Jerome L’Hostis Wins Maiden Live Title in 2018 GUKPT Grand Final Main Event For £140,445

The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) Grand Final Main Event gathered a field of 325 entries creating a prize pool of £650,000. Following several hours of rigorous play, Frenchman Jerome L’Hostis (cover image) secured his maiden live title and the largest tournament score worth £140,445.

L’Hostis posted his first-ever live score in the €500+50 No Limit Hold’em – Main Event at the 2010 Chilipoker Deepstack Open – Partouche, Aix En Provence where he finished 45th for €1,300. Since then he has accumulated total live tournament winnings of $433,524.

L’Hostis played a tight game on the final table, even bringing about the eliminations of Carlos Sanchez Diaz, and Ludovic Geilich. He faced British pro Tamer Kamel in the heads-up play and defeated him to claim his career-first live title.

Out of the 30 spots that were assured payouts, several notables finished in the money including Janice Phillips (11^th for £9,200), Javier Estevez (19^th for £5,800), Gerald Crone (21^st for £5,200) and Kevin Allen (27^th for £4,600).

Manuel O’Shea (10^th for £10,400) bubbled the final table.

Final Table Recap

French pro Julien Sitbon entered the nine-handed final table as the chip leader, while Tarjei Forus had the shortest stack. Forus did not stay for long and soon enough he pitted his against Ludovic Geilich’s . The board ran and Geilich’s ace kicker was good enough to eliminate Forus in ninth place.

Lithuanian native Matas Cimbolas was a huge threat on the final table, but lost a big pot to Ben Morrison, when Cimbolas weaker pair of was overpowered by Morrision’s . Cimbolas’ run was effectively ended in eighth place.

Finishing in seventh place was Carlos Sanchez Diaz. He clashed with L’Hostis when he open-shoved with and L’Hostis called with . Finding no help from the board, Diaz was forced to exit the final table.

Down to six-handed play, partypoker sponsored pro Ludovic Geilich lost a big coinflip with pocket sevens against the ace-king of Tamer Kamel which drastically reduced his stack. Soon thereafter, Geilich moved all-in with for three big blinds against L’Hostis who held . The runout failed to better Geilich’s hand and he busted out in sixth place.

Joining Geilich on the rail was Paul Barnes when his ran into Kamel’s , resulting in his fifth place exit.

Next to go was Julien Sitbon. He jammed with his last five big blinds holding . Morrison called with which improved to a pair of sixes on the turn and Sitbon went on to collect the fourth place prize money.

Following a 45-minute dinner break, the final three players struck a deal for the remaining prize pool. Kamel locked in £110,000, L’Hostis £120,445 and Morrison £123,155; the deal left the trophy and an additional £20,000 for the eventual champion.

Ben Morrison was the first casualty after the deal was struck. He first lost a big pot to L’Hostis which left him with only a little more than eight big blinds. He shoved all-in with and Kamel called with . The community cards read and Kamel rivered a straight, as Morrison finished in third place.

Tamer Kamel (2,000,000 ) was trailing Jerome L’Hostis (6,200,000) in chips going into heads-up play.

On the final hand of the event Kamel moved all-in with his remaining 800,000 holding and L’Hostis called with . The board missed both players, however, L’Hostis’ ace kicker held strong and won him his first-ever live title for £140,445 in prize money, while Kamel was relegated to a runner-up finish.

Final Table Results (GBP)

1. Jerome L’Hostis – £140,445*

2. Tamer Kamel – £110,000*

3. Ben Morrison – £123,155*

4. Julien Sitbon – £46,800

5. Paul Barnes – £31,800

6. Ludovic Geilich – £23,400

7. Carlos Sanchez Diaz – £18,200

8. Matas Cimbolas – £15,000

9. Tarjei Forus – £12,300

*denotes three-way deal