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Paul Worsely Wins Goliath 2025 – The Biggest Poker Event Outside Las Vegas
The 2025 Goliath Main Event in Coventry, England has finished and a fairytale ending gave Paul Worsely the title after an epic heads-up comeback. The Liverpool-based player, who entered the final duel with just 10% of his opponent’s chips, won the $ top prize with less than three buy-ins for the tournament in his bank account. Now he has the biggest prize of his poker career and life-changing money.
The record-setting Grosvenor Casinos Goliath Main Event is the biggest poker event outside of Las Vegas... again. Beating its own record for the largest-ever field to assemble outside Sin City, the 12,961 entries that took place in the £200 ($265) tournament played down to a winner inside the soccer stadium, as Liverpool-based player Paul Worsely won the top prize of $420,418.
2025 Goliath $265 NLHE Main Event Final Table:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Paul Worsley | United Kingdom | $420,418 |
| 2nd | Thomas Clack | United Kingdom | $288,785 |
| 3rd | Vasilica Luca | United Kingdom | $192,250 |
| 4th | Ben Parkin | United Kingdom | $133,400 |
| 5th | Velupillai Kalahmohan | United Kingdom | $91,550 |
| 6th | William Tagg | United Kingdom | $64,090 |
| 7th | Jason Smith | United Kingdom | $44,465 |
| 8th | Ryan Johnstone | United Kingdom | $31,400 |
| 9th | Keith Tuckley | United Kingdom | $22,750 |
No Chop in 2025
With all nine finalists agreeing to a chop in 2024, Grosvenor may well have been twitching at the thought of a repeat one year on in the biggest-ever Goliath Main Event. Chops may be great for the nine players who all lock up a great payday, but they’re horrible to watch for poker fans and the Maidenhead-based UK poker operator’s hierarchy must have been throwing their hats in the air when chop talk was immediately dismissed by Thomas Clack.
When the final table began, Clack had all the experience but none of the chips being the shortest stack at the table, with Worsely not far ahead of him in the counts. That soon changed, however. Keith Tuckley busted in ninth place for $22,750, before Ryan Johnson walked away with $31,400 in eighth place.
Jason Smith lost out in seventh place for a score of $44,465, before William Tagg cashed for $64,090 in sixth place. His exit was followed by that of Velupillai Kalahmohan (5th for $91,550) and Ben Parkin, who busted in fourth place for the first six-figure score of the final table in $133,400. Three-handed play continued for some time as the chip lead changed hands between each of the remaining trio until the departure of Vasilica Luca outside the final two for a result worth a career-high $192,250.
Worsley Comes from Nowhere
Luca’s exit had looked an important one from the perspective of the potential winner, Thomas Clack. All the way through the final day, Grosvenor - The Tower - had made a lot of Clack’s abilities at the felt and that he’d played so many events on the tour. They were right to do so, given his experience and ‘on brand’ personality.
Luca’s pocket nines lost to Clack’s queen-jack after the latter had come from nowhere to river a jack with Worsley holding the superior ace-queen. Clack had won with a dominated hand and had 90% of the chips in play to a fatigued-looking Worsley’s meagre pile.
With just 29 million chips to Clack’s 292 million, Worsley looked like a dead man waiting to have the electrical current connected to his chair. The hopelessness of his plight, however, seemed to jolt him into a more energetic style and he played fearless poker to double up early and played with his heart on his sleeve.
Domination Pays for Paul
With a suited nine-seven of spades, Clack moved all-in, only to be called by Worsley with ten-nine of clubs. It was an unbelievable call considering the gap between first and second prize amounted to over $130,000 but Worsley made it and after a board of J-9-3-A-T with a flop full of hearts, Clack missed a ton of outs on the river to end up the runner-up for $288,785.
For Paul Worsley, however, it was a historic victory, as he took home $420,418 looking stunned to do so. In creating a record-breaking field of 12,961, the 2025 Goliath Main Event had eight starting flights and no deal, meaning the Liverpudlian had won genuinely life-changing money.
“I’ve got £600 in me bank!” quipped Worsley in his winner’s interview. To which Phil ‘The Tower’ Heald retorted, “Not anymore!”
After being presented with a gigantic trophy, Worsley, looking more than a little fatigued by the emotion of the occasion was asked if he’ll be back to defend his title given he had planned to ‘quit poker’ before the tournament began.
“Of course,” he said. “I’ll be back next year.”
Here are the full runner-up and winner’s interviews in full as the biggest-ever tournament played outside Las Vegas concluded with drama like never before.
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