Irish grinder Conor O’Driscoll is £47,190 richer than a number of days in the past after he got here out on prime within the £2,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Excessive Curler on the 2025 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) London pageant. A minimum of till the GUKPT London Predominant Occasion crowns its champion, O’Driscoll can lay declare to successful the biggest rating on the not too long ago refurbished Grosvenor Casinos The Victoria.
The £2,000 Excessive Curler drew in 98 entrants, who created a £167,580 prize pool that the highest 11 finishers shared. Ryan Fronda was the primary to money, adopted by Norwegian celebrity Preben Stokkan, who popped the ultimate desk bubble.
£2,000 Excessive Curler Last Desk Outcomes
*Displays a heads-up deal
Neil Wallace, who received a Grosvenor 25/50 occasion in Studying in April for £10,097, busted in ninth place right here for one more £4,700. Dutchman Javier Francort, recent from a sixth-place end within the $10,000 Pot-Restrict Omaha Championship on the 2025 World Sequence of Poker (WSOP), joined Wallace on the cashier’s desk, the place he collected £5,200 for his eighth-place end.
Felix McPeake, one other participant who jumped on this occasion after flexing his muscle mass on the WSOP, bowed out n seventh for £6,200 earlier than Frenchman Arthur Conan, a participant with greater than $3.8 million in reside earnings, crashed out in sixth for £8,380.
It was Conan’s elimination that turned the tide on this occasion. Conan dedicated 40 massive blinds with pocket tens and misplaced a coinflip in opposition to O’Driscoll’s ace-king regardless of flopping a set. The luck of the Irish was with O’Driscoll as a result of the board four-flushed and he scooped a big pot.
Colin Macandrew captured a WSOP Circuit ring in March however has to make do with a fifth-place end on this GUKPT London occasion. Fifth place got here with £11,550, the Scotsman’s fifth five-figure haul of his profession.
Step Into A New Period of Gaming at The Grosvenor Victoria On line casino
Fourth place and £15,550 went to Jack Benson, which represents his largest-ever reside haul. Benson completed fifth on this occasion again in 2023 and secured a then-career-best £13,590.
Then got here the elimination of Belgian grinder Igor D’Ursel. All the way down to 18 massive blinds, D’Ursel pinned his trophy-winning hopes on ace-jack, a strong hand three-handed. Sadly for him, O’Driscoll seemed him up with the dominating ace-king. No three-outer for the Belgian, and he headed into the night time having received £22,100.
O’Driscoll and Ali Abdulzahra locked horns and butted heads in a one-on-one conflict for the title. The heads-up duo struck a deal that lessened the payout earlier than combating it out for the trophy and somewhat additional money.
The ultimate hand basically performed itself, with Abdulzahra’s chips entering into from the button with ace-six, and O’Driscoll’s crimson pocket queens making for a straightforward name. Abdulzahra flopped an ace, however O’Driscoll improved to a set, leaving the at-risk participant drawing extraordinarily skinny. A king on the flip locked up the hand and the victory for O’Driscoll, rendering the seven on the river inconsequential.
Day 1a of the £1,250 GUKPT Predominant Occasion Attracts 123 Entrants
The primary of three flights for the £1,250 GUKPT London Predominant Occasion concluded on July 17. It noticed 123 gamers enter, however solely 19 progress to Day 2.
Robert Nur (341,300) is the in a single day chip chief, adopted by Gary Fisher (242,600) and an nameless participant calling themselves “W.C.” (215,400).
Others who efficiently navigated the Day 1a area embrace Thomas Clack (158,000), Joe Hindry (130,600), Keith Littlewood (100,500), Calogero Morreale (58,700), Sebastien Jung (40,900), and Keith Johnson (37,500).
Day 1b begins at 12:00 p.m. on July 18, with the turbo-structured Day 1c scheduled for 9:00 p.m. later within the day.
Harry Sandford Continues Spectacular Run of Type
Harry Sandford has been in scintillating type because the flip of the 12 months, racking up 20 cashes throughout the UK, Eire, and Slovakia. In January, Sandford completed fourth within the 888poker UKPL Portsmouth Predominant Occasion for £20,005, the primary of six ultimate desk appearances in 2025 alone.
In mid-June, Sandford took down the 888poker UKPL Edinburgh Predominant Occasion for a career-high £23,960. Now he has the £330 GUKPT London Mini Predominant Occasion title underneath his belt, having left 902 opponents in his wake on his technique to scooping a brand new career-high of £46,060.
Roni Tal helped himself to the £36,650 prime prize within the £800 Mini Predominant, with Akshat Bansal triumphing within the £1,100 PLO Excessive Curler for £16,620. Paul Ashton received the £250 No-Restrict Maintain’em Turbo for £3,805, too.
Matthew Pitt
Senior Editor
