button in SafariHutchison Denies Sheth Epic Back-to-Back Goliath Main Event Victories
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Twelve months ago, Ravi Sheth triumphed in the £1,250 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event at the 2025 GUKPT Goliath festival and walked away with £194,750. Yesterday, Sheth came agonizingly close to winning the same event, navigating to heads-up, where he fell at the final hurdle at the hands of 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event finalist Dean Hutchison.
Sheth came into the nine-handed final table holding a commanding chip lead, with Hutchinson returning to the fray in the middle of the pack with less than half of Ravi's stack.
£1,250 Goliath Main Event Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ravi Sheth | 4,215,000 |
| 2 | Yuzhou Yin | 2,490,000 |
| 3 | Jonathan Mychalkiw | 2,480,000 |
| 4 | Ion Bivol | 2,475,000 |
| 5 | Dean Hutchison | 1,900,000 |
| 6 | Min Ji | 1,500,000 |
| 7 | Mark Earl | 1,290,000 |
| 8 | Keith Littlewood | 700,000 |
| 9 | Kye Hamilton | 410,000 |
Kye Hamilton sat down at the final table with the shortest stack. His attempts to rectify his situation were in vain, and he fell in ninth place for £12,800.
Min Ji joined Hamilton on the sidelines soon after, before Hutchison's pocket tens held against the king-queen of Mark Earl to send the latter to the showers. The £21,750 that Earl collected was his first-ever five-figure score.
Sixth place and almost £30,000 went to the popular grinder Keith Littlewood. He committed his last 12 big blinds with pocket sevens and found himself racing against Yuzhou Yin's ace-queen. A queen on the flop, followed by no seven on the turn or river, gave the remaining finalists some more elbow room.
Until this tournament, Ion Bivol had $32,293 in lifetime earnings and a largest haul of £4,540. Bivol can now boast about a new career-high worth £42,150. Bivol got the last of his chips in with ace-five against Sheth's king-queen. Sheth paired his queen on the flop, and Bivol bowed out.
Another player enjoying a new career-best score was Jonathan Mychalkiw, who cashed in both this event and the £200 Goliath last year. Down to nine big blinds, Mychalikiw got his chips into the middle with king-ten against Hutchison's ace-queen. Mychalikiw spiked a king on the flop, but Hutchison improved to a Broadway straight on the river to leave only three players in contention for the title.
The final trio of players opted for an ICM-based deal, leaving £41,600 to play for. Yin locked in £118,815, Hutchison £121,677, with Sheth now guaranteed £134,000.
Sheth then helped himself to Yin's stack. Yin three-bet shoved with queen-eight of hearts for 20 big blinds, only for Sheth to wake up with kings in the hole. Sheth's kings held, and winning back-to-back events looked all but guaranteed.
Hutchinson held a 60 big blind to 40 big blind advantage over Sheth going into heads-up, but Sheth managed to forge a near five-to-one chip lead over Hutchison.
Hutchison enjoyed a bit of good fortune, backing into the nut flush, which also improved Sheth to an eight-high straight, and getting paid off handsomely. It looked like it was going to be Hutchison's title when a massive hand went down. Hutchison min-raised with ace-jack of diamonds, Sheth three-bet jammed for 16 big blinds with pocket tens, and Hutchison quickly called.
The flop fell five-four-three with two diamonds, making Hutchison a 62% favorite despite not pairing either of his hole cards. An ace on the turn increased the likelihood of a Hutchinson win to 94%. Sheth needed a non-diamond two to chop or the one remaining non-diamond ten to double his stack. Anyone who has played against Sheth already knows what the river was: the ten of spades for a full double!
A few hands later, it was pocket tens against ace-jack of diamonds again. This time, Hutchison was all-in and at risk, but with the pocket pair. Sheth could have hit an ace, jack, or deuce on the river to win, but an eight meant Hutchison scooped the pot.
The final hand came soon after. Hutchison limped with eight-five, and Sheth checked his option with king-nine. A king-eight-eight flop saw Sheth check-raise Hutchison's stab at the pot, and Hutchison called. A ten on the turn saw Sheth lead with a two-thirds pot bet, which was called. An offsuit deuce completed the board on the river. Sheth had 3,120,000 chips behind, and the pot was already 4,900,000, so continuing his aggression would likely mean an all-in bet.
That's precisely what he did; he jammed the river. Hutchison wasted no time in calling, his trip eights winning the final pot, the title, and £163,280 in prize money.
£1,250 Goliath Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dean Hutchison | £163,280* |
| 2 | Ravi Sheth | £134,000* |
| 3 | Yuzhou Yin | £118,820* |
| 4 | Jonathan Mychalkiw | £61,000 |
| 5 | Ion Bivol | £42,150 |
| 6 | Keith Littlewood | £29,850 |
| 7 | Mark Earl | £21,750 |
| 8 | Min Ji | £16,450 |
| 9 | Kye Hamilton | £12,800 |
*reflects a three-handed deal
Brandon Sheils Secures High Roller Title and £54,130
Fresh from the 2026 WSOP grind, where he was a $25K Fantasy Draft pick for the first time, Brandon Sheils took down the £1,500 High Roller event at the GUKPT Goliath festival.
The tournament attracted 211 entrants, including re-entries, resulting in a £270,610 prize pool shared by the top 25 finishers. Marc Foggin, Harry Sandford, Richard Kellett, and final table bubble boy Christopher Yong were among those who saw a return on their investments.
A star-studded final table became slightly less shark-infested with each passing elimination.
Adam Wilkinson, who won the 888poker UKPL Reading Main Event a week or so ago, Nicholas Swann, Mitch Johnson, Longmao Fan, and Andreas Olympios busted before the exit of Brandon Harris left only three players fighting for the lion's share of the prize pool.
Those players struck a deal, which ultimately resulted in Tu Nhat Vuong banking £44,980 for his third-place finish, Antony Rubin securing £42,230 for his runner-up finish, and Sheils padding his bankroll with £54,130 and another trophy for his mantlepiece.
£1,500 High Roller Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon Sheils | £54,130* |
| 2 | Antony Rubin | £42,230* |
| 3 | Tu Nhat Vuong | £44,980* |
| 4 | Brandon Harris | £20,270 |
| 5 | Andreas Olympios | £13,900 |
| 6 | Longmao Fan | £10,130 |
| 7 | Mitch Johnson | £7,950 |
| 8 | Nicholas Swann | £6,740 |
| 9 | Adam Wilkinson | £5,930 |
Day 1c of the Golitah Sees Another 1,526 Players Enter
The third £200 flight of the Goliath took place while Hutchison and Sheils were busy bagging titles. It saw 1,526 players enter, but only 28 progressed to Day 2.
Four of those who advanced did so with seven-figure stacks. An anonymous player going by "P.M." claimed the chip lead courtesy of their 1,765,000 stack, while Matthew Nolan (1,375,000), Kieran Collins (1,295,000), and Marc Bryant (1,285,000) were the others with big stacks.
As of 11:00 a.m. BST on July 28, the Golitah has processed 6,689 entries. It looks very much like the 2026 Goliath will set a new attendance record yet again.
