3.15pm: End of level
Join us in the next three-level post.
3.10pm: Barbero the brave
Team PokerStars pro Nacho Barbero (cut-off) and Fredrik Jensen (button) both put in 5,000 each to see a flop of 2♥ 8♥ 4♠ . Barbero bet 7,100 and Jensen made the call. The turn was the 7♣ , Barbero checked to Jensen who fired out a bet of 18,000. After a brief dwell Barbero moved all-in for just over 80,000 and Jensen turbo mucked. — NW
3pm: Today’s schedule
Originally the High Roller event was meant to last four days but all the players were quite keen to get it done in three and with no TV coverage to be filmed it was agreed. So the plan today is to play down to the final table or play till the end of level 18, whichever comes first. — NW
2.55pm: Tilt!
Matt Marifioti is on tilt, according to Roberto Romanello, though it’s not the Welshman who has made the red mist descend, no it’s friend of PokerStars Pierrie Neuville. Two hands in a row Neuville called raises from Marifioti and then bet him off the pot post-flop. ‘I’m going to raise your blind every time,’ said Marifioti, ‘And I will call every time,’ retorted Neuville. ‘You must have a lot of money,’ shot back Marifioti. Tablemates Romanello and Dan Smith were quite keen that I report this. Marifioti is down to around 47,000. — NW
2.52pm: Marifioti punished by Smith
Dan Smith and Matt Marafioti are situated in seats 1 and 9 respectively with the dealer acting as the US-Canada border. As in most North American transactions it was the Americans coming out on top (for better or worse). Marafioti opened to 6,000 pre-flop and was called by Smith in late position. Both players checked the 8♠ A♥ 9♠ flop and Marafioti checked the 10♦ turn across to Smith who took the opportunity to bet 9,800. Mafafioti called.
The A♠ on the river paired the board and brought the flush. It also elicited a large 29,600 bet from Smith. Marafioti had a long dwell up before flicking his cards towards the muck. Smith is up to 135,000. — RD
2.51pm: Bullets for Rousso
Vanessa Rousso has been one of the shortest stacks for some time but she’s started her road to recovery with a double up through Antoine Saout to 54,000. Saout tabled pocket sixes to Rousso’s A♠ A♣ . There was no hint of an outdraw and the American Team PokerStars Pro now has just over 20 big blinds. It gives some breathing space but with only the top eight paying it will still take some doing. — RD
2.50pm: Take me to the bridge?
Perched beneath Juha Helppi’s chip stack are a couple of tickets that look suspiciously like they are for the Chelsea versus Arsenal football match that kicks off at 4pm. After his recent double up Helppi may not be able to attend in person — NW
2.39pm: Helppi crushes Ainsworth
Jude Ainsworth is down to 25,000 after losing a 165,000 pot to Juha Helppi. The Team Pro took some time to call Helppi’s four-bet shove knowing there was a good chance that he could be crushed in a tournament changing pot. He finally decided to call.
Ainsworth: J♠ J♦
Helppi: K♠ K♣
The board ran out 6♣ 7♣ 3♥ 5♣ A♥ as Helppi chipped up heavily. Ainsworth was left looking a little dismayed but with enough to still force some folds. — RD
2.35pm: Chip Counts
During the break I had a quick scooch round to get some assorted chip counts, here they are:
Table 1
1 – Andrew Feldman, 177,000
2 – Vanessa Selbst, Team PokerStars Pro, 414,000
3 – Amit Makhija, 123,000
4 – Nacho Barbero, Team PokerStars Pro 87,000
5 –
6 – Fredrik Jensen, 136,000
7 – Sam Iola, 190,000
8 – Alexander Roumeliotis 115,000
Table 2
1 – Eric Seidel – OUT
2 – Antoly Gurtovoy, 124,000
3 – Fabian Quoss, 132,000
4 – Vanessa Rousso, Team PokerStars Pro, 30,000
5 – Jani Sointula, 115,000
6 – Antoine Saout, 315,000
7 – Dan O’Brien, 46,000
8 – David Peters 56,000
Table 3
1 – Juha Helppi 55,000
2 – Clayton McGuire, 255,000
3 –
4 – Andrew Robl, 200,000
5 – Shane Reihill, 100,000
6 – Jude Ainsworth, Team PokerStars Pro, 75,000
7 –
8 – Ilkka Koskinen, 160,000
Table 4
1 – Dan Smith, 125,000
2- Pierre Neuville, 100,000
3 – Michael Tureniec, 160,000
4 – Roberto Romanello 80,000
5 – Jason Somerville 165,000
6 – David Benyamine – OUT
7 – Lex Veldhuis, Team PokerStars Pro 76,500
8 – Matt Marifioti ??
