Sheils Steals the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Show in London

by Roy Brindley, 22 January 2026

Brandon Sheils steals the show at the opening Grosvenor UK Poker Tour event of 2026.

Eventual winner Brandon Sheils (back row, second from left) poses for pictures with other final table finishers ahead of the GUKPT London Main Event. © GrosvenorPoker

Key Facts:

• Brandon Sheils takes the Main and High Roller events at the GUKPT’s opening leg.
• Former Irish Poker Open winner, James Mitchell, returns to the winner’s circle.
• Moroccan high roller makes impressive British debut with two big cashes.
• The popular GUKPT will now take its friends to Coventry.

Brandon Sheils was the star of the show at the opening leg of the 2026 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT). The competition took place at the operator’s famous card room in the Victoria Casino on Edgeware Road, London, last week.

The first festival of the GUKPT’s 20th season featured 10 tournaments held between January 8th and 18th. The showpiece event was the £250,000-guaranteed £1,250 entry Main Event. Attracting 368 entries, it ultimately created a £383,060 prize pool.

An allocated £88,760 first-placed prizemoney went to 31-year-old Sheils, who was completing a remarkable double, having already claimed £49,560 when overcoming 71 rival entries in the £2,500 No-Limit Hold ’em High Roller tournament.

Brandon Sheils’ combined haul from these two events exceeded £138,000, earning him the early lead on Grosvenor’s 2026 National Poker League (NPL) leaderboard with 69.22 points. Sheil’s career winnings now surpass $2.5 million, meaning he ranks 59th on England’s all-time earnings list.

Congratulations to Brandon Sheils who has just won the GUKPT London High Roller.

He beat the 72 entry field to take home the first place prize of £49,560!

Well played!

18+ | https://t.co/5u5lvT9W4G pic.twitter.com/cHmDzKUwKJ

— Grosvenor Poker (@GrosvenorPoker) January 15, 2026

Three Players With Impressive Figures

Other notable winners at London’s GUKPT stop included the 2010 Irish Poker Open winner, James Mitchell, who parlayed his £500 entry into the G500 event up to £47,700 courtesy of his victory over 512 rival entries.

Numerically, Anthony Desai, who collected £45,000 for winning the Grosvenor Mini Main Event, posted the most impressive performance as the field size for this £340-entry tournament numbered 758.

A standout player who won big without collecting a trophy was Mehdi Chaoui. The Moroccan number one marked his first visit to UK poker tables by finishing second in the GUKPT Main Event and third in the High Roller event – both won by Brandon Sheils – to win £81,330.

Grosvenor Sending £1 Million to Coventry

The 2026 Grosvenor Poker Tour, with its £4.7 million in Main Event guarantees, will next stop off in Coventry for the Grosvenor UK Poker Open. Starting on February 5th and featuring 10 competitions, the title event demands a £1,500 entry fee and carries a guaranteed £1 million purse.

Meanwhile, Grosvenor Casinos National Bad Beat Jackpot – the UK’s largest live cash poker bad beat jackpot, running across qualifying Texas Hold ’em cash game tables – is approaching £100,000.

The qualifying hand is four Kings. Currently, if that hand is beaten, its owner will collect £27,000. The winning hand will earn an additional £13,500, and the table will share £4,500. Furthermore, £45,000 will be shared among players at other participating bad-beat tables nationwide.