The largest-ever live poker tournament held outside of Las Vegas has crowned its latest champion, with Kyle Jeffrey taking down the Grosvenor Goliath X Main Event.
He topped a field of 10,584 at Grosvenor Casino Coventry to win £200,000. Runner-up Luke Cheslin would have to settle for £134,000.
Coming into this event, Jeffrey’s live cashes totaled less than £11,000, but after this victory he’s now turned just £150 into what he called “life-altering money”.
2022 Grosvenor Goliath X Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Payout (GBP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Jeffrey | United Kingdom | £200,000 |
| 2 | Luke Cheslin | United Kingdom | £134,000 |
| 3 | David Reed | United Kingdom | £89,120 |
| 4 | Charlie Tarimo | United Kingdom | £60,960 |
| 5 | Georgian Georgescu | Romania | £39,020 |
| 6 | Saied Yolmeh | United Kingdom | £26,820 |
| 7 | Young Seo Yoon | United Kingdom | £20,730 |
| 8 | Gareth Cresswell | United Kingdom | £17,070 |
| 9 | Peter Norton | United Kingdom | £14,630 |
Winner’s Reaction
Jeffrey says that the Goliath experience was all about the fun, coming down to the event from the north of England with a group, and that the prize money will will let him play a lot more poker going forwards.
“When the payout got to £4,000 I was thinking ‘That’s massive,” he told PokerNews shortly after winning. “Then it kept on getting bigger and bigger. When I was playing I didn’t really think about the money. Once I got chips, would just play because I felt like I could win.
“I play a lot of hyper turbos online, so that was massive for me. So towards the end just putting pressure on everyone, that’s what paid off. And I got some cards as well!”
Jeffrey was cheered on by a large rail, who have traveled down especially for the Goliath festival. Now on his third year, he’s taken down the Main Event for £200,000 four years after his friend Elliott Marais won the same event.
“The money is life-altering. I can do so much with it. I can’t wait. But I’m going to be doing a lot more poker, that’s what I’m looking to do going forward.”
Guy Taylor Down Goliath X Mystery Bounty Event (£51,390)
Day 3 Recap
Just 42 players returned in with a chance of winning the largest Goliath Main Event in history, and the field had almost halved by the first break. By the time three tables remained it was David Reed who sat atop the chip counts with Sean Quinn.
Shallow stacks and rising blinds meant the chip lead changed hands frequently, as it did on Day 2, but Reed held on for a long period while being pursued by the likes of Young Seo Yoon and Georgian Georgescu.
And it was Reed who led the final nine players into the final table, all having locked up £14,630. Peter Norton was the first casualty, eliminated by Charlie Tarimo, before Gareth Cresswell joined him at the hands of Yoon.
That wasn’t enough for Yoon to close the gap to Reed, and it was Yoon who fell in seventh place at the hands of Tarimo, who then eliminated start-of-day chip leader Saied Yolmeh to rocket into the lead.
Five-handed play began with deal negotiations, with the group failing to agree to either an ICM deal or a straight-up chop, with each player receiving £100,000.
As soon as negotiations fell apart, Luke Cheslin picked up kings to score a timely double into the lead. The blinds continued to rise, with Reed — now at the bottom of the counts — performing multiple Houdini-esque escapes to remain alive.
This would see him ladder just the once — Georgescu was the short stack during deal negotiations and would be eliminated in fifth — but Reed would follow him out the door next. Both players were eliminated by Jeffrey, who had remained a constant threat at the final table after coming in fifth in chips.
Cheslin managed to close the gap to Jeffrey with the elimination of Tarimo in third, but Jeffrey would lead into heads-up play. It didn’t take long, with Jeffrey closing out victory at the first time of asking, fading a flush draw in the final hand to take down the tournament, the title and the trophy.
Executive Editor E.U.
Will Shillibier is based in the United Kingdom. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German, and then studied for a NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism at Sportsbeat in Manchester. He previously worked as a freelance live reporter, and video presenter for the World Poker Tour.