Junxian Du Wins the 2025 GUKPT Manchester Main Event; Vanessa Kade Bubbles Final Table
Table Of Contents
The 2025 edition of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) Manchester festival wrapped up over the weekend after the crowning of the ￡1,250 Main Event champion. Junxian Du outlasted 436 opponents and received ￡84,700 of the ￡455,160 prize pool. Such a victory is always impressive but especially so when you consider this win is Du's first Hendon Mob Database entry.
Fifty-six players saw a return on their investments. John Bousfield was the first player eliminated in the money places. The likes of Timothy Chung, Antoine Labat (more on him later), Robert Douras, David Gee, Jamie Dwan, Alex Montgomery, and Antoine Saout also cashed, the latter busting in 11th place in the third and final day.
The official final table was set when Vanessa Kade was eliminated in tenth. Kade, who won the Sunday Million 15th Anniversary edition for $1.5 million in 2021, had the chance to become the first-ever female GUKPT Main Event champion. However, Andrew Bak's queen-nine of clubs beat Kade's ace-eight to eliminate her on the final table bubble. Perhaps she'll take down the GUKPT UK Poker Open in Coventry later this month?
2025 GUKPT Manchester Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Junxian Du | ￡84,700 |
| 2 | Ravi Sheth | ￡62,500 |
| 3 | David Ledden | ￡46,070 |
| 4 | Andrew Hulme | ￡34,040 |
| 5 | Andreas Olympios | ￡25,180 |
| 6 | Andrew Bak | ￡18,610 |
| 7 | Brendan McManus | ￡13,840 |
| 8 | Jewel Miah | ￡10,420 |
| 9 | Jake Stone | ￡8,060 |
Jake Stone's latest final table appearance was relatively short-lived because he three-bet shoved for 20 big blinds with pocket eights, and Andrew "Stato_1" Hulme called with a pair of kings in the hole. The kings melted those snowmen with an unnecessary full house on the river, and Stone was gone.
Eighth place went to Jewel Miah, who collected a career-best ￡10,420. Miah committed his short stack with pocket sevens and found himself up against the ace-five of Du. Miah looked set to double up, but an ace on the river quashed any hopes of spinning up his stack.
The final table lost Brendan McManus in seventh place. McManus called off his chips on an eight-nine-ten-five-nine board while holding jack-ten. Unfortunately for MacManus, David Ledden had hit trips on the river with his nine-four!
Andrew Bak collected the fifth five-figure score of his live poker career after clashing with Ravi Sheth. Bak's last 13 big blinds went into the middle of the table, and his tournament life depended on ace-ten coming from behind to best Sheth's ace-jack. The board failed to come to Bak's rescue, and he headed to the cashier's desk to collect ￡18,610.
Andreas Olympios was hoping for his first live victory since triumphing in the 2016 WPT 500 in Las Vegas, but it wasn't meant to be. Down to only 10,000 chips at one point, Olympios span his stack up to 900,000 before finding himself all-in with pocket fours against Sheth's ace-deuce. An ace on the flop was not what Olympios wanted to see, especially when the turn and river ran out bricks. The ￡25,180 Olympios banked was the second-largest payout of his career.
The title hopefuls breathed a sigh of relief when the dangerous Hulme crashed by the wayside in fourth. Hulme, who finished second in the PokerStars EPT Barcelona Main Event for €1,165,614 in September 2024, looked set to double his 18 big blind stack after finding himself all-in with pocket kings against Du's ace-eight. However, the poker gods had other ideas, and the five community cards gifted Du an unlikely ten-high straight by the river.
Grosvenor UK Poker Open Returns for 2025 With a ￡1M Guaranteed Main Event
Heads-up was reached after Du sent Ledden home in third. Ledden committed his last 20 big blinds with pocket eights and needed to win a coinflip against Du's king-queen to stay in the tournament. Ledden flopped a set, but Du turned Broadway. A brick on the river later, and Ledden was gone.
Du secured the title and the ￡84,700 top prize after again coming from behind in a key hand. Sheth's pinned his hopes and last 20 big blinds on ace-ten, and Du looked him up with king-queen. A queen on the turn left Sheth drawing to three outs, none of which landed on the river.
2025 GUKPT Manchester Results
Although the GUKPT's history books will forever show Du as the Main Event champion, the festival belonged to Antoine Labat. The Frenchman, who finished ninth in the 2018 WSOP Main Event for $1 million, won the ￡1,650 High Roller for ￡49,040, took down the ￡550 GUKPT Cup for an additional ￡18,000, then put together a deep Main Event run that ended in 45th place for ￡2,680. An incredible showing we're sure you'll agree.
| Event | Entrants | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ￡1,250 Main Event | 437 | ￡455,160 | Junxian Du | ￡84,700 |
| ￡1,650 High Roller | 111 | ￡158,170 | Antoine Labat | ￡49,040 |
| ￡550 Midi Main | 333 | ￡158,170 | Jamie Dale | 30,000 |
| ￡250 Mini Main | 773 | ￡160,057 | Mark Dyson | ￡29,270 |
| ￡550 GUKPT Cup | 168 | ￡79,800 | Antoine Labat | ￡18,000 |
| ￡200 Opener | 573 | ￡95,265 | Connor Butt | ￡13,386 |
| ￡250 PLO 4/5/6 Card | 119 | ￡24,870 | Keith Littlewood | ￡6,859 |
| ￡200 Turbo | 88 | ￡15,050 | Paul Judge | ￡3,750 |
| ￡200 Closer | 83 | ￡14,200 | Manni Choi | ￡3,426 |
| ￡150 Seniors | 104 | ￡13,110 | Anthony Butler | ￡3,190 |
| ￡330 PLO Bounty | 61 | ￡8,690 | Justin Devonport | ￡1,780 |
2025 Grosvenor UK Poker Open Starts February 16
Players do not have long to wait to enjoy their next GUKPT fix because the UK Poker Open is right around the corner. The festival runs from February 16 to March 2 and includes a massive ￡1,500 buy-in Main Event boasting a ￡1 million guarantee on its prize pool.
The last time the UK Poker Open had a seven-figure guarantee, Trung "Man" Moc walked way with a potentially life-changing ￡325,190 top prize. Will a similar payout become available in 2025? We will find out soon enough.
