Justin Smith wins WPT London High Roller Event

04.21

And then…it was all over!

It was only a matter of time till the pair caught a flop that gave both enough to tango and with Tony G holding and Smith holding on a board…this was it!

Smith bet out, Tony G shoved for his slightly smaller stack…and Smith called immediately.

So the open ended straight draw for Tony G and top pair for Smith.

The turn was the which changed nothing and the river…was the !

Trips for Justin Smith but more importantly he wins the London WPT High Rollers Event!

He collects £141,000 for 1st place, as well as a WPT title and the knowledge that he has beaten a strong field.

It’s £84,600 and 2nd place for Tony G, who can be proud of his performance, even though he ultimately fell just short of victory.

Well played sir. It was a long, difficult final table that will have tested the players’ stamina levels to their very limits and both these men deserve admiration for their endurance as well as mad poker skills.

We will have some winner’s shots and hopefully an interview with Justin Smith up on the blog before too long, but for now thanks very much for following us during the last week as we have followed the path to crown two new WPT champions.

It’s been a blast.

Justin Smith

04.01

Smith has evened things up.

First he sees a flop of with Tony G and leads out for 30k…Tony G check-calling.

Come the turn, Tony G bets out 50k instantly. Smith raises to 165k…and Tony G calls.

The river is the and when Tony G checks Smith moves all-in!

Tony G folds pretty quickly and the big pot heads in Boosted’s direction.

Next hand he shoves over one of Tony G’s raises preflop and now there isn’t much between them…

03.51

Smith makes it 75k pre-flop, and Tony G calls.

The board comes and Tony G check calls a 75k bet from Smith.

The turn comes the and now Tony G leads out for 200k. Smith dwells for a long time, staring at the board, puzzled.

He eventually elects to lay down the hand…leaving Tony G to sweep up a big pot and take a dominating chip lead 1,322,000 to Smith’s 631,000.

03.41

Justin Smith finds pocket eights in the small blind and moves all-in.

But Tony G has found pocket kings! Quite the cooler heads-up, Tony is looking like he will double-through here and take the chip lead.

The flop is dealt out – a great flop for Smith as he now has 10 outs to overtake Tony’s advantage.

The turn is the – a brick.

The river falls….the !

Tony G avoids Smith’s many outs and that hand moves him into the chip lead with 1,113,000 to Smith’s 849,000 stack.

The twists and turns of this monumental final just continue….

03.36

So Kara Scott – who is one of the few people left in the casino still looking a million bucks following this epic 12 hour final table – introduces Tony G and Justin “Boosted J” Smith to the crowd and the heads-up is underway!

03.30

Suddenly a crucial hand!

Smith moves all-in preflop…and Deeb agonizes…before calling!

It’s for Smith and for Deeb who is covered.

The flop comes and it looks like Deeb is about to bow out.

Suddenly though, not for the first time, an ace-from-space drops the falling to leave Deeb looking at a double-through.

But then, the spikes on the river in dramatic fashion and just like that Deeb is gone!

It’s third place for Freddy Deeb and he collects £56,400. Well played sir, great stamina levels!

So we go into the heads up between Tony G and Justin Smith, with Smith holding a significant advantage – 1,423,000 to Tony G’s 538,500.

Can the Team PartyPoker Pro turn round the deficit?

Here are the top two prizes they will be playing for along with the WPT title.

1st – £141,000
2nd – £84,600

03.24

Smith made a good move moments ago, calling a raise to 67k from Tony G, only for Tony to make a 100k bet on the board.

Smith thought for a good while before quietly announcing all-in.

Tony G passed quickly and that pot saw Smith take the chip lead.

03.05

Tony G open ships with his big stack…and Freddy calls!

With the dominating ! Nice find Freddy…

The board peels out a Deeb-friendly and that levels things out a bit now, Deeb up to 706k, Tony G still marginally ahead with 744,500 and Justin Smith bringing up the rear with 508,500.

We still have no idea who this WPT London High Roller Champ will be!

02.58

Smith moves all-in for 420k and Freddy Deeb has a long time to think before folding sevens face-up!

Smith sweeps up the pot and is now just ahead of Deeb in 2nd place with 470k, Deeb down to 404,500.

02.56

Rattled by that pot, Tony G is straight back at it again, shoving for just over 500k when Freddy Deeb makes it 60k.

Deeb considers his best course of action…then makes the call!

It’s a good call – his ahead of Tony G’s and Tony taps the table to acknowledge it.

However a flop of turns the tables in the PartyPoker Team Pro’s favour and suddenly Tony G is looking at collecting the 1.1 million chip pot whilst Deeb just has two outs to respike.

The and are no use to Deeb, the pot is shipped to a smiling Tony and Deeb is knocked back to 450k…

02.52

Once again Freddy Deeb is the chip leader!

Moments ago, Freddy Deeb called a raise from Tony G with and when Tony G led out for 100k on the board, Deeb moved allin…and after a few minutes thought, Tony G called!

It was a brave call but mistaken this time, Tony G showing just for ace-high and the 950k was all Deeb’s once the turn and river came .

After flirting with elimination for some time, Deeb is back on top of the counts!

02.45

Folded to Tony G in the small blind, he understandably moves all-in from the small blind with …

However Bruno Fitoussi in the big blind instantly calls!

It’s for Fitoussi and he looks good for a double-through.

However, a board of causes a scowl to flash across the Frenchman’s face and with just two outs to save him, the on turn and river hammer the final nails in his coffin!

So the bubble bursts and the unfortunate Bruno Fitoussi is the man to fall, busted in 4th spot, just outside the money spots.

They continue playing for the title three-handed.

02.37

The new level is 12k/24k with a 3k ante and we will see if the interminable bubble can FINALLY be broken at last.

Something has to break sooner or later…

02.17

A big hand sees Tony G, Justin Smith and Freddy Deeb go three-way to a flop with , and respectively following Tony G’s opening raise.

The players check down the board till the river, but suddenly Justin Smith comes alive, deciding to make a big bluff for 135k, only to run straight into Freddy Deeb’s nut straight.

Deeb just flat calls because of the risk of a full house but that pot means Freddy Deeb, Justin Smith and Tony G are all virtually level with 550k-590k.

Bruno Fitoussi is the man most at risk with 284k.

02.13

It’s taken a long time…but finally we had our first all-in on the bubble!

Freddy Deeb ships and Tony G realises he’s doing it wide enough, he can call with !

So Deeb could bubble here…the tension is thick…

The flop falls and Deeb is looking gone, gone , gone…BUT he picks up a double gutter on the useful turn to collect a few more outs.

He’s still only a 32% shot to get out of it…but the appears on the river!

