6.40pm: Pre-break action for Coren
“Nice hand,” said Vicky Coren to James Orme with more than a touch of frustration.
Orme had raised pre-flop and Coren had called from the button. Orme fired all three streets on the 8♥ 6♠5♦ 6♣ Q♦ board, 1,600 on the flop, 3,300 on the turn and 6,600 on the river. Coren held on for the first two volleys but mucked on the third. The former EPT London champion is down to 33,000.
And that’s a 15-minute break. — RD
6.37pm: Bedi bust good news for Razavi
“To say I’m gutted is understatement. Out of EPT London. Never got going and played badly in one of the biggest tourneys of my life.” tweeted Rupinder Bedi who had been desperate to catch up with Sam Razavi on the UKIPT Leaderboard. Bedi cashed multiple times this season but seemed to be on the wrong side of things in those later stages. Razavi remains and will be hard to topple now – that said Chris Dowling (third on the leaderboard) is still in* the running with 32,000 as is Nick Abou Risk (fifth on the leaderboard) with 66,000. — RD
*Hmmm, I think I was passed some bad info. Dowling may have busted sometime ago.
6.35pm: Hachem on high
Joe Hachem is stretching his legs, both figuratively and literally. He’s standing, out of his chair, getting a better look at his table and allowing some blood to flow back into his feet after kneeling on his chair. A look at Hachem’s stack shows the Team PokerStars Pro to be on full speed, up not to around 80,000 and in control. It’s been no walk in the park either (either of this dubious analogy), with the likes of Dominik Nietzsche and Anton Wigg sharing his table. — SB
6.30pm: Team Pro counts from ‘that’ corner
Pat Pezzin — 19,000
Matthias De Meulder — 105,000
Salvatore Bonavena — 34,000
Angel Guillen — 32,000
Liv Boeree — 33,000
Johannes Strassmann — 6,200
Dario Minieri — 48,000
Ivan Demidov — 46,000 — MC
6.25pm: It’s like a jungle over there
There’s a corner of the tournament floor tucked away behind the TV set that is really dark and gloomy. Some of the moods of the players match the light; one being Daniel Cates.
He was down to 10,475 when he raised to 1,000 from first position. He was called in one spot before Praz Bansi three-bet to 2,600 from the button. Cates’ shook his head, looked to the canapé and folded. Bansi took the pot as the other player followed suit. — MC
6.18pm: Action from around the room
– Ivan Demidov five-bet shoved on Shaun Conning’s 6,200 four-bet to chip up to 54,000 after fircing the Brit to fold. Ben Roberts taking the tanking time to stand up and stretch while sporting a wonderful grey Hawaiian shirt.
– Bill Chen is out.
– Rupinder Bedi’s attempt to topple Sam Razavi from the top of the UKIPT Leaderboard is looking like an uphill struggle right now. He’s down to 9,000 while his neighbour Kevin Williams looks happy with around 66,000.
– Luca Pagano has been knocked out by fellow short stack Freddy Deeb after failing to connect with A♦ Q♦ over Deeb’s pocket tens. Pagano won’t be notching another mark on his EPT bedpost here in London but Deeb might yet, he’s on 15,000. — RD
6.15pm: Duhamel down
Jonathan Duhamel just took a hit after a hand against Benjamin Jenkins on a board of 9♣ 5♠3♦ Q♣ Q♥ .
Duhamel bet 14,000 in early position (after making it 4,200 to play on the turn). Jenkins was on the button. He started today with a jacket on, but is now down to shirt sleeves. His loosely knotted tie remains. It’s definitely warming up in the tournament room.
In response he shoved all-in, for 27,625 total, which was about what Duhamel had left in reserve.
“Nines or fives?” asked Duhamel, whose body swayed gently while under massage. No answer. He passed. – SB
6.10pm: Toughest ever table
Toby Lewis stood up from his table while a hand was playing out and said to us, “This is probably the toughest starting table I’ve ever had at an EPT.”
He was referring to his table that included Chris Brammer, Tristan Clemencon, Toni Judet, David Sonelin,Thomas Middleton and Nicolas Cardyn. Find the value there!
Brammer and Clemencon were the two players tangling. Brammer had opened to 875 from second position and called when the Frenchman three-bet to 2,425 from the next seat. The flop came 9♣ 4♠Q♥ and Brammer check-called a 2,025 bet.
Both checked the 5♥ turn before Brammer led out for 5,875 on the 4♥ river. Clemencon called with Q♦ 2♥ which prompted Brammer to look to the sky as his 10♥ 10♦ was beaten. That put Brammer back down to 25,000 whereas his opponent is up to 37,000. — MC
6pm: Pagano takes a hit
“Good luck man,” said Freddy Deeb as Eddy Sabat became the latest casualty in the main event, leaving a gap in the seat next to David Williams.
In the next hand Bogdan Jaworski limped in middle position before Luca Pagano raised to 1,025 from the hijack. Alexander Millar called in the cut off, as did Gavin Cochrane in the small blind and Robin Lindqvist in the big.
The flop came 3♣ 7♥ A♥ which was checked to Pagano. The Italian bet another 2,100 which prompted Millar to pass. Likewise Cochrane.
Luca Pagano
Lindqvist and Jaworski stuck around for the 5â™ turn card. They each checked leaving Pagano to bet 7,000. Lindqvist called for a river card J♣ . There was no further action. Lindqvist turned over Aâ™ J♦ . Pagano paused, then conceded, tossing his cards into the muck. – SB
5.52pm: Jonathan Duhamel
The reigning world champion speaks. He won’t be for much longer so soak it up while you can…
5.46pm: The chatty corner
I earlier overheard a dealer complaining that they weren’t a fan of dealing EPT events because the players took the event too seriously and that there was little to zero chat at the tables. They obviously weren’t at Neil Channing’s table. The Vic Regular is sat between Jeff Sarwer, who just despatched a short stacked opponent to chip up to around 75,000 with top trips, Dario Minieri and Ramzi Jelassi. None of the aforementioned players could be described as quiet, shy or retiring.
