One of the most prestigious stops on the European Poker Tour, their annual trek to London, the United Kingdom, is currently underway, with several top professionals on the felt yesterday and for Day 1B action today.
The £5000 buy in event started on Friday, drawing the crème of the poker world from both sides of the Atlantic. 280 players stepped to the felt yesterday, with such names as Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Nick Binger and former EPT champion Roberto Romanello making their way through the Day 1A minefield among the 162 survivors. Although these gentlemen were able to survive the carnage, such professionals as John Duthie, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Canadian poker sensation Xuan Liu and 2011 World Series of Poker November Niner Phil Collins were unable to make it to the Day 2 play scheduled for Sunday.
Day 1B has set off this afternoon, resplendent with professionals looking for this latest EPT crown. Several of the pros from Team PokerStars are in action, such as former World Champion Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst and Vanessa Rousso. Looking to continue his strong run of late, World Poker Tour Legends of Poker champion Will “The Thrill” Failla is in attendance, with Jean-Robert Bellande, Justin Bonomo and Annette Obrestad also along for the ride.
The early action has not been kind for some of the competitors. Negreanu hooked up in a battle with Obrestad and another player on an A-10-8 flop, with Negreanu reraising a 450 chip bet to 1550 while Obrestad got out of the way. After a King on the turn and a nine on the river – followed by checks from Negreanu and his opponent – Negreanu showed an A-J, only to be outkicked when his opponent showed an A-Q.
As play has worked to its second break of the day, there are some familiar names atop the leaderboard. The United Kingdom’s John Gale, a former champion on the WPT, locked up with Dan Shak in a hand that shifted a huge amount of chips to Gale. After a 9-6-7-2 flop and turn, Gale found the remainder of his chips in the center of the table against Shak, with John’s flopped straight (10-8) holding a tenuous lead over Dan’s flopped set (pocket sixes). Once the board blanked on the river for Shak, Gale broke the 100K mark in chips.
That hand pushed Gale into the Day 1B chip lead, but there are plenty of threats in the field for that spot on top of the mountain. Two time WSOP bracelet winner Bill Chen is in the running as well as two players who are vying for the 2011 Player of the Year award. Both Jason Mercier, who has been on a tremendous run throughout the entirety of this tournament poker year, and Sam Stein are looking to knock Gale off the top perch.
The top of the leaderboard from Friday presents some new names for poker aficionados to put into their memory banks. Ending the day on Friday with the Day 1A chip lead was Lukasz Golczyk with a stack of 211,600. He is currently the only player over the 200K level, but he faces some competition from Mustapha Kanit (152.2K), Umberto Vitagliano (143.6K) and veteran Raul Paez (136.5K). Binger is also in the Day 1A Top Ten, currently waiting for Day 2 play with an 111,500 chip stack.
There are thoughts that, once late registration is done later today, that the total field for the EPT London will exceed the 500 player mark. While an impressive field, it will fall short of last year’s record field for the EPT London, 848 players, which was won by David Vamplew. Considering that PokerStars cannot tap into the American market anymore following the “Black Friday” activities, a field of this size continues to demonstrate the strength of tournament poker internationally.
Six levels remain to be played on Saturday before the field is combined on Sunday for Day 2. It will take quite a bit of work for whoever takes the championship, as the final table is scheduled for October 6 (Thursday) next week. With that said, the eyes of the poker world will be focused on the United Kingdom over the next few days for the conclusion of the EPT London and the start in France next week of the World Series of Poker Europe in France.