At the death Deeb is saved from a bubbly fate and now it is Fitoussi who is the shortest stack with 271k whilst a rejuvenated Deeb has a pretty pile of chips – 322k in fact.

02.05

Tony G has now ascended to the chip lead on the leaderboard…which looks as follows:

Tony G – 757,000
Justin Smith – 750,500
Bruno Fitoussi – 304,000
Freddy Deeb – 154,400

01.48

The players are just swapping blinds right now, apart from one hand where Tony G played queens very delicately, flat-calling Justin Smith’s raise preflop then checking a jack-high board all the way, even when he made the 3rd nut flush.

He was good versus Smith’s pocket sixes…

It may take two very big hands for the other three to clash but for Deeb, he really has to move soonish with just 150k…

01.39

It’s now 10k /20k/2k and Deeb is the man looking in most trouble.

01.37

Deeb is back to being short after making it 50k off 250k then passing when Fitoussi moved all-in…

01.33

Current standings:-

Justin Smith – 870,500
Tony G – 571,000
Bruno Fitousso – 277,000
Freddy Deeb – 247,500

Deeb has chipped up a little as a result of picking up the blinds several times in a row…

01.23

Blind Battles

First Tony G limps from the small blind, Bruno Fitoussi makes it 51k, but The G Man is having none of those shenanigans, insta-moving all-in.

A wry smile breaks out across the Frenchman’s face and he shakes his head and throws it away.

Feel the power baby!

Next up Fitoussi limps on Matt Dillon, sorry Justin Smith’s big blind.

Smith also moves in as the pair of bigger stacks pummel and pound the Frenchman, knowing he can’t call with Freddy still so short…

01.13

Justin Smith has started using his bigger stack to push players around now, raising a little more liberally and punishing limping.

He’s moving every upwards and is in a good position to cause havoc here, with the shorter stacks so keen to avoid being eliminated on the bubble.

He’s up to 881k and looking primed to take this trophy down right now…

01.04

We have an allin!

Tony G open ships and sends Bruno Fitoussi into the tank for quite some time…eventually he folds, although Freddy Deeb makes a quick call and Tony G is facing elimination!

for The G Man
for Deeb

The board peels out – Deeb coming close but not close enough to a key card, meaning Tony G doubles and now it is Freddy Deeb who is short and looking favourite for the bubble, having been chip leader for such a long time…

One double through makes all the difference though, and now Tony G is not far off chip leader Smith in 2nd place…

00.59

A smile across Bruno Fitoussi’s face?

What is this!

Things have turned round a little for the Frenchman, he won a pot a few moments ago by calling a raise from Freddy Deeb – the pair checking down the flop, turn and river, which came ten-high.

The pot was Fitoussi’s and things got even better as he raised it up preflop and won the blinds…he’s up to 370k and is now ahead of Tony G…

00.53

The players are taking it in turns to pick up blinds and win pots…Bruno Fitoussi has made a small recovery after shipping preflop then raising it up and shipping a seven-high flop so he is now back up to 289k and is close to 3rd placed Tony G who has 320k.

Smith and Deeb are still 1st and 2nd…

00.44

Justin Smith limps in, Deeb completes and Tony G checks his option…

The flop comes and Tony G check calls a 46k bet from Smith…Deeb passes…

The turn is the , both players check and ditto the river

Tony G opens up the for two pair which is good and Smith throws his hand away…

00.40

Tony G makes it 45k and Freddy Deeb…makes the call..

The flop falls and both players check…

The turn is the and now Deep leads out for 60k…

Tony G looks a little spaced out as he fiddles with his chips…

Then passes…Deeb rising again. Up to 621k…

00.30

The blinds have now risen to 8k/16k/2k.

Players back at the felt – let’s play out to crown our WPT London High Roller Champion!

00.27

Bruno Fitoussi makes it 35k, but Tony G puts the heat on, moving all-in…

Fitoussi continues to look a little under-the-cosh and folds, leaving him as the shortstack.

So, we’re left four-handed.

Justin Smith is the chip leader with 887,500
Next comes Freddy Deeb with 570k
Then Tony G with 325,500
and finally it’s Bruno Fitoussi with 197k.

The players are on a short break to gather their thoughts and grab a coffee or something stronger – my recommendation is triple vodka red bulls with JD chasers- before resuming to play to the title.

Here are the payouts we understand the last three will get – once the bubble bursts.

1st – £141,000
2nd – £84,600
3rd – £56,400

00.07

Justin Smith has made a great comeback – he has run very well since the spate of bustouts started, winning with that AT v the AK of Gruissem and then flopping two pair versus Deeb, but he gave himself a shot by hanging in there and not making many mistakes in the period before.

He’s just taken a huge pot off Deeb, the pair going heads-up to a flop of , Smith leading out for 66k with the .

Deeb made the call after a long dwell, spent chewing the whole time.

The turn was the and once Boosted had checked, Deeb also made a very quick check.

Come the on the river, Smith now led out for 100k, and Deeb called, only to be shown a rivered two pair in Smith’s hand – Deeb showing pocket jacks for a cautiously played overpair that had been outdrawn.

Smith the new chip leader with 887k to Deeb’s 600k . 270k and 215k for Fitoussi and Tony G respectively…

23.49

Philipp Gruissem and Justin Smith go toe-toe preflop, Gruissem moving in and Smith making the call.

It’s for Gruissem and a dominated for the bigger-stacked Smith.

The flop however comes , giving Smith an open-ended straight draw and a few more outs than he enjoyed preflop.

Still a relatively big dog to win though, he watched the turn blank as the dropped in but then crucially, the appeared to give Smith the straight and send Gruissem to the rail in 5th looking a little disappointed having returned to this final as the chip leader.

So that hand brings us to the bubble!

These are the stacks with history beckoning. At least it will be once someone has slapped it in the face and woken it from its slumber.

Freddy Deeb – 866,000
Justin Smith – 501,500
Bruno Fitoussi – 274,000
Tony G – 272,500

23.44

Another elimination?

Surely not?

YES!

Jason Gray had virtually nothing left – his last few chips going into the middle with 8-4, in a pot also contested by Tony G and Freddy Deeb.

The board was ace high with two spades and Tony G cut out 100k, only for Deeb to move all-in!

Tony G looked disgusted but threw his hand away and Deeb showed down for pretty much the nuts.

A was the actual nuts, Deeb making a flush to ship another huge pot and send Jason Gray to the rail.

So 6th spot for Gray.

Eight and a half hours with nothing then three quick-fire eliminations.

Er, make that four!

23.40

Another exit!

