Marc Goodwin has topped the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour's Rankings leaderboard and taken the title of Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Player of the Year. He overtook long-time leader Nik Persaud after leg 9 in Blackpool where he won a side-event and had two further final table finishes. He then increased his lead even further with two second place finishes and a third place at the grand final festival at the Vic. He finished the year with 369 points. The runner up was leg 2 winner Jeff Kimber who won a further side event at leg 8 of the tour in Thanet and finished as runner up in the £1,000 side event at the Vic. Sam Trickett’s win in the £300 at the Vic propelled him to third place while Nik Persaud, who once held a commanding lead ended up fourth place with 230 points.
Marc may resemble a Brummie Godfather with his sharp suits and million dollar smile, but he boasts modest roots, having been a double glazing salesman for 15 years and going broke more times than I have fingers. However, just three years ago, he was picked up by USA Poker and duly repaid their interest in full with a third place finish in the Monte Carlo Millions for a MrCool $325,000. Now bearing the Mansion name, Marc is far from a one hit wonder, a poor 2007 finishing on a high with a win in the Midland Masters before, more recently, taking gold in the Manchester GUKPT.
Marc was presented with his trophy at Thursday 4th December, prior to the start of the GUKPT Champion of Champions tournament. Marc cemented his 2008 GUKPT dominance with a 3rd place finish in the exclusive Champions event, pocketing a further £10,000.
1st Marc Goodwin (369) -- £10,000
2nd Jeff Kimber (237) -- £5,000
3rd Sam Trickett (234) -- £3,000
4th Nik Persaud (230) -- £2,000
5th Zachary Ford (216) -- £1,500
6th Julian Thew (169) -- £1,000
7th Ketul Nathwani (159) -- £1,000
8th Dave Penly (155) -- £1,000
9th Tony Cascarino (154) -- £1,000
10th Tony Phillips (153) -- £500
11th Brian Clarke (150) -- £500
11th Paul Foltyn (150) -- £500
13th Jeff Duval (132) -- £500
14th Ash Hussain (131.5) -- £500
15th Andy Teng (125) -- £500
16th David La Ronde (120) -- £500
17th Derek Miller (114.5) -- £500
18th Joe Grech (114) -- £500