Goliath Reaches 6,689 Entries in Coventry
The £200 Main Event is still building fast, with Day 1c adding 1,526 runners and the record of 12,961 entries still in reach.
PokerNews’ live coverage said the 2026 Goliath had processed 6,689 entries by 11:00 a.m. BST on July 28, putting it on track to challenge its own attendance record again.
Day 1c added 1,526 runners and sent 28 players through to Day 2. The event is running with nine scheduled flights, and cards went in the air for the first flight at 11:00 a.m. BST on July 25.
The Goliath returned to Coventry from July 23 to August 2. The Main Event carries a £200 buy-in and an estimated £2 million prize pool for 2026, with the buy-in unchanged from last year.
Attendance has climbed every year since the first Goliath in 2011, apart from the COVID-19 years when the tournament moved online. The inaugural event drew 1,765 players, while last year’s Main Event set the current record at 12,961 entries and generated £1,970,600.
That 12,961-entry field also made the 2025 Goliath the 16th-largest live poker tournament ever recorded. Last year’s winner, Paul Worsley, turned a £200 investment into £316,640.
The build-up to 2026 already included more than 1,300 pre-registrations. Grosvenor also said online satellites and tickets were feeding into the flagship event, with direct routes into one of the Main Event’s nine starting flights starting at £30 and feeder satellites from £1.
The company said the Grosvenor Poker Live app supports debit card and voucher buy-ins on iOS and Android, letting players secure seats in advance. Live Event Credit from online satellites can be used across the full Goliath schedule.
A separate July preview said Grosvenor and GGPoker struck a May partnership that opened the door for GGPoker players to play satellites and online Day 1s of major Grosvenor live events, including Goliath. That same article said GGPoker offers cash boosts of up to 20% to players who qualify for a Grosvenor event or buy in using their GGPoker balance.
The preview also pointed to the Irish Open as a comparison, noting that attendance there rose from 1,880 in 2021 to 2,040 in 2022 after PokerStars began offering satellites, before reaching 5,003 entrants in 2025.
