Live updates from day 1a, level seven of the EPT Warsaw Main Event event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Howard Swains and Simon Young.
Click refresh to see the latest updates below. Click through to the chip count page for selected notable chip counts, updated regularly throughout the day.
Catch up on the action from earlier today: Levels 1 & 2 | Levels 3 & 4 | Levels 5 & 6
Blinds: 300-600 (50 ante)
8.20pm: Day done
Players are bagging their chips at the end of day 1a and both of the main stories come from the same table. One of them is our chip leader: Carter Phillips finished with 194,850 and is the chip leader by almost 100%. One of his closest challengers is Luca Pagano and the two of them shared the same slab of felt for quite a while today. Pagano finished with 101,575 which is not at all bad. Sandwiched between them is Clayton Mozdzen, who had 103,250.
8.10pm: Hardy not on his laurels
Dave Hardy, the PokerStars qualifier from the UK, managed a key double up just before the end of play to end up with around 21,500. His pocket sixes staying ahead of his caller’s A-8.
Hardy works on the oil rigs, and found time to chat to our video blog team a little earlier…
Watch EPT 6 Warsaw Day 1A: Dave Hardy on PokerStars.tv
8pm: Phillips crushing
Carter Phillips has now broken the 200,000 barrier, with a suspicious hole where Pierre Neuville used to sit probably contributing to that stack. With half an hour left until the end of the day, it would be very unlikely that Phillips will be caught today. But stranger things have happened.
7.50pm: Horecki plotting comeback of the year
Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki was down to his last ante and all in. Elimination seemed a formality. But somehow he has doubled/tripled/quadrupled up time and again and now sits on an incredible 8,800!
We caught his last double up just now, when he re-raised Clayton Mozdzen all-in for 4,400. Mozdzen said: “Well, this has been my lucky hand today, so I have to call,” and he duly turned over 8♥ 10♦ , someway behind, but not ever so much, Horecki’s K♥ Qâ™ . All that changed on a flop of 2â™ 5♥ K♣ which sent Horecki further ahead, and the 2♣ turn and 10â™ river changed nothing.
Horecki is still short, but his stack must seem like a mountain to him.
7.48pm: Diaz has heart(s)
Gilbert Diaz from France got all in on a 3♥ 6♠2♥ flop with the nut flush draw (he held A♥ 9♥ and was called by a player who unluckily had flopped a set of twos. The 10♥ came on the turn, and the river blanked, putting the Frenchman on 34,000.
Next hand the man with the busted set was all in for his last 3,500 with A-Q, called by Luca Pagano with pocket sixes, which made a set on the turn.
7.45pm: Giaroni making hay
There are few more cheery faces on the EPT than that of Gianni Giaroni, the Italian who first came to our attention in San Remo, where he finished 10th, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. His best result was in August, though, when he won more than €100,000 in Cannes, and he’s been smiling pretty much every moment since then. That includes now, as he’s also sitting with about 75,000 chips.
7.40pm: Miserable trip for the Mexicans
Poland seems like quite a long way away from anywhere. But imagine if home is Mexico. The Team PokerStars Pro duo of Angel Guillen and JC Alvarado were undeterred, however, and they made that long journey from Latin America to central Europe.
They’re probably not all that happy they bothered though: both are now OUT and will no doubt be heading straight along to the Warsaw Tortilla Factory (that’s not a joke (and neither is the fact that it goes by the initials WTF.).) WTF?
On the table previously occupied by Alvarado, there’s another big stack appearing. Judet Tomi has 92,000, which is right up there.
7.25pm: Break time
The remaining players are currently filing back to the tables after the last break of the day. This is the final level.
