24 hours shows the trend:

• 309 new cases in 24 hours leading to July 24 (300 in Victoria, 7 in NSW)
• 139 deaths in 24 hours leading to July 24 (55 in Victoria, 49 in NSW)

As the numbers continue to surge, government and health officials may implement further restrictions and shutdowns to stop the spread again.