GUKPT Grand Final 2026: £1.2M GTD at The Vic London – Schedule, Buy-ins and Player Guide

The GUKPT Grand Final 2026 runs from November 19 to 29 at The Victoria Casino in London, with £1.2 million guaranteed across the festival. It closes the 20th season of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour. The headline event is a £2,000 Main Event with a £500,000 guarantee.

If you have only played the regular GUKPT stops, the Grand Final feels different. Regional Main Events usually cost £1,000–£1,250. Here the price jumps to £2,000, the fields are tougher, and the trophy carries more weight on the UK circuit. There is still plenty for the £300-a-game player, though, which is why the festival fills the room for eleven straight days.

At the time of writing (November 5), GUKPT Blackpool is still running until November 8. That leaves two weeks between the last regional stop and the first cards at The Vic, and that gap is the main window for online satellites.

Key Fact	Detail
Dates	Thursday, November 19 – Sunday, November 29, 2026
Venue	The Poker Room, Grosvenor Victoria Casino, 150 Edgware Road, London W2 2DT
Total Guarantees	£1.2 million (live) + £15,000 Online Closer
Main Event	£2,000 (£1,800 + £200), £500,000 GTD, Day 1A on November 26
Other Headline Events	£1,250 Midi (£250K GTD), £2,500 High Roller (£150K GTD), £340 Mini Main (£150K GTD)
Cheapest Route In	Grosvenor Poker online satellites from £1
Reigning Champion	Alan Stearn (2025, £125,645)

Full GUKPT Grand Final 2026 Schedule

The festival comes in three waves:

• The Midi opens it (Nov 19–22).
• The Mini Main and High Roller fill the middle (Nov 22–26).
• The Main Event takes the final four days (Nov 26–29).

All times are UK time (GMT).

Date	Time	Event	Buy-in	Guarantee
Wed, Nov 18	7 p.m.	Midi Target Cashout Satellite	£125 + £15	10 seats
Thu, Nov 19	12 p.m.	#1 GUKPT Midi Day 1A	£1,100 + £150	£250,000
Thu, Nov 19	8 p.m.	Main Event Target Cashout Satellite	£200 + £20	10 seats
Fri, Nov 20	12 p.m.	#1 GUKPT Midi Day 1B	£1,100 + £150	£250,000
Fri, Nov 20	9 p.m.	#1 GUKPT Midi Day 1C Turbo	£1,100 + £150	£250,000
Sat, Nov 21	11 a.m.	#1 GUKPT Midi Hyper Flight	£1,100 + £150	£250,000
Sat, Nov 21	1 p.m.	#1 GUKPT Midi Day 2	—	£250,000
Sat, Nov 21	4 p.m.	#2 PLO High Roller	£900 + £100	£50,000
Sun, Nov 22	12 p.m.	#1 GUKPT Midi Day 3 (Final)	—	£250,000
Sun, Nov 22	2 p.m.	#3 Mini Main Day 1A	£300 + £40	£150,000
Mon, Nov 23	12 p.m. / 6 p.m.	#3 Mini Main Day 1B / Day 1C	£300 + £40	£150,000
Tue, Nov 24	12 p.m.	#3 Mini Main Day 1D Turbo	£300 + £40	£150,000
Tue, Nov 24	4 p.m.	#3 Mini Main Day 2	—	£150,000
Tue, Nov 24	6 p.m.	#4 PLO (4-Card)	£220 + £30	£20,000
Wed, Nov 25	3 p.m.	#5 High Roller Day 1	£2,300 + £200	£150,000
Wed, Nov 25	5 p.m.	#3 Mini Main Day 3 (Final)	—	£150,000
Thu, Nov 26	12 p.m.	#5 High Roller Day 2 (Final)	—	£150,000
Thu, Nov 26	1 p.m.	#6 Main Event Day 1A	£1,800 + £200	£500,000
Thu, Nov 26	5 p.m.	#7 Deepstack	£180 + £20	£15,000
Fri, Nov 27	12 p.m.	#6 Main Event Day 1B	£1,800 + £200	£500,000
Fri, Nov 27	9 p.m.	#6 Main Event Day 1C Turbo	£1,800 + £200	£500,000
Sat, Nov 28	12 p.m.	#6 Main Event Day 2	—	£500,000
Sat, Nov 28	1 p.m.	#8 GUKPT Cup Day 1	£500 + £60	£50,000
Sun, Nov 29	12 p.m.	#6 Main Event Day 3 (Final)	—	£500,000
Sun, Nov 29	12:30 p.m.	#8 GUKPT Cup Day 2	—	£50,000
Sun, Nov 29	1 p.m.	#9 Last Chance	£220 + £30	£15,000
Sun, Nov 29	4 p.m.	#10 Closer	£180 + £20	£10,000
Mon, Nov 30 – Tue, Dec 1	7 p.m.	Online Closer (Day 1 / Day 2)	£100 + £10	£15,000

Main Event target cashout satellites also run on Nov 20, 22, 23, 25, 26 and 27.

