Bryan Taylor is the GUKPT Edinburgh Champion

Bryan Taylor has won the GUKPT Edinburgh Main Event, collecting the first prize of £43,920, his biggest tournament score to-date. The Glaswegian was one of eleven players who returned for the third and final day of the £1,100 buy-in Main Event. He had more than a 2-1 chip deficit going into the final stage of the tournament, but rallied to defeat the anonymous “Dani” after a brief heads-up encounter, notching up his first GUKPT Main Event title.

Taylor, a cash game pro for over 20 years, was in third place based on chip count going into the last day of the £1,000 buy-in event. He could easily have been the chip leader on over 1.2m, had he not folded pocket queens in a three-way pot that would have committed most of his stack, with eleven players remaining.

In the hand in question, Bryan min-raised to 20k from under-the-gun with Q♠Q♥, prompting an all-in by short stack Mitch Johnson from the button with A♣J♠ for his last 85k. Meanwhile, Dani in the small blind had picked up J♥J♦ and after a bit of think, raised it up to 180k. 

Taylor went into the tank, using a time bank and then passed his hand. The fold sent the commentators into a frenzy, with Phil ‘The Tower’ Heald stating

“Wow, he’s obviously not got the electric on in his house until midnight,” referencing the tightness of the fold, a rarity in these situations. 

He was visibly annoyed when a queen fell on the flop as he would have won the hand, which ultimately resulted in more than a double up for Johnson, thanks to an ace accompanying the queen on the flop.

Despite missing the opportunity to take a massive chip lead into the final day, Taylor went on to claim the win. In the post-final interview he explained his reasons for making the fold, telling The Tower:

“It was a case of I didn’t want to put my tournament life on the line and risk it on a coinflip, I thought I was beat, so I was willing to fold.”

Before admitting to being over-the-moon with the result, he added:

“I came here this week and I said to myself, don’t go home with any regrets…so I decided to eliminate all the mistakes and try and grind as much as I can.”

As a family man and a father of a three-year-old, Taylor said that the money means a lot and also thanked his wife Emma, for letting him compete on the circuit.

Place	Player	Country	Prize (£)
1st	Bryan Taylor	Scotland	£43,920
2nd	“Dani”		£32,860
3rd	Serghei Zglavoci	England	£22,770
4th	Shi Dong	China	£15,250
5th	Nicholas Swann	England	£10,690
6th	Andrew Hulme	England	£7,910
7th	Fraser Bellamy	England	£6,340
8th	Craig Mccairns	Scotland	£5,380
9th	Mitchell Johnson	England	£4,760

Festival Roundup

GUKPT festivals each include several marquee events, meaning tournaments which take more than one day to complete, often with multiple starting days. There are a few one-day side events as well, but in addition to the Main Event, these are the main focus of each festival.

Overall GUKPT Edinburgh was a much better attended festival than the 2024 edition. Main Event participation increased by almost 50 entries year-on-year and most of the side events also moved north. In addition to Bryan Taylor’s outstanding achievement in the Main Event, there were notable performances by several others who went deep in more than one tournament.

The £200 Opener was won by Chavdar Chankov, who outlasted a field of 440 entrants, to chunk up his net worth by £15,000. That was his first live tournament win, but he almost made it two in the same festival, securing 2nd place in the £340 GUKPT Cup, which was won by Radoslav Iliev for £10,500.

The £250 Mini Main Event was the second of the Marquee events to take place and it was won by Gary Armstrong for £20,840. He defeated Kevin Frame heads-up in the 523 player event.

The £1,650 High Roller was won by Harry Sandford for £22,180. Sandford had a great festival, making three final tables, with a third and fourth place in Hold’em and Omaha side events for almost £25,000 in payouts. 

Matt Davenport was another extremely consistent performer, winning the £200 NLH side event for £2,930, with wife Sinead also making the final, taking 4th place. Like Chavdar Chankov, Davenport also went close to securing two victories, finishing runner-up to Andrew Hulme in the £330 PLO Bounty. Hulme was another who handed in a good score card at the end of the week, also making the final table of the Main Event. 

