Keith Littlewood Enjoys an Impressive Double at the 2025 GUKPT Leeds Festival
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Head to any Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) festival and you are bound to see Keith Littlewood grinding away at the tables. A popular figure on the UK poker circuit, Littlewood has racked up more than $530,000 in live tournament cashes, but a GUKPT Main Event title had always eluded him.
In January 2025, Littlewood came agonizingly close to becoming a GUKPT champion, finishing second in the £1,250 GUKPT Coventry Main Event for $53,750. He also reached the final table of the recent £1,250 GUKPT Luton Main Event, where he bowed out in ninth
Littlewood's wait to become a GUKPT Main Event winner ended in Leeds, as he navigated past 246 opponents and claimed £40,440 of the £209,930 prize pool. Impressively, Littlewood won the £330 Mystery Bounty event last week, earning £11,719, which included £7,000 in bounties plus a GUKPT Leeds Main Event seat.
2025 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Leeds Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keith Littlewood | £40,440 |
| 2 | George Pop | £30,300 |
| 3 | Tuan Nguyen | £22,860 |
| 4 | Mihail Zglavoci | £17,340 |
| 5 | Jack Allen | £13,190 |
| 6 | Jacek Skiscim | £10,090 |
| 7 | Dale Hancock | £7,860 |
| 8 | Mark Whitney | £6,230 |
| 9 | Andreas Olympios | £5,080 |
The top 29 finishers shared the £209,930 prize pool. John Bousfield, Keith Johnson, and the 2022 GUKPT Leeds champion Christopher Johnson were among the early in-the-money casualties.
Yucel Eminoglu and Calogero Morreale also cashed before Charlie Reed's untimely demise in 10th place burst the final table bubble.
Andreas Olympios, the 2016 WPT500 Aria champion, crashed out in ninth, his king-jack failing to best Tuan Nguyen's superior ace-queen. Mark Whitney then scooped a career-best £6,230 when his last 16 big blinds went into the middle with ace-queen against Mihail Vglavoci's pocket jacks and he failed to improve.
The last four-figure prize, namely £7,860, found its way to Dale Hancock. Again, it was Nguyen who claimed a final table scalp, calling with ace-king after Hancock three-bet all-in with king-queen of spades for his last 14 big blinds.
Sixth place and £10,090 went to Polish national Jacek Skiscim. The Pole's exit was standard. Down to 10 big blinds, Skiscim shoved with king-jack, George Pop called with the dominating ace-king, and that was all she wrote.
The dangerous Jack Allen was the next to fall. Allen, making his GUKPT Main Event debut, was down to seven big blinds when he jammed with king-queen. Pop called with ace-deuce and improved to an unnecessary full house to take the pot and send Allen to the cashier's desk to collect £13,190.
The final four became three when Zglavoci moved all-in with ace-five for 10 big blinds, and Littlewood looked him up with jack-eight. It was Littlewood's day, evident by a jack on the flop and another on the turn. Goodnight, Zglavoci, who banked a career-high £17,340.
Heads-up was set once Nguyen fell by the wayside in third. Nguyen called off his stack on the river with ace-high in an apparent bluff-catcher scenario. Unfortunately for Nguyen, his read was way off because Pop was sitting with a boat. The £22,860 that Nguyen collected was the largest haul of his career so far.
Littlewood and Pop locked horns heads-up in a battle for the title and the lion's share of the prize pool. The final hand was a coin flip: Littlewood holding pocket eights, and Pop ace-ten. The ace-ten failed to melt Littlewood's snowmen, meaning Pop had to make do with a career-best £30,300, leaving Littlewood to chalk off his maiden GUKPT Main Event victory, a win that came with £40,440 reasons to be delighted.
2025 GUKPT Leeds Full Results
| Event | Entrants | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £1,000 Main Event | 247 | £209,930 | Keith Littlewood | £40,440 |
| £1,650 High Roller | 58 | £95,640 | Thomas Clack | £31,570 |
| £250 Mini Main | 550 | £113,940 | Robert Douras | £20,830 |
| £550 GUKPT Cup | 90 | £47,750 | Richrd Arnott | £15,040 |
| £330 Mystery Bounty | 154 | £25,000 | Keith Littlewood | £11,719* |
| £200 Opener | 335 | £55,690 | Xhonantan Hoxha | £9,125 |
| £250 PLO | 84 | £17,560 | Rajan Vaish | £4,370 |
| £200 Turbo | 50 | £8,550 | Joe Booth | £2,860 |
*includes £7,000 in bounties plus a £1,000 GUKPT Leeds Main Event seat
Overall, the 2025 GUKPT Leeds festival was a roaring success, with every event seeing a substantial attendance increase. Hopefully, that trend will continue if and when the GUKPT returns to Yorkshire in 2026.
GUKPT Returns to the Renovated Vic in July
The 2025 GUKPT will go on a brief hiatus before returning in July at The Poker Room, formerly The Vic. The Grosvenor Victoria Casino, an iconic British venue, is currently undergoing a £15 million refurbishment, which the GUKPT hopes will be complete in time for the GUKPT London stop in July. Watch this space.