2.12pm: Selbst battered but still big
Vanessa Selbst has had a torrid ten minutes and it’s all courtesy of Amit Makhija. He flopped a set against her a little while ago and he’s just shoved the river for 85,000 into a 150,000 pot. Selbst did not look happy and unfortunately I wasn’t close enough to hear what was said. The Team PokerStars Pro eventually passed.
Makhija’s shove puts him up to 235,000. Selbst has dropped to 290,000. — RD
1.55pm: Seven Up
I joined the action to see a board of 7♥ 7♦ J♥ A♥ K♣ . Andrew Robl fired out a bet of 42,000 into a pot of roughly 75,000. Clayton Maguire then moved all-in for 94,300 total. Robl tanked for a while and said to Maguire, ‘ You flop jacks full?’ Robl cut out the calling chips, he would have around 200,000 back should he call and lose, and did indeed make the call. Maguire flipped 7♠ 7♣ for flopped quads. — NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,000-2,000, 200
1.50pm: Four is the magic number
There’s a lot of four betting going on right now, two recent examples:
Hand one: Dan Smith raised from the hi-jack, then Michael Tureniec three-bet to 23,000 from the button. Smith then moved all-in and Tureniec folded.
Hand two: I joined the action to see 11,200 in front of small blind Vanessa Selbst and 28,000 in front of big blind Amit Makhija. Selbst pondered her next move and she decided to raise to around 65,000 prompting a swift fold from Makhija. — NW
1.41pm: Makhija gets paid off
Amit Makhija raised under the gun to 3,600 and was called by Sam Iola in the cut-off and Vanessa Selbst in the big blind. Makhija made 5,600 c-bet into the J♠ 3♥ 4♦ flop and was called by Selbst after Iola had passed. Makhija had about 120,000 at this point.
A 10♣ on the turn didn’t slow down Makhija who bet 14,000. Selbst sat and studied Makhija for some time. Looking down at her chips and across out of the corner of her eye at Makhija. She decided to make the call before taking around 15 seconds to check the 6♠ river. Makhija flicked out five yellow chips, worth 5,000 each, and Selbst grudgingly made the call. Makhija turned over 4♣ 4♠ for a flopped set. Nice hand, sir. Makhija is up to 175,000. Selbst is down to 340,000.
We’re down to 30 now with Eric Seidel the most recent casualty. — RD
1.30pm: Filling in the blanks
There are some big, big names left in this High Roller all jammed into four tables. Nick Wright and myself have had a quick pooling of facial recognition to come up with these names (annoyingly there are no ID cards so we’ll be badgering players to fill in the blanks as we go). What we have is as follows.
Table 1
1 – Andrew Feldman
2 – Vanessa Selbst, Team PokerStars Pro
3 – Amit Makhija
4 – Nacho Barbero, Team PokerStars Pro
5 –
6 – Fredrik Jensen
7 – Sam Iola
8 – Alexander Roumeliotis
Table 2
1 – Eric Seidel
2 – Antoly Gurtovoy
3 – Fabian Quoss
4 – Vanessa Rousso, Team PokerStars Pro
5 – Jani Sointula
6 – Antoine Saout
7 – Dan O’Brien
8 – David Peters
Table 3
1 – Juha Helppi
2 – Clayton McGuire
3 –
4 – Andrew Robl
5 – Shane Reihill
6 – Jude Ainsworth, Team PokerStars Pro
7 –
8 – Ilkka Koskinen
Table 4
1 – Dan Smith
2- Pierre Neuville
3 – Michael Tureniec
4 – Roberto Romanello
5 – Jason Somerville
6 – David Benyamine
7 – Lex Veldhuis, Team PokerStars Pro
8 – Matt Marifioti
1.25pm: Iola versus Barbero
As the title suggest Sam Iola and Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero just clashed in a big pot, one which took around 15 minutes to complete. It started whilst the blinds were 600-1200 ante 100, Barbero made it 3,000 from the hi-jack and Iola called from the big blind. The flop was 9♦ 7♦ 8♣ , Iola check-called a bet of 10,000 from Barbero. The turn was the 9♥ , Iola led for 15,400 and Barbero made the call. The river was the Q♠ and Iola put out a bet of around 54,000, essentially setting Barbero all-in. He now tanked hard, for around three minutes before mucking his hand. — NW
1.14pm: Trickett out: down to four tables
We’re down to 32 players here at the High Roller and a short stacked Sam Trickett was the man to bust and break the tournament down to four tables. — RD
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 800-1,600, ANTE 200
