Once upon a time before anyone had even heard of the acronym GUKPT, there were a number of popular festivals scattered over the poker calendar that used to attract poker enthusiasts from all across the country. They would be well-advertised, well-run and well-received (well, all the wells I suppose), with many events attracting three figure fields and vast prizepools. With turnouts for December’s Xmas Cracker poor and criticism aplenty being directed towards the organisers, expectations weren’t high for last week’s Grand Challenge, with many surprised that it even still exists. With competition also emerging in the form of RendezVous Brighton’s January Sales, 50 or so runners for each of Luton’s comps was therefore deemed credible.
As per usual, the Main Event was a two-day affair spanning over the Saturday and Sunday with players being asked to stump up a £750 buy-in. Among those playing were Dave Gregory, Ian Woodley, Mickey Wernick and a surprise appearance from Liam ‘The Gentleman’ Flood.
Going into Day 2, it was Dean Morris who held the chip lead with 108,825, closely followed by Asy Ho with 82,700. Also surviving the Day 1 fun and frolics was blondeite Andrew Tracey, who had qualified via a blonde poker six man single table satellite, thus ensuring that five others would be receiving a percentage if he were to reach the money.
Although he battled heroically, Andrew would eventually fall in sixth for a highly respectable £2,340, leaving Dean ‘The Sicilian’ Morris and a returning Nick Slade to chop up the lion’s share of the prizepool. The official result was as follows:
1st Nick Slade --£13,650
2nd Dean Morris -- £7,800
3rd James Roe -- £5,850
4th Richard Wheatley -- £4,680
5th Asy Ho -- £3,510
6th Andrew Tracey -- £2,340
7th David Gregory -- £1,170
Other blondeites who earned their crust for the week included Graham ‘Chompy’ Wheldon, who finished second behind Albert Sapiano in the £250 event, and messieurs Jim McBride and Dave ‘Compo’ Compton (right), who chopped the £500 freezeout. What was most intriguing about that event, however, was that three players came back for the second day after the eventual third place finisher refused a deal the night before.Although numbers were expectantly low for this event, there were a number of positives to come gushing out of Luton, the excellent structure and improvement in dealer and valet services showing scope for a well-run non-GUKPT festival. With the marketing budget focused on promoting the ever-popular GUKPT, let’s hope that such feedback can maintain the status of these lesser festivals and, hopefully, keep them alive.