GUKPT @ The Vic

Sunday 29th March, 2010
Cuong is King of London GUKPT

Cuong Tran from London has won the 3rd leg of the London GUKPT, outlasting a field of 318 players to secure the first prize of £127,800. He defeated Neil ‘Bad Beat’ Channing after a short heads up battle in the £1,500 NL Hold’em tournament at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London. After Channing had eliminated Leon Bui in 3rd place he held a 2-1 chip lead over 30-year-old Tran, but the outcome was decided in the final two hands of the four-day tournament. In the first of these Tran doubled up and took the chip lead when making a straight on a turn that had improved Channing’s pocket eights to trips. On the very next hand Channing had pocket nines and Tran found himself all-in against him holding T-7. It looked like the former Irish Open champion was going to get right back into it, but a ten on the turn concluded matters in favour of Tran.

Vietnam born Tran, a former beauty salon owner, placed fifth in this same event last year, but was elated to have secured victory this time. Third placed Leon Bui, who was also born in Vietnam is also a former beautician, but like Tran, now spends most of his time playing poker. Tran humbly commented afterwards

“Leon should have won, but I got lucky on the day. Sometimes the cards fall the right way, but hey, that’s poker.”

Tran now intends to play more tournaments on the GUKPT and in particular he has his sights set on the £2,500 Grand Final in November. He has also ensured his participation in December’s £150,000 Champion of Champions tournament.

Property developer Rumit Somaiya, who finished in 4th place went into the final as the chip leader, but was eliminated after losing a massive pot to Channing when holding a straight draw against pocket aces. Canadian student Steven Ducharme finished 5th, while Salman Behbhani from San Diego was 6th. Former greyhound trainer Mick McCool was 7th and Darren Annis, who was the only previous GUKPT winner on the final table exited in 8th place. Broadcaster and journalist Victoria Coren, who four years ago won the EPT London main event went into this final with the lowest chip stack and finished in 9th place. Laurence Houghton, participating in his third GUKPT main event final table completed the line up, exiting in 10th place.

The tour now heads north to Manchester when the G Casino, Bury New Rd hosts the 4th leg from 17th - 25th April. But before then, the second round of GUKPT Club Championship tournaments takes place on Saturday April 10th. New for 2010, the Club Championships are a series of £200 freezeouts, which take place in all 23 G and Grosvenor casinos with poker rooms. The April 10th events are being held at the G casinos in Bolton and Dundee and the Grosvenor casinos in Stoke and Southampton.

Players are now able to buy in online to all GUKPT tournaments via Blue Square Poker and the soon-to-be-launched poker room of tour sponsor gcasino.com. For those who want to relive the GUKPT experience all over again, there is a £150 NL Hold’em Freezeout on Blue Square Poker at 8pm on Monday 29th March as part of the Online 10% Series. GUKPT ranking points are awarded to players in the prize money and a Champion of Champions seat is available to the winner.

The Final Result

Place Player Prize GUKPT Ranking Points
1st Cuong Tran £127,800 150
2nd Neil Channing £84,700 120
3rd Leon Bui £56,000 96
4th Rumit Somaiya £33,400 78
5th Steven Ducharme £25,300 66
6th Salman Behbhani £20,500 54
7th Michael McCool £15,700 42
8th Darren Annis £11,900 30
9th Victoria Coren £9,100 24
10th Laurence Houghton £6,700 18