The Grosvenor Victoria casino in central London played host to Leg 3 of the 2008 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour over the weekend, which was won by 23-year old online pro Ketul Nethwani.

He defeated a field of 424 players to take down the £119,780 first prize plus a seat in the £3,000 Grand Final, which takes place later in the year.

The winner also receives a free entry to the £3,000 Grand Final plus a seat in the Champion of Champion’s tournament; both courtesy of tour sponsor Blue Square Poker. All the final table players received an iPod Nano.

Nethwani claimed the victory after fending off 20-year old Tony Phillips in the shortest possible heads up encounter, given that it lasted for just one hand, after going into the final as a big chip leader.

The winner played a strong, aggressive and very fast game, which resulted in this being the quickest final table in GUKPT history, clocking in at only three hours.

After taking out Dan Samson in third place Nethwani held an enormous chip lead and after a good thirty seconds of deliberation he called Tony’s pre-flop all-in bet of just over 400,000 chips. Tony had A-2, but Nathwani was already in the lead with pocket fives and he stayed in front after a Q-Q-3-J-6 board was dealt out.

Ketul has been a professional online player for the last two years and rarely ventures into the live environment, preferring cash games to tournaments, but this victory has fuelled his ambition and he intends to concentrate more on bricks and mortar poker in the future.

In the post tournament interview he jovially commented that he has his sights set on picking up a couple of winner’s bracelets at the WSOP later this year.

The tour now takes a short break but the festivities will recommence in Manchester, where the 4th leg takes place between 21-27 April.

Final results:
1. Ketul Nathwani £119,780
2. Antony Phillips £69,960
3. Dan Samson £50,880
4. David Rudling £33,920
5. Maria Demetriou £26,500
6. Steve Jelinek £20,140
7. Fran Egan £15,900
8. Lloyd Rees £12,720
9. Colin Kennedy £9,540
10. Marius Hogtun £6,360