After more than a week of action, Liverpool IT professional Miikka Toikka won this year's GUKPT Goliath from 8-16 August.
Despite an impressive field in 2014, the GUKPT managed to smash all records this time around thanks to a mammoth 4,210 entries creating a first-place prize of £75,800, despite the event itself only costing £120 to buy into. The figure not only rewrote the GUKPT's record books but helped the GUKPT Goliath become the largest live poker tournament ever held outside of Las Vegas.
Following a string of opening flights that took place over the course of seven days, Saturday's day two welcomed back 572 players, with 16 left at the end of the day.
At the start of day three at Coventry's Ricoh Arena, it was Leeds’ Shane Mossop who was the man to catch, having ended day two with a colossal 12,980,000 stack.
Play restarted at 12pm and over the next three hours Tom Runnacles, Charlie Godwin, Adam Clarke, Adam Wilson, Matt Harris and Sunny Mistri bust to leave the final table of nine.
Sitting bottom at the start of play was Grant Ferguson and true to form he hit the rail first after his A-6 couldn't overcome Ben Boulden's pocket aces.
Next to find their way to the cashiers' desk was Mossop and he was quickly followed by Boulden, Andrew James, Phil Bain and Sunil Moti. With just three players remaining, it was Toikka who held the largest stack and he used that to good effect after Ryan Meager moved all-in with A-Q.
Quick to call with a pair of kings, Toikka watched as the board rolled out a set of blanks to send Meager to the rail in third to collect a prize worth £29,050.
Now holding 10 times the chips of Katie Swift, Toikka was able to bulldoze his way to the GUKPT Goliath title within two hands. Taking a chance with A-4, Toikka hit a pair of aces on the flop and never looked backed.
GUKPT Goliath 2015
1st Miikka Toikka £75,800
2nd Katie Swift £46,300
3rd Ryan Meager £29,050
4th Sunil Moti £20,200
5th Philip Bain £12,650
6th Andrew James £8,400
7th Ben Boulden £5,900
8th Andrew Mossop £3,800
9th Grant Ferguson £3,100