Event Name	Winner	Total Entries	Total Prize Pool	First Place Prize
£175 + 25 NLH – The Opener (Event #1)	Chavdar Chankow	440	£72,140	£15,000
£220 + 30 NLH – Mini Main (Event #2)	Gary Armstrong	523	£108,300	£20,840
£220 + 30 Pot Limit Omaha (Event #3)	William Winchester	66	£13,800	£4,550
£1,500 + 150 NLH – High Roller (Event #4)	Harry Sandford	127	£68,390	£22,180
£180 + 20 NLH (Event #5)	Matthew Davenport	49	£8,380	£2,930
£900 + 100 NLH – GUKPT Main Event (Event #6)	Bryan Taylor	233	£197,320	£43,920
£300 + 40 NLH – GUKPT Cup (Event #7)	Radoslav Iliev	161	£45,480	£10,500
£130 + 20 NLH – Seniors (Event #8)	Helder Casaca-Sena	52	£6,560	£1,900
£150 + 30 + 150 PLO – Bounty (Event #9)	Andrew Hulme	47	£6,700	£2,070

How the Main Event Final Table Panned Out

It was a tough final table, including experienced players such as Andrew Hulme, Mitchell Johnson and Fraser Bellamy. Defending champion Paul McCauley also made the prize money, but did not achieve back-to-back final tables, busting in 23rd place on Day 2. 

Despite folding pocket queens and missing out on taking a 1.2m chip stack into the final day, Bryan Taylor did go into the final table as the chip leader. By the time the final table of nine had been reached, he had over 1.1m chips and a lead of over 300,000 on second placed Shi Dong.

The unfortunate player to just miss out on the final table was Sinead Davenport, who was three-outered on the river in her final hand, finishing 10th for £4,110.

Player	Chip Count	Big Blinds
Bryan Taylor	1,140,000	71
Shi Dong	798,000	50
Dani	723,000	45
Fraser Bellamy	461,000	29
Andrew Hulme	438,000	27
Serghei Zglavoci	430,000	27
Nick Swann	263,000	16
Mitch Johnson	206,000	13
Craig McCairns	202,000	13

Mitch Johnson was one of the two shortest stacks when the final began and within 30 minutes, he was eliminated when his J♦10♦ failed to hold against Dani’s pocket eights. Johnson did pick up a flush draw on the flop, but a third eight on the turn and no diamond on the river brought his participation to an end and he exited in 9th for £4,760.

Next to go was Craig McCairns who was the other short-stack at the start of the final. He jammed the last of his stack in with K♥6♥, but it was unfortunate timing as he ran into Serghei Zglavoci’s pocket aces and busted in 8th for £5,380.

Soon after, Fraser Bellamy moved all in from under-the-gun with 14 big blinds left, holding A♣Q♣, but was called by Dani in the small blind with pocket sevens. He was looking good for a double up when a queen hit the flop, but the turn card was another seven, one of the two outs that Dani needed. Bellamy busted in 7th for £6,340.

Andrew Hulme had gone into the final day as the chip leader, but had already slipped down the leaderboard by the time the final table began. Having lost another big chunk just before Bellamy’s exit hand, he was down to under ten big blinds when he moved all-in under-the-gun with Q♣9♣. He was called by Bryan Taylor with A♣8♦, but the board missed both hands and Hulme was eliminated in 6th place for £7,910.

It may not have been the end to the Main Event that Hulme had been hoping for, but he made up for it almost immediately by taking down the £330 PLO Bounty event for £2,070 on the same day.

With five players left, Dani held the chip lead on just under 2m, with Taylor in second on 1.3m. Everyone else was nursing much smaller stacks and they hadn’t even reached the first break of the final table. The break did arrive without any further exits, at which point Nick Swann had been the short stack. He then doubled up with pocket kings soon after play re-started and had them again a few hands later, to climb back to nearly half a million chips.

