The Grand Final main Event held at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London was won by Paul Foltyn who was rewarded with a winners’ cheque of £167,050.

He defeated a starting field of 184 poker players and got the better of Yorkshireman Jeffrey Duvall in the heads-up.  As runner-up Duvall won the consolation prize of £96,600.  Former soccer player Tony Cascarino also made it to the final table but was knocked out into sixth place, and was rewarded £27,600 for his efforts.

Just a few days later, the GUKPT Champion of Champions ended this year’s GUKPT at the G Casino in Luton.  This event was won by Ash Hussain who took the first place prize of £20,000.

In second place was David Rudling who took the runners-up prize of £14,000.  In third place was the GUKPT 2008 leaderboard winner Marc Goodwin who was rewarded with £10,000.  Days after winning the Grand Final, Paul Foltyn put in another good performance to reach the final table and finish in seventh position.  He added an extra £4,000 to the £167,050 he had won just a few days earlier.

A total of 93 players entered this event – all earning their right to play by way of their GUKPT season performances.

The schedule for next season’s GUKPT has been announced with more prize money for the events.

The field for the Bolton event was 174 players with Cascarino fighting his way through to the final table and a heads-up final with Ali Mallu.

Cascarino was well behind in chips as the heads-up got underway but he came back to win, sealing his victory with a nut flush on the final hand.

Here are the final table finishers and their payouts:

1. Tony Cascarino (£52,850)
2. Ali Mallu (£30,600)
3. Roberto Romanello (£20,600)
4. Rob Sherwood (£14,900)
5. Kevin O’Leary (£11,400)
6. Dennis Clough (£8,750)
7. Surinder Sunar (£7,000)
8. Sid Harris (£5,250)
9. Greg Hunt (£4,400)

The GUKPT will return in October with the eighth leg being held in Thanet.  Nik Persaud is currently in first place in the GUKPT leaderboard with a 27 point lead over Marc Goodwin with Julian Thew in third place.

The players nominated are:

Glen Chorny (Canada) – Glen Chorny took the biggest prize of the season by winning the EPT’s season finale – the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final. He was also in the money in three other EPT events throughout the season but winning in Monte Carlo is what every EPT poker player wants to win the most in the season and his win earned him £1.63 million.

Bertrand Grospelier (France) – The player nicknamed “Elky” was signed to the PokerStars Pro Team to compete in the EPT season after his success in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure event. He impressed in his first season, cashing in three events including most notably the EPT Scandinavian Open where he finished as runner-up.

Jason Mercier (USA) – This American newcomer was an online qualifier for the EPT San Remo leg of the tour, and he impressed by going all the way to win his first EPT tournament. This performance has already won him a nomination for the Best Newcomer Award.

Mike McDonald (Canada) – The Canadian teenager is another player nominated for both this award and Best Newcomer. It is for his domination at the final table of the EPT German Open in Dortmund where he walked away as champion.

Julian Thew (Great Britain) – Thew is the first British player announced as a nominee for an EPT Award. Thew battled against a strong final table line-up at the EPT Baden Classic to emerge victorious and earn himself in excess of £540,000.

Nominees for the other categories will be announced before the ceremony on 9th September in Barcelona.

The award is for the best new player in the fourth season of the EPT.

The five contenders in the running are:

Trond Erik Eidsvig (Norway) - Eidsvig reached three final tables and was in the money five times in his first EPT season.

Denes Kalo (Hungary) – The Hungarian had an impressive first EPT season as he finished in second place at both the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final and EPT Baden Classic.

Mike McDonald (Canada) – This young Canadian is just another new poker talent who have made the jump from successful online poker player to successful big time tournament player.  He played impressively to win the EPT German Open.

Jason Mercier (USA) – This Florida-based player triumphed at the EPT San Remo event.

Annette Obrestad (Norway) – After claiming the main event at the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe, she has had a good opening EPT season with her highlight being runner-up at the EPT Dublin Open.

The PokerStars.com EPT judging panel will now decide the winner who will be announced at the EPT Awards ceremony in Barcelona on 9th September.

If a player wins 10 medals of the same colour beginning with the bronze, they win a cash prize of up to $700.  By winning 10 bronze medals the player then qualifies for the chance to be awarded silver medals.  Likewise, after winning 10 silver medals the player qualifies for the chance of winning gold.

There are 33 cash prizes up for grabs with a total of around $2,000 to be won.

The “Spin32Poker Olympics 08” promotion runs throughout the month of August.

Comp points earned from side games do not count toward medals and comp point requirements.