This is incredible – two eliminations in 8 hrs and 40 minutes – they’re like buses…in the middle of the Sahara…

Anyway it wasn’t a mirage, we saw with out own eyes Emeline Boich put her last chips into the middle with when Tony G made it 35k.

Everyone else folded and Boich was flipping – allin once again.

This time her run good had run out – the board looking momentarily threatening as she picked up a turned flush draw but ultimately running out – in Tony G’s favour.

Good game Emeline! She finishes up in 7th spot…

23.35

Freddy Deeb – 734,000
Tony G – 392,000
Justin Smith – 391,000
Bruno Fitoussi – 263,000
Phuilipp Gruissem – 161,500
Justin Gray – 24,000
Boich – 16,000

We’re astounded to see anyone blind down to less than 2 big blinds at this level. It’s incredible!

23.32

With the blinds rising high now, there will be a flurry of allins as players are forced to play more marginal hands than the premiums many of them have been waiting for.

However, we just saw two premium hands collide as Justin Smith found and moved all-in, only for Freddy Deeb to snap him off with pocket tens.

A big flip for Smith, he looked to be joining the rail as the board fell but with one card remaining to keep his hopes allive, he saw the dealer peel off the !

An ace from space means he wins that race. Well done Justin Smith, up to third in the new chip counts whilst Deeb’s big stack has a little dent.

New counts will appear shortly…

23.26

We are now at 6k/12k/1k.

And then incredibly, after 135 hands…we had an elimination!

It took two pocket pairs to cause the damage, Jason Lester shipping 135k with pocket sevens, only for Tony G to wake up with queens behind him.

An easy call for the G man, but everyone really expected a seven to spike and the shortstack to survive as has been the way of this final.

But no!

A board of was safe for Tony G, meaning Jason Lester is our first elimination. He wins nothing for his eighth place finish.

Good game!

23.22

Fitoussi’s Back!

He’s cut an unhappy figure at the felt for much of this evening, feeling things weren’t going his way but moments ago, he got a lifeline…

Holding pocket nines, he elected to just flat call a raise from Jason Gray.

When the flop fell , the flop seemed tailor-made for Fitoussi but when Gray pushed he tanked…

It’s been such a tight final we wouldn’t have been surprised to see him fold an overpair, but he made the call, and caught Gray at it with …

The turn and river came baby cards, meaning Fitoussi won the pot, and was boosted back to 285k…

Meanwhile Gray was left with just 34k…

23.22

Fitoussi’s Back!

He’s cut an unhappy figure at the felt for much of this evening, feeling things weren’t going his way but moments ago, he got a lifeline…

Holding pocket nines, he elected to just flat call a raise from Jason Gray.

When the flop fell , the flop seemed tailor-made for Fitoussi but when Gray pushed he tanked…

It’s been such a tight final we wouldn’t have been surprised to see him fold an overpair, but he made the call, and caught Gray at it with …

The turn and river came baby cards, meaning Fitoussi won the pot, and was boosted back to 285k…

Meanwhile Gray was left with just 34k…

23.14

Deeb Gets Bigger

Small in stature, big in heart and even bigger in chip stack, everyone loves Freddy Deeb and right now he has everyone just where he wants them.

Moments ago, he has on a board and induces a bet from Philipp Gruissem, who bets out 28k, only for Freddy to make the call.

They check the rivered and Gruissem shows for bottom pair but once again Freddy is best and he extends his already dominant chip lead to 833k…

23.06

Deeb wins another pot, betting Fitoussi off a ten-high board.

Fitoussi seems to say “wow” in a very frustrated looking way whilst Deeb is just chewing gum and taking names, well chips.

Whatever, the winner of the Paris WPT High Rollers is favourite to add another WPT title to his resume right now…his stack 771k…the next biggest is Tony G with 276k.

That’s some chip lead…

23.04

This is apparently a WPT record. No surprise there. We are now 8 hours into the final…and not one player has succumbed.

It is unbeleivable but we can tell the turning point is very close now…some of these players will have to start gambling soon with the blind pressure starting to bear down on them like a building tsunami.

When will the dam walls crack?

23.00

Bruno raises it up to 30k, only for Tony G to re-pop him to 135k whilst laughing.

Fitoussi isn’t laughing – he has to throw his hand away and looks pretty grumpy about it…

Tony G up to 2nd in the counts…

22.53

Deeb has a stranglehold on the chips at the moment…his 690k stack increased yet further when he raises the blinds and faces no resistance…711.5k now.

The next stack is Philipp Gruissem with 249,500.

22.52

A quick reminder of the blinds (5k/10k/1k) and of the prize pool.

1st – £141,000
2nd – £84,600
3rd – £56,400

22.50

An all-in and a call!

We think Jason Lester raised it up on Emeline Boich’s big blind with so when she shoved for her stack of 44k, he had to make the call, although he knew he would be behind…

He was, but wasn’t in bad shape as Emeline “just” had – at the bottom end of her 4.4 big blind re-shoving range…(ahem)

Anyway the flop comes with something for everyone putting Emeline in the lead but giving Lester that flush draw to get him out.

The turned gives him another few outs, but given the pattern of the day, it is no surprise when a blank appears on the river to secure Bioch’s double to 92k (9 big blinds.)

Lester now in a bit of trouble with 132k…

22.44

Jason Lester raises it up to , Philipp Gruissem requests a count of his stack…then moves all-in!

Back to Lester, he blinks rapidly at his cards – not looking a happy fella – before spinning them to the muck…

The icicles are beginning to melt from Gruissem’s chips…

22.38

The blinds are now up to 5k/10k with a 1k ante…

All eight players remain – no one is willing to get knocked out.

It’s an attritional battle and really it’s anyone’s game, although Freddy Deeb is the current chip leader – out in front with 655,500.

Here are the full chip counts:-

Freddy Deeb – 655,500
Bruno Fitoussi – 279,000
Jason Gray – 233,000
Tony G – 226,000
Philipp Gruissem – 193,500
Jason Lester – 189,000
Justin Smith – 138,500
Emeline Boich – 52,000

22.14

Smith opens with and the short-stacked Jason Gray makes a small – suspiciously small – looking re-raise to 45k.

Smith makes the call and they go to a flop of – giving Smith the nut flush draw.

No surprise then when Gray bets out, Smith moves all-in, but Gray is too short to pass any holding and calls with for pocket cowboys.

He needs to fade a club to survive and even though turn and river are black ,the and appear and Gray survives!

No one will die in this game – that’s Gray back to 212k anbd Smith down to 141,500.

We’ll be back with fiull chip counts following the end of that level in just a moment…

22.09

Deeb calls a raise from Philipp Gruissem, whose stack is heading South so fast, icicles are starting to form on some of his towers.

