Maiden Victory For Rhys Keen in the 2025 Grosvenor UK Open High Roller
Table Of Contents
Rhys Keen is ￡72,000 richer than a couple of days ago courtesy of becoming the Grosvenor UK Open ￡2,000 High Roller champion. Keen found himself being the last player standing from a 150-strong field, and received the lion's share of the ￡263,650 prize pool.
Keen had come close to winning live evens three times before this victory. He finished 13th in the ￡1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2024 Grosvenor UK Open, sixth in the ￡1,650 GUKPT Blackpool High Roller nine months later, and was the 13th place finisher in the ￡560 UK Poker Championships Main Event in January 2025. He now has his maiden victory under his belt and a career-best ￡72,000 score to show for it.
￡2,000 High Roller Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhys Keen | ￡72,000 |
| 2 | Jamie O'Connor | ￡58,525 |
| 3 | Tom Hall | ￡32,950 |
| 4 | Youness Barakat | ￡22,150 |
| 5 | Kevin Allen | ￡15,300 |
| 6 | Virgile Turchi | ￡11,050 |
| 7 | Antoine Labat | ￡8,700 |
| 8 | Conor O'Driscoll | ￡7,400 |
| 9 | Marc Foggin | ￡6,600 |
The top 15 finishers cashed in the ￡2,000 High Roller, so spare a thought for Tom Middleton, who busted in 16th and popped the money bubble. Middleton's chips went into the middle holding ace-king, which was up against Keen's pocket tens. Keen won the coinflip, Middleton busted, and the surviving players were in the money.
Mark Dyson, Phil Clarke, Tuan Nguyen, Ravi Sheth, Alex Todd, and final table bubble boy Wantao Tang crashed out in succession, leaving only nine players in contention for the title of champion.
Marc Foggin busted in ninth after suffering a similar fate to Middleton earlier. Foggin was all-in and at risk of elimination with pocket tens against Keen's ace-queen. A queen on the turn saw Foggin hand over his stack and head to the cashier's desk.
Grosvenor Casinos Unveils 14-stop Schedule for the 2025 GUKPT
Paddy Power Poker ambassador Conor O'Driscoll then committed his last 13 big blinds with ace-four of hearts and couldn't get there against Kevin Allen's pocket jacks. Frenchman Antoine Labat, who won the ￡1,650 High Roller and ￡550 GUKPT Cup at the GUKPT Manchester stop earlier this month, ran his pocket fives into the aces of Jamie O'Connor, and bowed out in seventh.
Sixth place and the first five-figure prize of the tournament went to Virgile Turchi, Labat's fellow Frenchman. Turchi's last actions in the ￡2,000 High Roller was to lose a flip with ace-king against Keen's pocket nines for his last 11 big blinds.
The popular Kevin Allen exited in fifth at the hands of the seemingly unstoppable Keen. Allen's last ten big blinds went into the middle with ace-six, and he looked set for a timely double because Keen held the dominated queen-six. However, a queen flopped, and Allen couldn't find an ace, which left the tournament with only four players.
Youness Barakat went from hero to zero in the space of five hands. While Barakat was the chip leader, Tom Hall picked off a huge bluff that left Barakat on life support. Barakat then moved all-in with seven-six of hearts and lost to the nine-eight of Keen, thanks to a nine landing on the first trio of community cards.
Keen continued his final table demolition act by sending the dangerous Hall home in third. Hall, who bought in on Day 2, managed to spin his stack and navigate to the final three players. However, he lost a flip with king-jack against Keen's pocket nines, and his tournament ended.
Keen and O'Connor battled heads-up, but with Keen running hotter than the sun, there was only ever going to be one winner. The last of O'Connor's stack went over the betting line with the Leeds lad holding king-queen. He needed to pair one of his hole cards because Keen held ace-jack. The board ran safe for Keen, resigning O'Connor to the ￡58,525 consolation prize and locking in a ￡72,000 score for the champion.
