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In the early hours of Sunday the 19th May Ganesh Rao became the fifth player to win a GUKPT main in event in 2008, at the Grosvenor casino in Newcastle.

He defeated a field of 189 players to take down the £57,175 first prize after a lengthy heads up battle against online qualifier Ian Farrell. Ganesh, a doctor from Sheffield, but now a resident of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne was the only player amongst the final nine to have previously made a GUKPT main event final table. He finished 9th in the Walsall leg of the tour in 2007 but has more than made up for that disappointment with this victory. The title could have gone either way as the chip lead swung back and forth for almost two hours before the final blow was delivered. Ian moved all in on a stone cold bluff with 5-2 but Ganesh’s pocket jacks held up. Ganesh wore his heart on his sleeve throughout the final table. On each occasion that he found himself all in he buried his head in his hands and could not bear to watch the board cards coming down. But when the winning hand was played out and his pocket jacks had survived, he let out an almighty roar and celebrated exuberantly with his fans on the rail.

Runner up Ian had qualified online for the tournament on Blue Square Poker for absolutely nothing. Having finished in the top ten of a freeroll he bagged himself a free seat in one of the regular $109 rebuy satellites that take place twice a week on the tour sponsor’s site. He went on to secure his seat without needing to rebuy. This was the first major tournament that Ian has played in and his game improved with every passing level. Ian commented afterwards that he would not have gotten as far as he did had it not been for Pete Linton. Linton finished in 16th place, but having shared a table with him for much of the first two days of the tournament, Ian adopted some of Pete’s aggressive moves for himself. Mancunian Ian held the chip lead after taking out Londoner James Akenhead in 3rd place.

Mark Dalimore, an Englishman who now lives in the Czech Republic finished in 4th place while Scotsmen Dave Allan and Fraser McIntyre finished in 5th and 6th places respectively. Allan had also qualified for the event via a freeroll tournament, as did 9th place finished Cheryl Routledge. Bookmaker Mike Hill and Alan Vinnicombe completed the final table line up finishing in 7th and 8th places.

The result in full

1st   Ganesh Rao  £57,175
2nd  Ian Farrell £33,075
3rd  James Akenhead £23,625
4th   Mark Dalimore £16,075
5th   David Allan £12,275
6th   Fraser McIntyre £9,450
7th  Mike Hill £7,550
8th  Alan Vinnicombe £5,675
9th  Cheryl Routledge £4,725
10th Joey Lovelady £2,825
11th Dara O'Kearny £2,350
12th Adam Clarke £2,350
13th  Rob Sherwood £2,350
14th  Mike Williams £1,900
15th  Robert Price £1,900
16th  Peter Linton £1,900
17th  Lynne Beaumont £1,900
18th   John Stamatelopolous £1,900

Ganesh Rao also win a seat in the £3,000 Grand Final plus a seat in December’s Champion of Champion’s event.

The tour now takes a summer holiday, returning for the online leg of the tour, which takes place on Blue Square Poker from July 21st –25th. The main event of the online leg is a $500 NL Hold’em freezeout. The next live leg of the tour will be at Luton’s G-Casino from 2nd – 10th August.

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