The flop comes and both players check.

The turned however prompts Freddy to lead out for 40k and Gruissem takes little time to spin his cards into the muck.

We think we see a penguin’s head pop out from behind his 5k chips…

22.02

We have action!

When we saw Justin Smith raise to 20k, then the rocky Lester re-raise to 55k, nothing could have surprised us more when Boich also made the call all-in for her 24k stack.

Smith looked unsure but eventually threw his hand away for the additional 35k leaving Boich fighting for her tournament life against Lester’s hand.

Emeline Boich –
Jason Lester –

So Lester looked like he was about to deliver the first knockout blow of the evening – his pocket cowboys a big favourite to take the pot.

The flop came … !

A single bullet spiking on the river makes all the difference to Boich who smiles broadly as she sweeps up the 80k pot that sees her triple through…to ten big blinds!!!

Is the comeback of the century on the cards – or will she fold down to 3 big blinds once more?

Stay tuned to find out!

21.52

Fitoussi has become very short now with less than 75k and he now open-ships all-in to collect the blinds or double-through.

Jason Gray makes a quick call however for 74k – around 40% of his stack – only for Justin Smith to boost up the price to pay as he ships his 368k stack into the middle.

Folded to Gray, he tanks for ages despite seeming to be committed, before folding his hand leaving himself just 108k.

That leaves Fitoussi fighting for a juicy pot, with Gray’s additional dead money in it – and he is in good shape!

He has versus the of Smith and it’s a flip (or a 56%-44% shot in Fitoussi’s favour to be more accurate.)

The flop comes and Fitoussi has won the flip! a 238k pot brings him smack bang back into contention whilst it is now Gray with 108k and Emelie Boich,who has folded down to 3 big blinds who are most at risk at this stage.

21.35

Jason Gray raises it up to 22k and both Freddy and Tony G call it.

The flop comes and a smallish looking bet of 25k from Gray is called by Deeb…before Tony G looks at his hand and throws it away…

The turn is the and now both players check.

Come the river again it goes check, check, leaving Gray to turn over just for a busted straight draw – whereas Freddy also shows a missed straight draw, but crucially he has for the pair of tens.

Another big pot for Deeb and he is now a big chip leader with 636k…

21.19

The blinds have just gone up incidentally to 4k/8k/500 and incredibly all the remaining combatants are left.

Emeline Boich and Bruno Fitoussi are the players most in need of a quick double-through with 6 and 13 big blinds apiece…

21.15

An interesting hand!

Freddy Deeb raises it up to 22k pre-flop, and Tony G makes the call. Emiline Boich in the big blind doesn’t find AA+ so folds for the additional 16k and we are heads-up.

The flop falls and Deeb bets out 30k…which Tony G calls…

The turn is the and now Deeb makes a quick check. Tony also checks behind.

There’s an intensity around this hand that hasn’t been there for many of the hands we have watched.

The river is an apparently blank and Deeb now cuts out 80k which he pushes over the line.

Tony G looks uncomfortable and doesn’t like it but makes the call and we discover their hands.

Aces for Deeb! Queens for Tony G! Tony did well to avoid losing more really but he is knocked back down into the hunting pack whereas for the first time, we have a new chip leader in Freddy Deeb.

Here are the new counts following that bombastic hand…

Freddy Deeb 511,000
Tony G 285,000
Jason Gray 277,500
Justin Smith 257,000
Philipp Gruissem 256,000
Jason Lester 234,500
Bruno Fitoussi 122,000
Emeline Boich 56,000

21.04

Alex Gruissem is bleeding off chips right now…

The last hand saw Freddy Deeb greedily take a share of them as the pair went heads up to a flop of .

Gruissem bet out 17k and Deeb pondered…then made the call…

The turn was the and now Deeb bet out 50k.

We think Gruissem is passing but then he surprises us all by calling!

A huge pot brewing…

The river is the and now Deeb cuts out 125k…which he pushes over the line, only for Gruissem to muck his hand pretty quickly.

Hmmm….

20.59

20.55

Freddy Deeb opens for 21k, only for Jason Gray to three-bet to 93k.

A sombre-looking Deeb tanks for a minute before dumping his hand – Gray sweeps up another pot.

We’re sorry we haven’t been able to bring you too many interesting hands today…it’s just the way it’s played out!

Hopefully though things will change over the next few hours.

Next hand Tony raises to 15k preflop and Jason Lester checks his hand a couple of times…then makes the call.

Come the flop however, Lester had “check-fold” ticked as he checked then sent his cards into the muck immediately when Tony made his usual c-bet.

20.49

Although the players have been civil with each other tonight with some friendly banter and jokes, there is some history between at least two of the combatants out there.

Tony G has riled up many an opponent in the past and numbered amongst his various nemesises is one Freddy Deeb who exploded at the G man during the 2009 WSOP.

We don’t like to re-open old wounds but we were entertained by this piece of poker history.

Watch it for yourselves.

20.41

Deeb decides to get aggro in the next hand however, seeing Jason Gray raise to 16k and Justin Smith flat-call, he now pops it up to 61k.

It looks like a squeeze and once Gray mucks his hand, Smith spends sometime thinking about whether to do something with this before he ultimately throws his hand away.

New Chip Leader!

Minutes ago, Gruissem raised it up to 15.5k and Tony G made the call.

The flop falls , Tony G checks and Gruissem fires a 21k continuation bet.

Then the fireworks begin!

Tony G check-raises to 60k and after some thought Gruissem decides to make the call.

Tony G bets out 85k in the dark and the turn comes the …

Gruissem looks a bit confused and throws away his hand, leaving Tony G as the new chip leader with 360k…

20.30

It’s been an incredibly tight final table.

Alex Gruissem, Tony G and Jason Gray are the only players who have been making a move or two really.

Moments ago we get a rare three-bet, Gruissem re-raising Tony G when he makes it 15.5k to 40.5k.

Tony stares him down…but passes…

20.22

Freddy Deeb pops it up to 16k and Philipp Gruissem is the only opposition, calling from the big blind for the additional 10k.

The flop falls .

Gruissem checks – Deeb also checks.

The turn is the

Once again the unrelenting aggression continues as both players check it down.

The river is the and you can guess what happened.

Showdown – and Gruissem turns up for jacks and nines whilst Deeb just has pocket deuces.

Another pot for Gruissem who maintains his chip lead with just udner 400k now. Deeb looks a little surprised at his holding…

20.18

Blinds are 3k/6k/500 now. 8 Players remaining.

