Former European number one Ash Hussain became the inaugural Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Champion of Champions. He defeated a field of 93 players, all of whom had won GUKPT events in 2008 to claim their seats in the prestigious £75,000 invitation only tournament.

Hussain won the pot limit hold 'em Grand Prix event in November to qualify for the Champions tournament, which took place at the G casino in Luton. The tournament was unlike any other in the UK because players did not start with equal chip stacks. Players were allocated starting chips according to the size of the tournament they won to qualify for the event, and players who won more than one tournament were able to increase their starting stacks even further.

The majority of players started with the minimum of 5,000 chips, while the pre-tournament chip leader was Sam Trickett, who began play with 20,000. Trickett, the leg 6 main event champion, was the only player to win three tournaments on the 2008 tour.

The tournament also differed from most by offering participating players the chance to determine how the prize money would be distributed. Each was given a voting slip at the beginning of the tournament and offered the choice of a top heavy structure that paid nine players, or a flatter structure that rewarded the top thirteen finishers. Players voted overwhelmingly for the flatter structure, which had a first prize of £20,000.

The final table included the recent GUKPT Grand Final winner Paul "Pab" Foltyn and Marc Goodwin, the 2008 tour's player of the year, who came to the final table with an enormous chip lead and assumed control of the table early on, taking responsibility for the first four departures. But with three players left Ash Hussain and David Rudling both closed the gap and the stacks were almost level.

Goodwin was in good shape with A-K versus Rudling's K-9 but a nine on the turn sent him out of the tournament in third place. Rudling held a commanding lead over Hussain, but the 2006 European number one clawed his way back during the final stages of the competition. Shortly after 4 a.m. it was all over and Ash Hussain became the first ever GUKPT Champion of Champions. He had taken the best part of a year away from the poker tables, but this win and his Grand Prix victory in November kick-started his full time return to the game.

It's been a great second year for the UK's biggest poker tour. It started with Julian Thew taking down the opening event and becoming the first player to win two main events on the tour. World heads up champion Jeff Kimber continued the trend of pro players winning by scooping the pot in leg two, while Marc 'Mr. Cool' Goodwin notched up his first win of the year at Leg Four.

More recently there was a fairytale ending to November's event in Blackpool where night watchman Brian Clarke outlasted the pros to take home almost £100,000. Now the tour is taking a seasonal break before the third year gets underway in Brighton in January.

Once again I will be at the helm next year, performing my duties as tour manager, but that only takes a few days every month, so I have also taken on an additional task to keep me occupied the rest of the time. My new role is that of poker host at the Grosvenor Victoria casino (The Vic) in London. The capital's largest poker room now spreads games daily from as low as £1-£2 all the way up to £50-£100. Most of the action is no limit hold 'em, but pot limit Omaha and other popular games are also spread regularly.

Jonathan Raab is a poker consultant and tournament reporter. He also represents online poker site Blue Square at live poker events in the UK and Europe, and manages the GUKPT. Email Jonathan at jr@bluesq.com