However about half an hour later he picked up A♦8♥ in the big blind and called an under-the-gun open by Shi Dong. They saw a flop of 5♣A♠6♠ and Shi led with a bet of 50,000. Nick responded by moving all-in and it was snap called by Shi, who tabled A♥6♥ for flopped two pair. 

The turn card was the 6♣ leaving the case ace as the only card that could result in a chopped pot. However it wasn’t to be as the 7♠ fell on the river and Nick Swann departed in 5th, with £10,690 for his efforts.

With four players left, the stacks had evened themselves out and there was less half a million chips separating Dani, who still held the chip lead, on 1.345m and Shi in 4th place on 910k. After half an hour of 4-handed play, Shi played his final hand, flopping two pairs holding 10♥8♣ on a board of A♠8♦10♣. His opponent in the hand was Serghei, who had also connected well with the flop, holding A♥Q♠ and led out for 50,000. Shi raised it up to 150,000 upon which Serghei, who had him covered, moved all-in.

Shi made the call and was looking in pretty good shape, however the turn was the K♦ and when the J♣ hit the board on the river, Serghei’s hand had improved to a broadway straight and it was all over for Shi Dong, who exited in 4th place with a payout of £15,520.

The scalp pushed Serghei into the chip lead on just under 2m. At this stage of the game, eventual winner Bryan Taylor was in third place on just over 1m chips, with Dani sandwiched in between them on 1.5m. But the situation would soon change. For the next few hands the pots got smaller and the gaps between first and third narrowed, prompting a commentary team quip from The Tower that “Its absolutely anybody’s”  (to win).

Taylor was the least active of the three at this point and before long, it was Dani who once again roosted on the largest stack, surpassing the 2m mark, while Serghei slipped back. Dani then continued to assert his dominance, pushing both his opponents under the 1m mark, while his stack soared to 2.75m. By the time they got to the next break in play, Dani was still well out in front on 2.5m, Bryan had moved into second place on 1.4m, but Serghei had fallen back further and had just 600k left.

Soon after the resumption of play, it was all over for Serghei Zglavoci, in an all-in and call situation. His A♠J♣ was felled by Dani’s K♠Q♣ when a king hit the flop, sending him out in 3rd for £22,700. It was a very good week for Serghei, who also took 2nd place in the High Roller earlier in the week.

With Serghei dispatched to the cash desk, Dani had increased his stack to 3.3m, well ahead of Bryan’s 1.35m, but within the first half dozen hands, the situation had been reversed. The reversal came in a hand where Dani opened to 125k holding A♥8♠, with the blinds at 25k/50k, the antes having been dropped for heads-up play. Bryan, who had found pocket tens, raised it up to 400,000 and Dani made the call.

On a flop of 6♠J♠5♦ Bryan bet 300,000, which Dani raised up to 800,000, prompting an insta-all-in by Bryan for his remaining 1.2m. Dani folded before the chips had even made their way into the middle and once the dealer had pushed the pot Bryan’s way, he was the one in command, with 3.1m to Dani’s 1.5m

Over the course of the next ten hands, a visibly deflated Dani’s stack gradually depleted further in a series of small pots. Down to just over 1.1m, Dani moved all-in with Q♣9♠ and was snap called by Bryan, who held Q♥10♠. 

With the chips in the middle, the pair stood up to watch the runout, which began with a flop of 6♥5♦8♦, followed by a 3♦ on turn and the K♥ on the river. With the board missing both players, Bryan claimed the pot, the title, the trophy and the first prize of £43,920.

What’s Next for the Tour?

There’s a short break now before the last regular GUKPT festival of 2025, which takes place in Blackpool from 2-11 November. The tour then moves on to the ultimate event of the year, the GUKPT Grand Final, which will be held at The Victoria Casino on Edgware Rd in London.

One day Prior to GUKPT Blackpool there’s a charity event, the ninth running of the Kav Cup, an event created in honour of Derek Kavanagh, who sadly passed away from cancer in 2017. It was created during his lifetime and he participated in the early editions, before succumbing to his illness.

_{Photos Courtesy of Grosvenor Poker}