19.03

Chip Counts at the break:

Philipp Gruissem 381,600
Freddy Deeb 337,200
Tony G 292,800
Jason Lester 270,700
Jason Gray 233,200
Justin Smith 231,100
Bruno Fitoussi 167,400
Emeline Boich 87,500

19.00

Deeb and Fitoussi tangled moments ago.

Fitoussi raised from the cutoff with pocket eights to 11k, only for Deeb to re-raise from the small blind to 25k with aka the nuts…

Fitoussi made the call, and the flop came out – the Frenchman spiked a set.

Would we see out first elimination of the day?!

Deeb checked and Fitoussi bet a largish 40k…

Deeb called quickly and the pair saw the fall on the turn – an action-killing card, which proved the case as both players now checked, fearing the straight.

Finally the crucial river was the – Deeb re-spiking to gain the advantage!

He lead out for a tiny 10k and although Fitoussi didn’t look happy and tanked for a while, he was always calling and did so with his set, only to discover Freddy had got there in the end.

That was one of the last hands before the break. The players are now off for an hour to eat some food but we’ll see you back for the playdown then.

18.49

Tony G raises to 15k, and Emeline Boich makes the call quickly…

Come the Boich is staring at Tony G before she asks, “have you checked.”

“No, I’m on the button. It’s you to act,” laughs Tony.

Boich checks, The G Man bets 22.5k and she quickly folds.

Tony G continues to laugh as he sweeps up the chips…

18.48

There is some debate about whether Justin Smith looks more like Matt Dillon or Paul Zimbler.

We are going down the Matt Dillon route. Any thoughts?

18.40

Here are the present standings…Gruissem jumped back into the chip lead after three-betting Tony G successfully moments ago.

Philipp Gruissem 381,600
Tony G 287,800
Bruno Fitoussi 263,900
Jason Lester 253,700
Jason Gray 248,700
Justin Smith 215,600
Freddy Deeb 150,700
Emeline Boich 109,000

18.14

It looked like it might take a cooler to cause our first elimination and we thought we just had that…

Philipp Gruissem raised it up to 12.5k and Emeline Boich now made it 16.5k. It was an under raise however and after some confusion, she was told she could make it 20k minimum, which she did indeed count out and push past the line.

It looked like a pretty big hand.

But what’s this?

Freddy Deeb behind springs into action like a ninja, making it 60k. Boich thinks and thinks for some time – requests a chip count from Deeb…

…but then passes.

Deeb picks up the pot and we remain 8 handed.

18.07

Emeline Boich hasn’t played many hands so there was little question of anyone three-betting her opening bet of 11k when she cut out a raise.

However Fitoussi and Smith both make the call…

The flop falls and Boich bets out 15.5k…which is enough to dissuade a slightly dubious-looking Fitoussi and Smith who both pass, enabling her to chip up a little more…

18.05

Blinds 2.5k/5k/500…8 players are left and a quick reminder of the prize pool.

1st – £141,000
2nd – £84,600
3rd – £56,400

17.50

Gray Battles With The G Fours

Jason Gray raises it up to 11k with pocket sevens, only for Tony G to make the call with pocket fours.

The flop comes and both players check.

On the turn, Tony G bets out 16k to take the pot down, but Gray is going nowhere, calling him quickly with a shrug under his baseball cap.

The G looks resigned to giving up on this pot when the rivers, checking back and Gray also checks revealing the superior hand and collecting the 60k pot…

The end of the level means they have coloured up all the 100 chips as the ante is now 500….

17.40

Fitoussi raises it up to 14k with the speculative and Justin Smith calls with the also speculative .

The flop falls a Fitoussi-friendly but when Smith checks, he makes a cautious check also.

The turn is the …again both players check.

The river is the and Smith checks, but Fitoussi is in no mood to chase this pot, checking behind and seeming to give up on the pot.

When Smith announces ten-high, Fitoussi is amazed, nearly falling off his seat not for the first time this afternoon.

His pair of sixes is good and he sweeps up the 30k pot and straightens his chair again…

17.31

Tony G has been busy chipping up througout the final and has now overtaken the chip leader Alex Gruissem.

Here’s the current counts:-

Tony G – 383,800
Philipp Gruissem – 357,300
Bruno Fitoussi – 336,000
Jason Gray – 295,800
Jason Lester – 259,800
Justin Smith – 160,800
Freddy Deeb – 159,800
Emeline Boich – 47,300

17.26

A special guest has turned up to rail the High Rollers Final – Tom “durrrr” Dwan appearing, causing quite a commotion amongst the watching media.

We’ll try and grab a few words with Dwan during a quiet moment – to get his thoughts on WPT London as well as the many tournaments that are coming up over the next few weeks in London…

17.14

Action!

Tony G makes it 13k…then Emeline Boich moves all-in for her small stack!

However behind her Bruno Fitoussi wakes up with …he’s going nowhere and re-raises to isolate Boich which works as planned when Tony G bows out.

Emeline however turns up and suddenly is racing for her tournament life.

A flop of is more useful to Boich than Fitoussi and she survives the all-in encounter to double through to 55,700…she’s back in with a shout having waited patiently all through this final table.

The game continues with all 8 starters still hanging in there…

17.05

Jason Gray has been one of the most frequent raisers so far…and he continues this trend, raising twice since the breaks and picking up the blinds uncontested before gesturing to his friends in the crowd jubilantly…

17.02

We’re back with the blinds at 2k/4k/400 and all of our original 8 still remaining.

The first hand sees Fitoussi raise Freddy Deeb’s limp to 15k – only for Deeb to move allin for 100k…

Fitoussi laughs…then folds…Deeb up to 124k…

17.00

We’re just re-starting but in the break we had a word with Freddy Deeb…

“Nothing’s happening just yet,” he told us, before Jesse May appeared prompting Deeb to tell a story.

“We were in Barcelona, I was dressed up in a smart suit and had €60,000 on me and I saw a car pull up, then Jesse May jumped out. I walked over to say hi, and while we were speaking some other guys came over to Jesse and started hu60gging him, so I walked away to let them socialise.

A few minutes later Jesse came over to me and said, “Do you know those guys…? They just stole my wallet!”

“Yes, I do. I hired those guys,” joked Deeb.

“It was ridiculous,” said Jesse. “There I am with €35 in my pocket and they get me not Freddy who has €60k! They picked the wrong man!”

16.41

The players are just taking a 5 minute break.

We’ll be back in a moment…

16.36

A stern looking Emeline Boich hasn’t played a hand today but then suddenly, shockingly, she moved allin for her remaining 18k!!

Bruno Fitoussi was so amazed he almost fell off his seat and made a huge fuss before throwing away his rags…which set off a quick chain reaction of folds…

Boich sweeps up the blinds to move her up to 24k and for a moment the stern expression is replaced by just the hint of a smile…

16.30

Jason Gray pops it up to 8k, getting a call from Freddy Deeb and Bruno Fitoussi.