The invite-only Champion of Champions final on November 18 (£20,000) is not an official Grand Final event. It is the finale of The Victoria’s year-long Victoria Championships.

Main Event Details – £2,000 / £500K GTD

The £2,000 Main Event (£1,800 to the prize pool, £200 fee) is the reason most players book the trip. It has three starting flights, so you can pick the one that suits your week:

• Day 1A – Thursday, Nov 26, 1 p.m. (standard structure)
• Day 1B – Friday, Nov 27, 12 p.m. (standard structure)
• Day 1C Turbo – Friday, Nov 27, 9 p.m. (faster levels)
• Day 2 – Saturday, Nov 28
• Day 3 (Final) – Sunday, Nov 29

Grand Final Main Event history:

Year	Buy-in	Entries	Prize Pool	Champion	Prize
2025	£2,000	334	£569,640	Alan Stearn	£125,645
2024	£1,250 (Luton)	367	£415,620	Niall Campbell	£89,000
2023	£2,000	325	£555,600	Paul Vas Nunes	£140,000
2022	£2,000	328	£576,480	Daniel Bedson	£105,000
2021	£2,000	607	£1,092,600	Andy Moc	£265,350

Will it beat the guarantee? History says yes. Last year, 334 entries built a £569,640 pool, about £1,705 per entry after deductions. At that rate, the £500K mark needs roughly 294 entries. The £2,000 version has topped 320 entries in each of its last four runnings. An overlay looks unlikely, so don’t pick this event hoping for free money; pick it for the structure and the title.

The 2025 final is a good reminder of why patience matters at this level. Alan Stearn was down to three big blinds at the final table and had already packed his bag. He still went on to win £125,645 after a heads-up deal with Jason Green. The top 44 places were paid from 334 entries, so roughly the top 13% cashed.

Which flight should you play?

• Recreational players: Day 1A or 1B gives you the deepest play and the most room to recover from a bad hour.
• Players coming straight from work, or who like pushing small edges with shorter stacks: the Day 1C Turbo suits you. Its faster pace punishes passive play.

Midi Tournament – £1,250 / £250K GTD

The £1,250 GUKPT Midi opens the festival on Thursday, November 19. It carries half the Main Event’s guarantee at roughly 60% of the price, and that ratio is what makes it attractive.

There are four ways in:

• Day 1A (Nov 19)
• Day 1B (Nov 20)
• Day 1C Turbo (Friday night)
• A hyper flight (Saturday morning)

Survivors play Day 2 on Saturday afternoon, and the winner is crowned on Sunday, November 22.

With £1,100 of each buy-in going to the pool, the Midi needs about 228 entries to cover £250,000. That is a realistic number for a Grosvenor event at this level, but it is not a lock. Watch the Day 1A and 1B counts on November 19–20. If they look thin, the Saturday hyper becomes a value spot.

Practical tip: if you bust the Midi early, a Main Event target satellite runs that same Thursday evening at 8 p.m.

High Roller – £2,500 / £150K GTD

The £2,500 High Roller is a two-day event. It starts Wednesday, November 25 at 3 p.m. and finishes on Thursday, November 26. It is the most expensive no-limit hold’em event of the festival and the one most likely to produce an overlay.

Why? At £2,300 per entry to the pool, the event needs around 66 entries to reach £150,000. Grosvenor’s High Rollers at Luton and Leeds missed smaller guarantees earlier this year, so this event is worth tracking closely.

Timing matters too. High Roller Day 2 runs on the same afternoon as Main Event Day 1A. Players who go deep in the High Roller will likely enter the Main Event on Day 1B or the Day 1C Turbo instead.

Two target cashout satellites (£250 + £20, 2 seats each) run on November 24 and 25.

PLO specialists get their own events:

• £1,000 PLO High Roller (£50K GTD) on Saturday, November 21
• £250 four-card PLO event on Tuesday, November 24

£340 Mini Main – £150K GTD

The £340 Mini Main is the best-value event on the schedule for most recreational players. It carries the same £150,000 guarantee as the High Roller at about one-seventh of the price.

