Consistent National Poker League (NPL) grinder Mariusz Czech earned the biggest result of his career, winning the £1,500 Grosvenor UK Open Main Event to earn a new high score of £160,862 (roughly $220,000). This beats his previous high mark of £52,500 ($69,099) he received for finishing 3rd in the 7,584-entry, £125 Goliath in 2018.
Czech, who finished in 13th place in last year’s NPL, took his career earnings up over the $500,000 mark.
Somehow, despite being one of the UK’s most active grinders over the last two years, Czech only had a single victory to his name: a 32-player Hold’em/PLO mix title for £1,200 ($1,500). Now, he has claimed one of the UK’s most prestigious honors.
2026 UK Open by the numbers
Though the 2025 UK Open smashed its £1,000,000 guarantee by attracting 951 runners to create a £1,220,000 prize pool, the 2026 UK Open missed the mark by £46,408, providing a ton of value to the attending players.
84 players from the 669-entry field earned a healthy £3,600 min-cash, 2.4x the buy-in, with pros like Brandon Sheils, Jamie O’Connor, and Yucel Eminoglu sneaking in over the line. 2025 champion Andrew ‘Stato’ Hulme finished 64th for £3,700, while 2023 Goliath champion Alex Todd made a respectable Day 3 run, finishing 25th for £5,240.
Other notable deep runners included Robert Cowen (40th, £4,100), Brandon Harris (36th, £4,390), Tom Middleton (31st, £4,770), Conor O’Driscoll (19th, £5,820), Lei Wang (13th, £7,630), and Adam Neal (£11th, 9,060).
2026 Grosvenor UK Open Main Event final table results
The final five players made an ICM deal, guaranteeing each player at least £78,780 to £113,237. Per Grosvenor’s rules, they had to play for at least 10% of the remaining prize pool, which worked out to roughly £47,600.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mariusz Czech | £160,862* |
| 2 | Rhys Keen | £78,780* |
| 3 | Andrew Mapp | £107,800* |
| 4 | Keith Littlewood | £95,160* |
| 5 | Luke Tatum | £88,110* |
| 6 | David Ledden | £30,610 |
| 7 | Philip Clarke | £22,500 |
| 8 | Donald Jones | £17,170 |
| 9 | Calogero Morreale | £13,540 |
UK Open Main Event final table action
Calogero Morreale, the 2023 NPL Player of the Year, finished in ninth place after losing a short-stack flip with pocket eights against Rhys Keen’s king-queen. He would take home £13,540 for three days’ work.
Donald Jones was the next to go, becoming Czech’s first victim. Jones’ ace-queen was defeated by Czech’s king-jack, and Jones was sent home packing with £17,170. A short time later, Phil Clarke was out in seventh for £22,500, committing his final three big blinds with king-five, unable to beat Keen’s ten-deuce. David Ledden would finish in sixth, bubbling the final-table deal and just missing out on a career-high score. Czech’s pocket tens would outflip Ledden’s ace-jack, and Ledden pocketed £30,610.
After the final five players secured their riches, with all five players taking home over $100,000, they got down to quick business. With no ICM left, as there was about $65,000 extra for the champion, play opened up, and everyone went for the victory.
Luke Tatum, who won the £1,100 PLO High Roller for £17,890 earlier in the week, benefited the most from the deal as he took a couple of quick beats to exit in fifth. It was an incredible week for Tatum, who only recorded his first five-figure score last November. Tatum bested his previous career-high score twice and added well over £100,000 to his career earnings.
Fellow UK grinder Keith Littlewood, who finished second in last year’s NPL standings, was eliminated in fourth for a career-high £95,160. His pocket nines couldn’t beat Keen’s ace-jack, as Keen flopped him out of the tournament.
Andrew Mapp was eliminated in third, shoving his final 18 big blinds with king-jack, only to fall victim to Czech’s ace-seven suited. Mapp won’t complain about his £107,800 score, which was more than the total of his 50 previous cashes combined.
Czech went into heads-up play with nearly a 2-to-1 chip lead, though Keen had a lot more to play for, having only taken £78,780 in the deal, compared to Czech’s £113,237. Nevertheless, the two swapped the chip lead back and forth until the two players verbally agreed to chop all but £7,000 of the extra £47,600. They did a blind flip, and Keen’s five-deuce of diamonds couldn’t beat Czech’s ten-six, with a match-sealing ten on the flop. With that, Czech claimed the 2026 UK Open Main Event.
Other UK Open results
Accomplished UK/Hong Kong pro Timothy Chung took down the 65-player High Roller to claim £46,440 and the week’s second-largest prize. The £340 Mini Open also awarded a mammoth £42,690 top prize.
| Event | Entrants | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| £1,500 UK Open Main Event | 669 | Mariusz Czech | £160,862 |
| £2,500 High Roller | 65 | Timothy Chung | £46,440 |
| £340 Mini Open | 719 | Anonymous | £42,690 |
| £300 G300 | 616 | Anonymous | £26,930 |
| £550 UK Open Cup | 274 | Pranav Agarwal | £23,411 |
| £1,100 PLO High Roller | 46 | Luke Tatum | £17,890 |
| £220 8-Game | 79 | Suketu Patel | £4,730 |
| £220 Seniors | 77 | Matthew Cartwright | £4,510 |
| £200 Closer | 69 | Aqueel Butt | £3,720 |
| £115 Ladies UK Championship | 74 | Lydia Cugudda | £2,260 |