When Gray fires out 21k on the board however, all resistance melts away and he is left sweeping up the 25k pot…

16.28

Here are the current standings:-

Philipp Gruissem – 429,000
Bruno Fitoussi – 392,800
Tony G – 339,000
Jason Gray – 265,400
Jason Lester – 257,900
Justin Smith – 177,000
Freddy Deeb – 104,000
Emeline Boich – 25,100

16.22

Freddy Deeb and Bruno Fitoussi just had a battle moments ago…Deeb raising it up with – Fitoussi making the call.

The flop fell – Deeb led out for 11.5k and now the Frenchman sprang into action – raising it up to 25k…

Deeb was having a tough time making a decision this hand – continuously munching on apples and bananas as he made his decision…

Finally he made the surprising decision to fold top pair, top kicker…

We can’t reveal Fitoussi’s hand but it was certainly very interesting how that hand played out…

Fitoussi cracked a big smile as he swept in another pot to cement 2nd place in the chip counts…

Speaking of which, full counts to follow…

16.02

Emeline Boich started with a short stack at the opening of the final, and by being blinded and anted away she is now down to 33k – with just 11 big blinds, she will have to make a move soon if she is to keep herself in with a chance of success here…

Just a quick reminder of the payout structures. The top 3 will be paid as follows:-

1st – £141,000
2nd – £84,600
3rd – £56,400

15.58

A moment ago, Smith made his first move, watching Tony G raise to 6k and Philipp Gruissem flat call – he didn’t mess about – moving allin for 160k.

Both players passed pretty quickly…

15.56

Although Deeb pwned Gray in that pot, he got some chips back moments ago, calling a raise to 6.5k from Jason Lester, Justin Smith also calling.

Strangely Tony G then made what was a very small raise…an additional 6k ensuring all 3 players made the call re-flop and we were four handed to the flop.

A flop of saw all three check to Tony G who bet out 11k…Gray making the call….

The turned and rivered were both checked down – Gray turning over to take the pot down and having a laugh with the audience in what seems a very good-tempered final.

15.46

First blood to Freddy Deeb, in what was a very interesting hand.

The hand saw Jason Gray raise it up to 6.5k preflop, only to be called by Freddy Deeb.

When the flop fell , Deeb fired out 8k, and Gray after thinking for a few moments, made the call.

The turn was the , and once again Deeb was in the mood to fire….making it 20k this time.

The river came the and after thinking for a few moments Deeb bet out 22k – a smallish bet given the size of the pot – looking like it might be milky…

Well, Gray decided he would be paying off Deeb’s value bet so folded what was a very big holding.

Deeb however turned over for a cheeky triple-barrell bluff and had a good laugh over it whilst Gray looked amazed at the gall of the man

A fun start…

15.29

HIGH ROLLER FINAL TABLE:

The WPT Main Event was settled yesterday, Jake Cody a thoroughly-deserving winner in what was a very high-quality, enjoyable final.

Today it’s the turn of the High Rollers to make their mark at the London WPT title and a cracking line-up suggests we are in for an equally enthralling final.

Here’s how they will be lining up when they begin play in a few moments…

Philipp Gruissem – 545,300
Bruno Fitoussi – 317,900
Jason Lester – 279,000
Tony G – 273,800
Jason Gray – 236,600
Justin Smith – 178,300
Freddy Deeb – 120,800
Emeline Boich – 40,300

Kara Scott has just introduced the players and…we are off!

14.54

The blinds are 1.5k/3k/400 at the moment…

23.18

We’ll be back tomorrow at 3PM GMT for more regular updates from the WPT London High Roller Event.

23.08

Day 2 of the WPT London £15,000 High Roller event got under way just after the main event guaranteeing that the onlooking railbirds would be served a right royal poker treat. We started with a field of twenty of the finest high-stakes player last night and through the early hours we were eventually left with twelve runners left.

Sitting down at the remaining two tables were the likes of PartyPoker’s very own Tony G, the always colourful Freddy Deeb, the ACFPoker.frand online phenomenon Justin ‘BoostedJ’ Smith. With such illustrious talent on show the tables proved to be extremely lively, not only were we treated to aggressive playing styles but with such familiar faces sitting down next to each other the chat was just as lively!

Day 2 was scheduled to play down to eight for the televised final table which will begin on Sunday. Kicking off just metres from the £5000 final table play started off in unusually slow fashion, maybe it was the relatively early start for our notoriously night loving poker people, but once they had warmed up we were back to the banter-filled play of yesterday.

Play lasted only a couple of hours as Phillip Gruissem and Bruno Fitoussi continued to dominate. Four players soon departed including Frank Kassela and Andrew Robl. We spoke to Bruno Fitoussi soon after the table broke for hte day to hear his thoughts on the High-Roller event and how he sees tomorrow final table panning out.

Chip Counts; By seat order
TONY G 274,000
PHILIP GRUISSEM 545, 600
EMELINE BOICH 40, 600
BRUNO FITOUSSI 318, 200
JASON GRAY 236, 900
JUSTIN SMITH 179, 800
JASON LESTER 281, 700
FREDDY DEEB 121, 100

00.45

Here are the final twelve with their chip stacks.

Alexander Gruissem 473,500
Andrew Robl 287,800
Jason Lester 220,900
Freddy Deeb 208,200
Tony G 205,200
Justin Smith 181,100
Wayne Boich 109,300
Bruno Fitoussi 90,400
Frank Kassela 86,400
Jason Gray 77,600
Emeline Boich 70,800
Igor Kurganov 52,700

And lest we forget, these are the prizes they will be playing for.

(Just three paid remember.)

1st – £141000
2nd – £84600
3rd – £56400

So that’s it for today!

We’ve had another interesting day at the Palm Beach with the final set in the WPT Main Event and 8 levels played out in the High Roller, including some interesting Schwartz on Tony G action.

We’ll leave it there for now but thanks for following and be sure to hit us back tomorrow at 4 p.m. for the resumption as we take the next step to crowning the WPT London High Roller Champ.

See you there!

00.39

Also busto is Abishek Khaitan who made the foolish mistake of taking on Tony G toe-to-toe.

Are you insane?

Anyway the G man was in no mood to step aside when the shortstacked Khaitan took him on, especially as he’d flopped a set of sixes.

Just the flush draw for Khaitan but no dice. He bricks the river and hits the rail.

Good game.

And that bust was one of the last of the evening!

We are left with 12 players still contending the title and following up shortly will be their chip stacks.