Phil Tate Captures Mini Main Title and ￡45,000
The ￡340 Mini Main Event, part of the 2025 Grosvenor UK Open, drew in 912 entrants who built a ￡259,920 pot. Phil Tate helped himself to all of the chips in play and exchanged them for a career-best ￡45,000.
In his post-victory with Phil "The Tower" Heald, Tate revealed that he bought in late on Day 1, built a substantial stack, and then could seemingly do nothing wrong through Day 2, losing only one hand he played.
Marius Czech was one of Tate's many victims. Czech, who finished third in the 2018 edition of the Goliath Main Event, was all that stood between Tate and an impressive victory. Down to only a trio of big blinds, Czech moved all-in with ace-nine on the button, and Tate called in the big blind with seven-five. The ten-eight-six flop took gave Tate an open-ended straight draw but removed sevens from his outs. A three on the turn missed both players, but a straight-completing fur of diamonds on the river busted Czech in second and made Tate a worthy champion.
￡340 UK Open Mini Main Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Tate | ￡45,000 |
| 2 | Mariusz Czech | ￡37,100 |
| 3 | Daniel Foskett | ￡25,390 |
| 4 | Joseph Phillips | ￡18,540 |
| 5 | Brice Tiani | ￡13,460 |
| 6 | Elliot Anthonioz | ￡9,750 |
| 7 | Samuel Goodman | ￡7,040 |
| 8 | Craig Stubbs | ￡5,150 |
| 9 | Narcis Olaru | ￡3,840 |
2025 Grosvenor UK Open Results
Check out the table below to discover the players who have come away with wins so far in the Grosvenor UK Open.
| Event | Entrants | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ￡2,000 High Roller | 150 | ￡263,650 | Rhys Keen | ￡72,000 |
| ￡340 Mini Main | 912 | ￡259,920 | Phil Tate | ￡45,000 |
| ￡440 Mystery Bounty | 501 | ￡190,380 | Dale Wilson | ￡16,820* |
| ￡250 PLO | 170 | ￡35,530 | Stefan Voudori | ￡8,090 |
| ￡250 6-Max Championship | 72 | ￡22,000 | John Gilchrist | ￡7,500 |
| ￡250 Heads-Up Championship | 32 | ￡14,080 | Constantin Erhan | ￡7,000 |
| ￡115 Ladies Championship | 95 | ￡9,020 | Jacqueline Sherwood | ￡2,180 |
Remaining Grosvenor UK Open Schedule
All the attention now turns to the ￡1,500 Main Event and its ￡1 million guaranteed prize pool. Three flights remains, two of which are turbos. Players can also look forward to the ￡550 UK Cup, the ￡150 Seniors, and the ￡250 Turbo Closer before the 2025 Grosvenor UK Open heads online to Grosvenor Poker for an online event.
| Date | Time | Event | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 28 Feb | 12:00 p.m. | ￡1,500 NLHE UK Open Day 1C | ￡1,000,000 |
| 1:00 p.m. | ￡165 UK Open Target Main Event Cashout Satellite | ||
| 8:00 p.m. | ￡1,500 NLHE UK Open Day 1D Turbo | ￡1,000,000 | |
| Sat 1 Mar | 10:00 a.m. | ￡1,500 NLHE UK Open Main Event Day 1E Turbo | ￡1,000,000 |
| 2:00 p.m. | ￡1,500 NLHE UK Open Main Event Day 2 | ￡1,000,000 | |
| 3:00 p.m. | ￡550 NLHE UK Cup Day 1 | ||
| Sun 2 Mar | 12:00 p.m. | UK Open Day 3 | ￡1,000,000 |
| 12:30 p.m. | ￡550 NLHE UK Cup Day 2 | ||
| 1:00 p.m. | ￡150 NLHE Seniors | ||
| 3:00 p.m. | ￡250 NLHE Turbo Closer | ||
| Mon 3 Mar | 7:00 p.m. | ￡110 Online Closer Day 1 | ￡25,000 |
| Tue 4 Mar | 7:00 p.m. | Online Closer Day 2 | ￡25,000 |
