Thomas Clack Loses Grosvenor Sponsorship Over “Silly” Solver Mistake
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Having a breakout season that transitions to a professional poker sponsorship is the dream scenario. That much is true for goes British pro Thomas Clack, at least until he hit a massive, software-shaped roadblock.
Not long after being crowned the 2025 National Poker League (NPL) Player of the Year, Clack has been stripped of his £40,000 sponsorship package by Grosvenor Poker because of a ban from the iPoker network for using a solver while his poker client was open.
How that story unfolded and what both sides had to say is in this article.
A Goliath 2025 Poker Season
To understand how big of a blow this actually is, you have to look at the year Thomas Clack was having up till now. He was the “main character” of the UK circuit in 2025.
- He finished runner-up in the massive Goliath for £217,500.
- He racked up 36 cashes and 15 final tables across the GUKPT and UKPL.
- These performances earned him the top spot in the NPL and a coveted “Team Grosvenor” pro contract for 2026.
However, that all came to a screeching halt when the iPoker network (which powers Grosvenor’s online site) flagged Clark’s account for using Real-Time Assistance (RTA), or in this case, having a GTO solver open during play.
“An Honest Mistake… A Costly Mistake”
To his credit, Clack didn’t hide from the news. In a series of Instagram stories, he admitted to having the software open but doubled down that he wasn’t using it to cheat during active hands. As Clack put it:
I was just studying with GTO while I was playing. After a hand had been played, I looked up a hand to see if I’d played it well. I wasn’t using it to affect my play… It was a silly way to study.
While Clack argued that his in-game decisions, many of which didn’t follow “perfect” theory, should be proof enough that he wasn’t using the software for real-time help, the iPoker security protocols don’t usually see it that way. If the solver is open while the tables are running, it’s a violation. Clack added:
One silly mistake at the end of the year has cost me my sponsorship. I was so happy to be working with them [Grosvenor]. I’m not sure what that means for me going forward.
Grosvenor Responds
Grosvenor Poker didn’t take the decision of ending a pro sponsorship lightly, but their hands were tied by their own terms and conditions. In an official statement, the brand said:
The player… no longer met the criteria outlined in the National Poker League 2025 Terms and Conditions and therefore could not be awarded the full prize, including the sponsored player pro package.”
Specifically, Clause 53 states that a sponsored pro must be eligible to play in Grosvenor casinos both live and online. Once iPoker issued the online ban, Clack became ineligible for the contract by default.
There is a small silver lining for Thomas Clark though though: while Clack is barred from the virtual felt on iPoker, he is not banned from live events at Grosvenor casinos. He can still play the GUKPT and other live tours; he just won’t be doing it with a Grosvenor patch on his sleeve for the time being.
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