The 4th leg of the 2008 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour has been won by professional player Marc Goodwin. He defeated a field of 309 players at Manchester’s G Casino to take down the £90,420 first prize and a seat in November’s Grand Final. Having taken an early chip lead on the first day of the 4-day £1,000 NL Hold’em tournament, Goodwin pressed his advantage and remained in pole position for most of the event. He relinquished his lead shortly before the final started, but it was not long before he reasserted himself and regained control of the tournament.

Overall it was an impressive display by the man who is known on the circuit as Mr Cool. He claimed the victory after a relatively short heads up battle against Nik Persaud when his A-8 proved too good for Persaud’s K-T. The chips went in on an A-T-3 flop, by which time Marc held a 10-1 chip advantage. A jack on the turn gave Nik outs, but another jack on the river confirmed Marc as the champion. In the post event interview Marc praised Nik for the dignity with which he accepted the defeat. This was Nik’s third final table on the tour this year, confirming his status as the most consistent player on the GUKPT. Persaud now goes to the top of the tour’s leaderboard, with Goodwin lying in second place.

The chip counts going into the final were:

Online qualifier Zachary ford finished in 3rd place while Charlie Ihle, a kitchen designer from Oswestry took 4th. Nottingham’s Aarun Bernard was eliminated in 5th while 22-year old Laurence Houghton, a pro player from London was 6th. Paul Gourlay, Paul Lammas and Pete Linton completed the final table line up, finishing in 7th, 8th and 9th respectively. The tour continues in May (14th- 18th) when Newcastle’s Grosvenor casino plays host to leg 5.

The winner also receives a free entry to the £3,000 Grand Final plus a seat in the Champion of Champion’s tournament; both courtesy of tour sponsor Blue Square Poker. All the final table players received an iPod Nano.