Both Channing and Jelassi are sat with around 45,000 while Minieri is lower on 24,000. Another dangerous player, Mick Graydon, is sat a few seats earlier with 17,300. The banter is coming thick and fast, some of which is probably best not repeated, but was temporarily stopped by the dealer remonstrating with Channing for placing bets on his iPhone while he was active in a hand.
Also, Johannes Strassmann’s ballistic start has come to a shuddering halt. The German Team PokerStars Pro is looking a little dejected with 11,000 remaining. — RD
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400, ANTE 50
5.30pm: Channing power
Neil Channing just ambled his way through a successful pot, raising to 1,900 after Matthijs Remie opened for 700 in early position. Remie called for a flop of Q♠7♠4♣ .
Remie checked to Channing who bet 2,325, taking the pot and moving back up towards 27,000. — SB
5.25pm: In at the deep end
An interesting table has developed where the now-Lazarus Dario Minieri, wrongly reported to be out shortly before the break, sits at one end of a table, flanked by Neil Channing and Jeff Sarwer on his right, and Ramsi Jelassi on the left.
Jelassi tangled in a recent hands, opening for 700 from under the gun, which Minieri called in the big blind after 602 also called in early position.
The flop came 7♣ J♥ 3♥ which was checked to 603 who bet 1,200. Minieri stepped aside as Jelassi called for a 8♥ turn. Again Jelassi checked leaving it to 603, who has an almost identical beard to Jelassi, to bet a further 3,100. Jelassi, irritated, mucked, saying something to those at his end of the table to comfort himself. — SB
5.20pm: Adeniya busts up Bittar
Martins Adeniya has just moved up close to 90,000 busting Ghasan Bittar in a hand that had a couple of players at their table scratching their head. What did Bittar have to keep calling? I arrived at the action as part of another aborted Blom Watch (Viktor Blom has 27,500) to see Adeniya, big blind, with 11,300 in front of him and Bittar, small blind, with a stack of 23,000. The flop and turn was out, 8♥ 6♦ 9♥ K♣ , and around 14,000 already sat in the pot.
Bittar didn’t look like a man happy with folding. He didn’t. He made the call after a substantial amount of time in the tank leaving himself little over 10,000.
The A♥ completed the flush draw and Bittar quickly and flamboyantly checked with a swipe of his hand. Adeniya, just as quickly, picked up a lump of yellow 5,000 chips and set his opponent in. Bittar waited a while, nowhere near as long as before, then made the call, slamming his remaining chips down with a thump.
Adeniya turned over 8â™ 8♣ for a set and Bittar, looking furious, left Adeniya to rake in the large pot. We said Adeniya could prove to be a handful. — RD
5.15pm: Millar the destroyer
Alexander Millar took on Eddy Sabat and David Williams in a hand and dispatched of them one-by-one.
The three had made it to a A♦ J♦ 2♥ flop and Sabat led for 1,400. Millar raised this up to 3,200 from mid-position and Williams had flat called from the big blind. Sabat folded saying, “One of those days.”
The turn came 6♥ and Williams checked to face a yellow tower bet. The Brit had slid over eight T5,000 chips over the line to set the Team PokerStars Pro all-in. Williams had 25,000 in front of him and could only admit defeat. “Destroyer”, commented Sabat.
Williams – 26,000
Sabat – 7,000
Millar – 70,000 — MC
5.05pm: Edit on Minieri
We prematurely reported in the 4.25pm: Another brick in the wall post that Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri was out. He’s not. Sorry about that. — MC
5pm: It’s all about the money
With four levels played details of the prize pool are now available. Winner of this year’s EPT London main event will walk away with £750,000, while a min-cash is worth £7,500.
1st – £750,000
2nd – £465,000
3rd – £265,000
4th – £200,000
5th – £155,000
6th – £120,000
7th – £86,350
8th – £64,000
9th-10th – £45,000
11th-12th – £35,000
13th-14th – £27,000
15th-16th – £22,000
17th-24th – £19,000
25th-32nd -£16,000
33rd-48th – £13,000
49th-64th – £11,000
65th-80th – £9,000
81st-104th – £7,500
Total prize pool – £3,351,350
4.50pm: No comeback for Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu just came meandering into the press room Tweeting on his Blackberry. That’s not a good sign when you know they were short stacked.
He explained that he was to 2,000 chips when he three-bet all-in with pocket fours. The raiser called with seven-five and hit a five. — MC
4.42pm: Before the break
Joe Hachem moved up to 62,000 just prior to the break, opening for 525 from the cut off, getting a call from Nikolaus Teichert in the big blind.
The flop came 2♣ Q♦ J♣ which both players checked for a Kâ™ turn card. Hachem bet another 850 to take the pot. – SB
4.38pm: Play set to start
The break marked the halfway point of the day. Now we begin the second 50% so let’s play on and start thinning this field. Team PokerStars Pro Victoria Coren won here in London four years ago and is still in the hunt. The payout structure should be with us soon. There’s a few snippets of info to keep you ticking over. — RD
PokerStars Blog reporting team in London (and their preferred interview technique): Stephen Bartley (studied, formal), Rick Dacey (drunk and rambling) and Marc Convey (self-referential). Photos by Neil Stoddart.
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