Dean Hutchison has won the Goliath Main Event, the flagship tournament of the Grosvenor GUKPT festival, closing out a dramatic two days of final table poker with a three-way deal that shaped the closing stages of the £1,250 buy-in event. Hutchison, a 2023 WSOP Main Event finalist, added another career highlight to his resume, banking £163,280 after play concluded on July 28, 2026, following two days of final table action on July 27 and 28.
The victory capped a stacked field for one of Grosvenor Poker’s most popular annual stops, and it came at the direct expense of a player chasing history. Ravi Sheth, who won this very title twelve months earlier, was aiming to become a back-to-back Goliath Main Event champion, a feat that would have set him apart in the tournament’s history. He came agonizingly close, but ultimately had to settle for second.
A Three-Way Deal Decides the Goliath Main Event
With the final table whittled down to three players, Hutchison, Sheth, and Yuzhou Yin opted to negotiate a deal rather than play the remaining hands purely for the outright win. Three-way deals are common in tournaments of this size, allowing the remaining players to lock in a substantial payday while still leaving something meaningful on the table for the eventual winner.
Under the terms reached, Hutchison secured £163,280 for the title, Sheth took home £134,000 as runner-up, and Yin collected £118,820 for third place. The relatively tight gap between the three figures reflects a deal structure that still rewarded the eventual winner, while showing how evenly matched the three players were by the time they sat down to negotiate terms.
For Hutchison, the deal still meant playing on for the trophy and the title of Goliath Main Event champion, and he came through that final stretch to close out the tournament in style. His run adds to a résumé that already includes a final table appearance at the 2023 WSOP Main Event, one of the most prestigious results in the sport, and confirms him as one of the more consistent performers on the UK live poker scene.
Sheth’s Bid for Back-to-Back Glory Falls Short
The subplot of this year’s Goliath Main Event was always going to be Ravi Sheth’s attempt to defend his crown. Sheth won the 2025 edition of the event for £194,750, and returning twelve months later to reach the final table again, let alone finish runner-up, was itself a notable achievement given the size and depth of the Goliath field.
Back-to-back victories in a Main Event of this stature are rare in modern tournament poker. The variance inherent in the format makes repeat titles genuinely difficult to achieve, even for the strongest players, since a single hand or a single cooler can end a deep run regardless of skill. Sheth’s run to the final table, and then into three-handed contention within the deal, showed he had the game to compete with the best in the field once again.
In the end, Sheth’s bid for a second consecutive Goliath Main Event title ended in second place for £134,000, a huge score in its own right but not the piece of history he was chasing. His performance nonetheless stands as one of the more impressive title defenses attempted at this event, and it will likely be remembered that way even though the outright repeat eluded him.
The Full Payout Ladder
Beyond the top three, the rest of the Goliath Main Event final table also collected significant returns on their £1,250 investment. Jonathan Mychalkiw finished fourth for £61,000, followed by Ion Bivol in fifth for £42,150. Keith Littlewood took sixth place for £29,850, while Mark Earl rounded out seventh for £21,750.
Min Ji finished in eighth place for £16,450, and Kye Hamilton was the first player eliminated at the official final table, taking ninth for £12,800. Every player who reached the final table walked away with a healthy return relative to the buy-in, underlining just how deep and lucrative the Goliath Main Event has become as a fixture on the Grosvenor GUKPT calendar.
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A Record-Breaking Goliath Festival
The Main Event was only one part of a much larger festival. According to PokerNews, the wider Goliath series drew approximately 6,689 total entries across all of its events, a number that could represent a new attendance record for the festival. That figure speaks to the enduring popularity of the Goliath brand within the UK poker scene, and to Grosvenor Poker’s ability to keep drawing large fields year after year.
A festival of that size brings together recreational players, grinders, and touring professionals across a wide range of buy-in levels, with the £1,250 Main Event serving as the marquee attraction that much of the field builds toward. The scale of participation also helps explain why the prize pool supported a payout ladder as deep as the one seen at this year’s final table, stretching all the way down to the £12,800 min cash in ninth place.
What the Win Means for Hutchison
For Dean Hutchison, the Goliath Main Event title is a significant addition to a career that already features a deep run at the 2023 WSOP Main Event, one of the most watched tournaments in poker. Converting that WSOP experience into a domestic Main Event title in England shows a level of consistency that goes beyond a single standout result.
Winning any Main Event with a field the size of the Goliath’s requires clearing a long series of difficult opponents, and doing so against a defending champion like Sheth at the final table adds extra weight to the achievement. Hutchison’s £163,280 score will stand as one of the headline results of the 2026 Grosvenor GUKPT calendar, and it cements the Goliath Main Event’s reputation as one of the toughest, most rewarding stops on the UK festival circuit.
With the 2026 edition now in the books, attention will naturally turn to whether Sheth, Yin, or any of the other final table finishers return next year to chase the title themselves, and whether the festival’s reported entry numbers hold up as a lasting record for the Goliath brand going forward.
