Grosvenor Casinos, a subsidiary of the UK-based Rank Group, had high expectations for this year’s Goliath poker tournament but no one expected the numbers witnessed over the last week, a company statement advised Tuesday.
The Goliath 2016 GBP 120 buy-in Main Event attracted a record 5,232 entries, over a thousand more than in 2015, creating a GBP 523,200 prize pool.
After 3 days of tough competitive poker, one of those players emerged victorious, officially winning the largest live poker tournament yet in Europe.
London player Vamshi Vandanapu was the man of the moment, earning GBP 62,750 and taking home the trophy. He is the second IT consultant to win this event in as many years, and has been playing poker for a number of years, usually at The Poker Room, located above Grosvenor Casino Victoria.
With 30 players left Vandanapu battled hard with fellow big stack Robbie Richwood, with both commenting that it felt inevitable they would eventually find themselves headsup for the title.
Neither player was too surprised when this later became a reality, with 44 year old Irishman Richwood finishing as a valiant runner up.
He and 33 year old Romanian born Cristian Popescu (3rd) both left the Ricoh Arena GBP 50,000 better off after the final three made a deal which saw each player secure GBP 50,000 and leaving GBP 12,750 and the title to play for.
Other final table pay-outs included:
Will Campbell GBP 27,000
Tom Powell GBP 18,850
Graeme Evans GBP 13,400
Luke Winsley GBP 10,450
Craig Drew GBP 8,600
Jonathan Mellor GBP 7,400