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The 2026 Goliath festival in Coventry is closing in on a new attendance record, with more than 12,000 entries already logged before the event has even concluded its opening flights. Two additional Day 1 sessions wrapped on July 30, pushing the confirmed total to 10,987 entrants.
Day 1f alone attracted 2,227 entries once re-entries were counted, making it the second-largest single flight in the tournament’s history since its 2011 debut. Just 137 of those players survived to Day 2, but none finished with more chips than Farzin Sobhanpanah.
Sobhanpanah bagged 2,100,000 chips at the close of Level 20, giving him not only the flight lead but the overall chip lead across the festival. According to Grosvenor Poker’s Facebook page, the stack is the largest Day 1 total ever recorded at a Goliath event, with some commenters noting his aggressive early-position raising style.
A turbo-structured Day 1g followed on the evening of July 30, drawing 928 entries. Ninety-one players progressed to Day 2, with John Bousfield topping that flight courtesy of a 900,000-chip stack.
With Day 1h underway on July 31 featuring 1,150 registrants, plus more than 350 names on the alternate list and another 200 already signed up for the Day 1i turbo later that evening, organizers expect the final field to surpass 12,600 entrants — edging closer to last year’s record turnout of 12,961.
Elsewhere in the festival, Brett Wilkins earned his first-ever tournament cash in dramatic fashion, winning the £440 Card Room Direct Mystery Bounty outright for £36,040 after outlasting a field of 1,076 players.
