Double Delight For Sheils as He Takes Down GUKPT London Main Event
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Less than a week ago, Brandon Sheils emerged victorious from the £2,500 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller at the 2026 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) London festival, and helped himself to the £49,560 top prize. Today, Sheils is making his way back home with the winner's trophy and £88,760 top prize from the £1,250 GUKPT London Main Event.
A field of 368 entrants created a £383,060 prize pool that the top 44 finishers shared. Sheils jumped into the Main Event immediately after being crowned the High Roller champion, and bagged up the fourth-largest stack. The grinder built on that early momentum and became a popular and worthy GUKPT champion.
Several top drawer players cashed on the Main Event, but fell short of the nine-handed final table. Jack Hardcastle, Ali Sarkeshik, Mariusz Czech, Jamie O'Connor, Lorenc Boci, John Bousfield, Jamie Walden, and Longmao Fan all crashed out in the money place.
Gary Fisher, a fifth-place finisher in the $1,000 Super Seniors at the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP), busted in tenth, and the final table was set.
2026 GUKPT London Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon Sheils | £88,760 |
| 2 | Mehdi Chaoui | £59,300 |
| 3 | Giorgos Onisiforou | £39,030 |
| 4 | Peter Stewart | £25,780 |
| 5 | Vikrum Mehta | £17,550 |
| 6 | Vitalie Grecul | £12,710 |
| 7 | Paul Vas Nunes | £9,850 |
| 8 | Joseph Field | £7,970 |
| 9 | Jacob Mulhearn | £6,620 |
Yorkshireman Jacob Mulhearn was the first finalist to find himself heading to the cashier's desk. Mulhearn committed his last 15 big blinds with pocket tens, which were flipped against the ace-queen in Mehdi Chaoui's hand. An ace on the flop proved enough to reduce the player count again.
Eighth place went to Joseph Field, who had his aces cracked by the lowly seven-deuce. All the chips went piling into the middle on the turn of a ten-queen-seven-five board that showed two hearts. Field held a pair of red aces, and Vitalie Grecul held the seven-deuce of hearts. The nine of hearts landed on the river, improving Grecul to a flush, and leaving Field with a bad beat story, albeit one that also came with £7,970.
The dangerous Paul Vas Nunes bowed out in seventh after losing a coin flip against Vikram Mehta. Van Nunes' last nine big blinds went into the pot with pocket nines, which needed to hold against Mehta's ace-jack. They remained the best hand on the flop, but a jack on the turn left Vas Nunes needing a miracle two outer on the river. No such miracle occurred, and Vas Nunes headed for the exits.
Romania's Grecul crashed out in sixth place and got his hands on the tournament's first five-figure prize. Having earlier busted Field with seven-deuce, Grecul got a taste of his own medicine when he clashed with Cypriot Giorgos Onisiforou. Grecul got his stack in with king-queen on the turn of a four-king-six-seven board, only for Onisiforou to snap-call and show a straight with a flush redraw with his eight-five of diamonds. A queen on the river improved Grecul to two pair, but it wasn't strong enough to save his tournament life.
The final five became four when Mehta's ten big blind shove with ace-ten lost to the pocket fives of Mehdi. Had Mehta come out on top in this tournament, he would have become a two-time GUKPT Main Event champion, having triumphed in Luton in 2019. However, the Poker Gods were not with him on this occasion, and he had to make do with a £17,550 haul instead.
Paul Stewart was the next player to be showered. Stewart moved all-in for 12 big blinds with ace-six, and Sheils looked him up with king-queen of diamonds. Sheils improved to a flush, and Stewart was eliminated, leaving only three players in the hunt for the title.
Third place and £39,030 went to Onisiforou after a clash with Sheils didn't go to plan. Onisiforou min-raised with ace-king of spades before calling off his final 17 big blinds when Sheils jammed on him with ten-nine of clubs. A nine on the turn was enough to send the Main Event into the heads-up stages.
Sheils held a 64 to 31 big blind advantage going into heads-up, but a victory was far from guaranteed. Chaoui is a vastly experienced player, one with over $3.5 million in winnings, and he was not about to go down without a fight. Indeed, Mehdi drew level a couple of times, and a stalemate ensued, with neither player able to shake off the other.
Something finally gave during the 60,000/120,000 level, around ten hours into the final day's action. Chaoui min-raised with five-trey of clubs, Sheils called with seven-five, and the dealer fanned the seven-ace-ace flop, which had tw clubs. Sheils check-called a continuation bet on the flop before check-calling a chunky bet on the turn when another seven double-paired the board. The river was a non-club nine, and Sheils checked again. Chaoui jammed all-in for a pot-sized bet, giving Sheils a decision to make. Sheils deduced his opponent didn't have an ace and made the call. Chaoui showed the bluff, and Sheils won his second title in the space of a few days.
2026 GUKPT London Results
| Event | Entrants | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £1,250 Main Event | 368 | £383,060 | Brandon Sheils | £88,760 |
| £2,500 High Roller | 72 | £157,310 | Brandon Sheils | £49,560 |
| £500 G500 | 513 | £219,300 | James Mitchell | £47,770 |
| £340 Mini Main | 758 | £214,520 | Anthony Desai | £45,000 |
| £550 GUKPT Cup | 177 | £84,540 | Keith Littlewood | £19,680 |
| £1,100 PLO High Roller | 63 | £59,850 | Daniel James | £19,420 |
| £250 PLO 4/5/6 Card | 114 | £23,830 | Maksims Uskovs | £6,320 |
| £200 Turbo | 86 | £14,700 | Patrick Brown | £4,560 |
| £200 Closer | 77 | £13,170 | Arun Sood | £4,150 |
| £330 PLO Bounty | 29 | £4,130 | Maksims Uskovs | £1,650 |
Next Up on the GUKPT: The Grosvenor UK Poker Open
Players don't have long to wait before the next stop of the 2026 GUKPT because the Grosvenor UK Poker Open kicks off in Coventry from February 1. Running until February 17, the UK Poker Open features a bustling schedule, including a £1,500 buy-in Main Event that has a cool £1 million guaranteed prize pool.
Last year, Andrew "Stato_1" Hulme outlasted 950 opponents on his way to banking £219,720 of the £1,219,660 prize pool.
Satellites are available at the Grosvenor G Casino in Coventry from February 1, or right now online at Grosvenor Poker.