Hold tight…

00.14

Well, you wait all evening for a bust…then three come along at once(said the actress to the bishop.)

Anyway, bad jokes aside, we have just lost both Heather Sue Mercer AND Abishek Khaitan in the space of minutes, nay seconds.

Heather Sue Mercer was out as a result of tangling with with Jason Lester.

The pair liked the so much they got all their chips into the middle, Mercer holding for the flush draw whereas Lester had the made hand with .

A turned looked to have redeemed Mercer and there will have been many male fans cheering on the sidelines as she looked set to book a double through.

However their cheers will have been strangled in their throats as the board paired to send her to the rail, a simple but crucial appearing to crush her chances like a polo beneath a boulder with four overweight elephants on top of it.

Or something.

Anyway next up, the second elimination!

00.00

Another big name has just fallen – Jeffrey Lisandro bowing out to the increasingly big-stacked Alexander Gruissem.

We joined the hand on the turn of a board where Lisandro had moved all-in and was called by Alexander Gruissem.

Gruissem showed down for merely top pair but it was a pretty brave and in the end correct call as Lisandro could just table the semi-bluffing…but still strong for second pair and the nut flush draw.

With lots of outs to hit the 2009 WSOP Player of the Year, Lisandro saw the river blank out in the form of the meaningless and we had lost a star name from the roster…just 14 players remaining with 30 minutes on the clock before they tie things up.

23.37

The current chip counts:

Tony G 249,000
Andrew Robl 183,000
Andrew Robl 183,000
Justin Smith 160,000
Alexander Gruissem 138,400
Igor Kurganov 118,700
Freddy Deeb 118,700
Bruno Fitoussi 115,000
Jason Lester 115,000
Wayne Boich 105,000
Heather Sue Mercer 90,000
Emeline Boich 80,000
Jason Gray 75,100
Abhishek Khaitan 45,000
Frank Kassela 41,000

23.08

Just a reminder there are 15 minutes left of LEVEL 7 – BLINDS 500/1k – ANTE 100 and 15 players remain with the tournament scheduled to run till the end of level 8.

23.06

No Luke For Schwartz

It’s all over for Schwartz and Tony G was the man who sent him packing.

The pair were heads up to a board, Tony G led out and Luke raised – Tony made the call.

The turn was the and now Shwartz bet out for 15k, leaving himself about 50k back.

Again Tony G made the call…

The river proved very interesting as now Tony G checked and Schwartz went into the tank for some time.

When he finally made his decision, he announced all-in for his remaining stack and Tony G made a quick call.

“Yeh you’ve probably got me,” said Schwartz, who turned up ace-queen for “top,top.”

“Kings,” said Tony G. “Unlucky.”

“Nah you probably don’t even call with king-queen there,” said Schwartz. “It was a bad shove. Ok guys, good game good luck.”

So two of the bad boys of poker get involved and Tony G comes out the winner. He’s up to 249k now but full chip counts are to follow…

22.35

We also spoke to Luke Schwartz.

“I’ve got 100k right now. I haven’t really had any big hands.”

He explained about the hand where he lost 15k on the river to Bruno Fitoussi.

“I had aces that hand. I was going to check-raise the river, then he bet out so big I just called. I couldn’t really put him on 9-T because he checked the flop, then just called my bet on the turn.”

We also investigated the story of “trousergate” a little further.

“Yeh this guy came up to me and told me to stop putting my hands down my pants, which I wasn’t doing. I’ve got this hand exerciser at the table [ we can verify this is the case] and I was just using that but I guess someone thought it looked weird.”

So there you go. All is not as it seems in Schwartz-world sometimes!

The game continues with Alex Guissem maintaining the chip lead with 220k or so.

22.30

We spoke to a few of the big hitters in this competition during the break, including some choice words from the ever-controversial Luke Schwartz.

Firstly though, let’s clear up the details of Huck Seed’s exit.

Huck had just lost a pot to Boosted J, and Andrew Robl raised it up pre-flop to 2.2k on 400/800 only for Huck to make it a straight 10k – looking like he could possibly be tilting.

Robl made the call and the flop came x.

Huck bet out and Robl smoothed called the pair going heads-up to a turn.

Now Huck checked and Robl bet the pot…enough to set Huck all-in.

Seed made the call with for the overpair and flush draw, but he was in a little trouble as Robl had flopped trip nines.

There was no heart or king on the river to bail him out and thus he was eliminated and Robl left with a big stack.

Thanks to BoostedJ for filling us in on this hand. Smith is pretty happy with how the first 6 levels have gone – up to 160k at this stage.

22.05

Ian Munns has finally expired, his evening of torture all over.

His final hand saw him seem to snap, seeing Luke Schwartz raise under the gun to 2k, only for Khaitan Abhishek to re-pop him to 5.5k.

Munns now decided to go all-in, Schwartz folded and Abishek made the call with pocket tens.

Meanwhile Munns could only show the rather inferior .

With the board coming he could do no better than spike a pair of nines on the river, meaning his day is done as he is now out, following hot on the heels of Sandor Demjan – “the richest man in Hungary” – who become just a little poorer when he busted out a few moments previously.<

21.48

Tony G just got into conversation with Luke Schwartz about his efforts to get Isildur to play in the PartyPoker Big Game, as revealed in the blog some time ago.

This could have been a big moment for the world, but sadly Isildur pulled out just at the last minute – meaning the revelation of his true identity has been put on ice once more.

“When will we know for sure?” the poker world are clamouring.

21.43

Tony G has made an up and down start, losing some chips before this hand played out.

400/800 he raised the button preflop only for the shortish stacked (with less than 50k) Ian Munns re-raised to 4.6k from the big blind.

Tony G made the call and the pair went heads up to a board.

Munns bet out and Tony G immediately raised to 11k.

Munns called.

The turn was the .

Check, check.

The river came the

Check, check.

“Ace-king,” announced Munns for just ace-high, leaving Tony G to turn up a cheeky Q-9 for turned 2nd pair.

“You had to go all-in,” laughed Tony as he swept up the pot. Munns just shrugged, his stack now down to just under 40k.

The G man meanwhile is back up to 90k.

21.31

LEVEL 6 BLINDS 400/800 ANTE 100 – Players remaining 16

21.12

Even though Schwartz got the better of him moments ago, Bruno Fitoussi is no fool and he’s go those chips back off Schwartz with interest.

The pair were heads-up on the river of a board and Fitoussi had bet out 15k, leading Schwartz to tank as he did earlier.

Eventually he emerged to make the call, only for Fitoussi to show him for top two.

Schwartz tapped the table and conceded the pot – this time losing out to the Frenchman’s wily ways – Schwartz down to 90k, Fitoussi up to 130k.