It runs over four flights:

• Day 1A – Sunday, November 22
• Day 1B and Day 1C – Monday, November 23
• Day 1D Turbo – Tuesday, November 24

Day 2 follows on Tuesday afternoon, and the final is on Wednesday, November 25.

The guarantee needs about 500 entries at £300 each. Multi-flight fields like this tend to be wide and soft early, so the best approach is simple:

• Play solid poker.
• Avoid marginal all-ins in the first few levels.
• Let the field make mistakes.

Last year’s Mini Main runner-up, Goonjan Mall, went on to finish fifth in the first G500 event of 2026, which shows this event is a genuine stepping stone. If you have a budget for one tournament, start here.

Venue – The Vic London

The Grand Final is played in The Poker Room at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino, 150 Edgware Road, London W2 2DT. Almost every UK player knows it simply as “The Vic,” and it is one of the oldest and busiest card rooms in Europe.

The venue reopened in 2025 after a reported £15 million refurbishment. That work is why the 2024 Grand Final moved to Luton, and why last year’s return to London felt like a homecoming.

Practical notes for visiting players:

• Getting there: The Vic is a short walk from Marble Arch and Edgware Road Underground stations, close to Hyde Park.
• Hotels: Edgware Road, Marble Arch and Paddington all have options. Main Event weekend (Nov 26–29) books up fast, so reserve early.
• Entry: UK casinos require photo ID for membership. Bring your passport or driving licence, and arrive well before the start time on Day 1.
• Cash games: The Vic runs live cash tables alongside the festival, which is useful if you bust early and want to keep playing.

Buy-ins and Tournament Formats

“Entries to cover GTD” below assumes the full prize-pool portion of each buy-in reaches the pool. Actual pools can be slightly lower after deductions, so treat these numbers as approximate.

Event	Total Buy-in	To Prize Pool	Guarantee	Entries to Cover GTD	Flights	Best For
High Roller	£2,500	£2,300	£150,000	~66	1	Experienced, well-rolled players
Main Event	£2,000	£1,800	£500,000	~280–295	3 (incl. Turbo)	Title chasers
Midi	£1,250	£1,100	£250,000	~228	4 (incl. Turbo + Hyper)	Regulars stepping up
PLO High Roller	£1,000	£900	£50,000	~56	1	Omaha specialists
GUKPT Cup	£560	£500	£50,000	~100	1	Final-weekend action
Mini Main	£340	£300	£150,000	~500	4 (incl. Turbo)	Recreational players
PLO 4-Card	£250	£220	£20,000	~91	1	Low-stakes PLO

Understanding the formats:

• A flight is a separate starting day. Everyone who survives any flight meets on Day 2.
• A Turbo flight has shorter blind levels, so stacks get shallow faster.
• A Hyper is even quicker than a Turbo.
• A target cashout satellite awards seats once a set number of players remain. You don’t need to win it outright; you just need to outlast enough of the field.

How to Enter and Qualify

You can buy in directly at The Vic’s cash desk, or win your way in for a fraction of the price. There are three routes:

1. Buy in directly. Pay the full buy-in at the casino before late registration closes. You will need a Grosvenor membership and valid photo ID.
2. Live satellites at The Vic.
   • Main Event target cashout satellites cost £220 and run on most evenings from November 19 to 27.
   • Midi satellites cost £140 (Nov 18).
   • High Roller satellites cost £270 (Nov 24 and 25).
3. Online satellites at Grosvenor Poker. Feeders start from £1 and step up through £5 and £30 qualifiers into Live Event Credit worth £200, £300, £500 or £1,250.

Live Event Credit is the most flexible route:

• It works for any GUKPT event.
• It does not expire.
• It can cover all or part of a buy-in; you simply pay the difference at the cash desk.
• If you use a larger credit on a cheaper event, the balance becomes tournament credit.

So a £1,250 credit won this November can still go towards a future GUKPT stop if you can’t travel this year.

A realistic plan for a £600–£800 budget: Play the £340 Mini Main, and fire one or two £220 Main Event satellites during the week. If a seat lands, you are in a £500K GTD event for a tenth of the price. If not, you have still had a proper Grand Final experience.

For international players: Grosvenor’s online satellites are generally limited to UK-licensed players, so check eligibility before you travel. Direct buy-ins and live satellites at The Vic are open to any adult who registers as a casino member with valid ID.

FAQs