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Lee Rawson Topples GUKPT Goliath

Lee Rawson has won the largest land-based poker tournament held in Europe – the GUKPT Goliath (August 24^th-28^th, 2011).  He walked away with the trophy and £32,705, defeating a total field of 1,765 after three hard-fought days of poker at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry.

Grosvenor, in association with D4 Events, guaranteed £100,000 for this huge event, but in the end £176,500 was awarded in prizes to 261 players.  In fact, no one who made Day 2 left empty handed: the few who missed out on the prize money were given free seats into next year’s GUKPT Goliath tournament. 

In total, 12 players survived the lengthy Day 2 to reconvene in the G Casino itself to play for the big money, streamed live on the internet.  Three players headed to the rail before the official Final Table: John Burberry, Ben Jackson and Adrian Okane.  They received £1,975 each, a pretty decent return on their £100 buy-in.

With the tournament clock extended to 60 minutes, final table play began an hour into Day 3.  Still, incredibly, led by Simon Deadman (out in front since the end of Day 1), the finalists were given some chip-stack breathing room due to a two-level rollback of the blinds.  Their standing at the start of the final:

Simon Deadman – 7,645,000
Mark Broomhall – 7,555,000
Mitchell Scarlett – 5,665,000
Helen Godfrey – 5,640,000
Lee Rawson – 5,320,000
Anthony Lissner – 3,790,000
Clive Smith – 3,600,000
Robert Panayi – 2,205,000
Andy Nguyen – 2,165,000

It was a level and a half before the first elimination – Mitchell Scarlett (9^th for £2,540) busting to Simon Deadman’s pocket Kings when his nut flush and gutshot draw on the turn failed to come in on the river.  The early stages did not, however, go by smoothly for the erstwhile chip leader.  Lee Rawson took 2 million from him four-betting all in preflop (uncalled), and Robert Panayi doubled through him with A-J vs. K-J.

Panayi continued climbing in chips, helped by a pair of Kings which held against Anthony Lissner’s 5-5.  Now up over 7 million, the one-time short stack’s day was looking brighter every orbit.  Meanwhile Lissner, nearly felted by that pair-vs.-pair hand was eliminated by Mark Broomhall who flopped a full house with Q-7 to take his last 800,000 giving him £3,300 for 8^th place.

The aggressive Andy Nguyen was the next player out, having survived on fearlessness and good shoving spots despite starting the final with the smallest stack.  His final shove found Broomhall with Aces, and his K-J did not improve enough to best them.  He finished 7^th, winning £4,235.  Exactly the same hand was dapper Clive Smith’s downfall shortly thereafter – his K-J running into – you guessed it – card rack Mark Broomhall’s pocket Queens.  Smith took 6^th place (£5,825).

In 5th place fell Helen Godfrey, picking up £8,120 after her preflop shove over the top of Simon Deadman with threes was snapped off by the chip leader with fives.  Her excellent result earned her team ‘Punters Lounge C’ the overall victory in the Goliath Team Challenge, a $1,000 private tournament on grosvenorcasinos.com and free entry into next year’s Goliath Main Event.  With Mark Weddle already having racked up 85 points, her finish was just enough to pip team ‘D Four’ who’d scored highly with three of their team members making the money.  The team event was new for this tournament; in total 85 teams played for this bonus prize at the Ricoh Arena. 

Back to the Main Event, and suddenly, after four hours of rather cagey play, an enormous upset was brewing.  Simon Deadman, chip leader and pretty much table captain on the final, went from hero to zero in just three hands.  All-in vs. Lee Rawson (in which Rawson apparently looked at just one card – an Ace) Deadman saw his A-3 lose to A-2 with a deuce on the river.  Undaunted, he took Rawson on again shortly thereafter, all in with 9-9.  This time, however, Rawson had the goods – A-A – and doubled up again putting Deadman at risk for the first time in days.

Instantly Deadman shoved with Qd-5h, called by Robert Panayi, but it was Lee Rawson again who came up trumps, ‘accidentally’ re-raising a frustrated Panayi out of the pot with Kh-6h which he swore he’d thought was pocket Kings.  The 7d-4d-5d flop looked promising for the all-in Deadman, but after a blank Ah on the turn the 6c finished him off and gave him 4^th place and £10,590.

Three-handed it was now Rawson in control, with over 24 million chips to Mark Broomhall’s 16 million and Robert Panayi’s 2.8 million.  The dinner break was suddenly upon them, however, and when they returned it was for Panayi to immediately lose the last of his chips, finishing 3^rd for £13,240.

The first heads up all-in confrontation saw short stack Broomhall spike a lucky King on the river (holding K-T to Rawson’s A-Q) but seconds later the second went Rawson’s way.  Broomhall made a move with 8-4 suited on a 7-2-2 board but Rawson snapped him off with pocket Jacks and won the final hand of the marathon three-day Goliath Main Event.  He might have had to borrow a car to get here for the final (his own having bitten the dust on Thursday on the way home from the venue) but with £32,705 worth of winnings it’s likely he’ll have a new motor shortly.

Be sure to check out the full galleries from Goliath here: http://s1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee367/GUKPT/