Poker News

Leo Kam

Twenty-six-year old chef Leo Kam won the ninth leg of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) in London’s Grosvenor Victoria casino. The Canadian player, who usually plays in ?20 games, claimed his place in the ?1,000 event after winning a feeder satellite tournament that cost him just ?50 to enter.

He emerged victorious after six hard fought days of poker against some of the UK’s finest players to take down the ?130,000 first prize. He defeated scrap yard merchant Robert Boon in a relatively short heads up battle and outlasted 432 other players in one of the biggest tournaments of its kind ever staged in the UK. Leo is the first overseas player to win a GUKPT event, but was one of three non-British players on the final table. American Carl Buskirk finished in fourth place while former Pokerroom CEO Patrik Selin from Sweden took eighth in the nine-man final.

Leo, who is spending two years in the UK on a work visa, has been working as a chef in some of London’s finest eateries. Having previously worked for Gordon Ramsey, he now works at Nobu, one of London’s most exclusive restaurants. He had specially booked time off work to play in the event and will now have to take even more time off to play in the ?3,000 GUKPT Grand Final. By winning this event he also secured himself a free buy-in to the showcase end of year event. The grand final week, which takes place from November 24-December 2 also includes the inaugural UK heads up championship, a ?1,500 buy in event that is limited to 64 players. Sponsors Blue Square are adding ?10,000 to the prize pool of this tournament, which promises to be a great warm up act to the main event itself.

After nine legs of the GUKPT, it has established itself as the foremost poker tour in the UK, with almost ?3 million ($6 million) in prize money already won. The tour will beno-limit hold’em events throughout the year and a ?3,000 grand final.

Each event will take place during a week long festival, which will include several lower priced side events. Online poker site Blue Square will continue as sponsor and as the exclusive home of online satellites for the tour, with added prize money expected to be in the region of ?250,000.

New events will also be created, including what will be known as a link event. The link event will be a tournament that takes place simultaneously in several casinos at the same time. Casino chain Grosvenor has recently installed tournament software that links all 16 of its poker rooms, allowing such a tournament to take place in several locations at the same time. Play will continue in each venue until a prescribed number of players remain, then those remaining will reconvene at a later date in one of the group’s flagship casinos to fight out the latter stages.

Grosvenor’s National Head of poker Russell Tamplin commented that, “The link event will be groundbreaking in that it will allow players from all over the country to compete at a local level for a very large prize pool.”

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