1.08pm: Saout and Rousso go at it
Antoine Saout opened the action from early position to 2,500 and was called in a couple of spots before Vanessa Rousso three-bet to 12,000 from the blinds. Saout re-raised to 24,800. Rousso sat and considered her options for some time before finally stacking her chips into one large tower and sliding it forward folding her hand. Nice pick up for Saout. — RD
1.06pm: Trickett crippled
I was busy paying attention to a growing pot between Vanessa Rousso and Antoine Saout so mostly missed what happened to Sam Trickett but whatever it was, it wasn’t good. It involved a flopped set and a bluff. He’s done to 8,000. — RD
1pm: Ace thief
Vanessa Selbst is still leading the event but she has taken a bad beat she tweeted ‘bad beat of yesterday: finally get personal copy of ace on the river… sometime steals it during break!’ — NW
12.50pm: Check raise takes it
It folded round to Dan Smith on the button and he put in a raise to 3,600, from the small blind Pierre Neuville made the call. The flop was Q♣ Q♥ 3♠ , Neuville checked it over to Smith who bet 4,400. In short shrift Neuville bumped it up to 11,500. Smith tanked for a couple of minutes before folding. Neuville has 80,000, Smith around 95,000.–NW
12.46pm: Selbst turning the screw on Feldman
Being second in chips is great in any tournament (bar heads up, of course) but when you have the monster chip leader to your left then that joy is stymied somewhat. That’s what’s happening here for poor ol’ Andrew Feldman. He has Vanessa Selbst to his left and even on the one hand per orbit that he does have position (the button) he’s getting attacked.
The action passed to Feldman on the button and he raised to 2,800. Selbst three-bet out of the small blind to 8,800 and Feldman eventually passed. It could get frustrating for Feldman. — RD
12.40pm: Tough tables
In a £20,000 event all the tables are going to be tough but one table in particular has a particularly eclectic mix of players and styles. Sharing a table are Dan Smith, Pierre Neuville, Roberto Romanello, David Benyamine, Michael Tureniec and Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis. — NW
12.35pm: Trickett all-in
Sam Trickett has just shipped it in from the big blind for 40,500 over a button raise of 2,800. “Did he ask for a count?” asked Trickett with a tint of aggression in his voice to the dealer who was chopping out his stack. Indeed he had. No call. Trickett is up to 45,000. — RD
12.25pm: Pagano flushed out
Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano is out, it was a short day two for the Italian. Pagano came back in the middle of the field today and with around 66 big blinds would’ve fancied his chances of going deep. However his stack of just over 80,000 is now in the hands of Andrew Robl. The two of them, along with Jude Ainsworth, saw a flop of 3♣ 5♥ 10♥ . Pagano, from the small blind, led for 4,800, next to act Robl made the call and Ainsworth folded. The A♣ fell on the turn and Pagano led again, this time for 14,500. Robl then began a long dwell up, during which he was very busy, constantly glancing at Pagano and riffling chips. After a few minutes thought Robl slid out a tower of yellow 5k chips, setting Pagano all-in. Pagano called quickly and turned over 3♦ 3♠ , Robl showed 6♥ 7♥ , the 8♥ river completed Robl’s flush and having started the day on 138,900 he is now up to just over 220,000. — NW
12.10pm: Play begins
Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst is the current chip captain in this chunky £20,000 High Roller event with less then half the field left. There’s still plenty of players to fall before the money with just eight players (the final table) getting paid. Selbst has 386,900 putting her way ahead of Andrew Feldman in second (200,100). — RD
PokerStars Blog reporting team at EPT London High Roller event (in order of distance travelled to tournament today): Nick Wright (15 metres – room to lift to tournament floor) and Rick Dacey (64 miles – canal boat to train to Hilton Metropole). Photos by Neil Stoddart.
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