20.48

From The Table

“Do we come back tomorrow?” asked Luke Shwartz.

“Worry about that later. You might not be here,” said Freddy Deeb laughing.

“Oh, I’ll be here,” a confident Schwartz countered.

20.47

Lisandro Joins The Party

There’s a jovial atmosphere round the two tables at the moment and Jeffrey Lisandro – normally a relatively straight-laced character – seems to be picking up the vibe.

“We have a new player,” they announced as Lisandro arrived.

“It’s not Phil Ivey is it?” said Gruissem apparently worried.

“No, it’s Jeffrey Lisandro,” they were told.

“Yes Phil Ivey has more hair than me,” said Lisandro before bursting into laughter.

20.43

Huck Seed was busted out moments ago. We didn’t see the details of his bustout – although we’ll find out in the break – but from all accounts he wasn’t best pleased about his exit as we gathered from the table talk following his dismissal.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard Huck say anything bad after he exits,” observed Justin Smith.

“Think my bad etiquette’s rubbing off on him,” joked Schwartz.

Sounds interesting…

It looks like Andrew Robl was the man to send Huck to the rail as he is now sitting on just under 200k…

20.38

Next up, it was Freddy Deeb who had to face Schwartz’ min raising wrath, although his reaction was a little different.

Raised by Schwartz under-the-gun, Deeb said “How much is it?” before saying “I raise” and putting the call in…then throwing a 5k chip into the middle.

“5k more!” said Schwartz in surprise before laughing and throwing his hand into the muck.

“Well if you open 1,200 every hand, what do you expect?” fired back Deeb as he swept up his winnings.

Schwartz and Fitoussi were soon involved in a pot, Fitoussi raising it up preflop and Schwartz making the call from the big blind.

The flop fell and Fitoussi bet out once Schwartz had checked. Schwartz made the call.

Come the on the turn, check from Schwartz was met with a check also from Fitoussi.

Then came the interesting card…the on the river.

Schwartz checked and Fitoussi threw out a 5k chip. Schwartz looked at him up and down – played with his chips – and then threw in the call.

It proved an inspired call as with four spades on the board, Schwartz had called with just for second pair.

Meanwhile Fitoussi showed him pocket deuces for close-to-air.

Whatever else Schwartz is accused of, there’s no doubt he can play some poker…

20.21

The players have returned from dinner and are in jovial mood, cracking jokes and generally making merry as it seems many of them spent an enjoyable hour eating at Nobu.

Luke Schwartz has been busy in the early stages, opening several pots to 1,200 ( a min raise) which has been creating some interesting reactions at the table.

First off, he raised to 1,200 with Wayne Boich in the big blind.

“I would never make this call if I was sober!” said Boich before calling.

“This could be the biggest bluff ever…”

The flop fell and when he checked, Schwartz bet out 1,500.

“Not even close,” he said before throwing his hand away.

20.17

Level 5 – BLINDS 300/600 ANTE: 75 16 players remain

19.03

The players have just broken for a one hour dinner break following the end of level four.

The chip leaders following that opening four levels are:-

Alex Gruissem – 205,000
Justin “Boosted J” Smith – 142,000
Frank Kassela – 140,000
Bruno Fitoussi – 128,000
and Sandor Demjan – 118,000.

There will now be a one hour break, but join up with us following the break as we look to see who is the best of the best in this £15k buy-in High Rollers competition.

See you there!

18.45

Despite the 100k stacks, we have had our first casualty, Talal Shakerchi the man to go.

His demise opened with him calling in the big blind with 2-3 following an under-the-gun raise and flat call – Talal deciding there was enough value to make the call.

The flop came an attractive 4-5-6, and Talal – whose stack had already taken a hit or two, checked to the initial raiser, then moved all-in when he led out.

Unfortunately for Shakerchi, his opponent had flopped the nuts with 7-8, and with no miracle to bail him out for half the pot, he finished up our first elimination of the day.

Bad luck Talal!

18.39

Biscuit-gate

Surely not more controversy from Luke Schwartz?

Well not really. He walked over to a box of cookies next to Heather Sue Mercer’s table and looked ready to devour the lot.

“Are these free for everyone?” he said reaching for one, before being quickly told by one of the floor staff, “no, these are the lady’s cookies.”

Schwartz laughed, “it’s ok, I was joking,” before Heather Sue Mercer generously offered him one.

Luke walked away with a peanut-butter brittle, another sandwich-gate incident averted.

18.24

It looks like this is the full line-up playing it out at this stage – although we expect Tony G and Freddy Deeb to be joining the list of entrants a little later.

Boich Emeline
Boich Wayne
Demjan Sandor
Fitoussi Bruno – owner of AFC
Gray Jason – high stakes sports better
Gruissem Alexander
Kassela Frank – 2010 WSOP player of the year
Khaitan Abhishek
Kurganov Igor
Lester Jason
Mercer, Heather Sue
Munns Ian
Robl Andrew – Victory poker
Schwartz Luke – high stakes cash player
Seed Huck – winner of TOC
Shakerchi Talal – Party Poker Qualify
Smith Justin – FullTilt Pro

17.23

Schwartz Stack Boosted by BoostedJ

With “trousergate” becoming a distant memory, Schwartz is getting stuck into the High Roller’s Competition and is enjoying good progress so far, up to over 120k.

Moments ago he got involved in an interesting hand with Justin “BoostedJ” Smith – raising Smith’s open to 800 to 2.2k from the big blind.

Smith made the call and the pair went heads up to a board.

Schwartz checked…and so did Smith.

The turn brought the and again the action went check, check.

Come the on the river however, Schwartz reached out and led for 3.2k, which Smith after watching him for a few moments called.

“You got it,” said Schwartz turning up J-8 for third pair on this dangerous board.

However, Smith had called him incredibly lightly with just for fourth pair!

“Excuse my friend,” interjected Huck Seed, indicating Schwartz. “He doesn’t know how to play poker.”

“Well, when he called me on the river I thought there’s no way I’m good innit,” offered Schwartz to explain…

17.00

We join the High Roller competition with 14 players in total so far, although with registrations open till 9 p.m., we may see a few more before the day is out.

The players have 100k in total which should give them plenty of play.

One early riser is Frank Kassela, whose stack is up to 125k following a hand with “the richest man in Hungary” as he is often known, Sandor Demjan.

Kassela told us, “It was a strange hand. The flop came king-high and I bet it out and he called. WE both checked the ace turn then on the ace river he bet out 9k – 1.5 times the pot…”

“I couldn’t put him on a hand. If he had A-K why didn’t he raise the flop…in the end I just called with pocket fives and he mucked his hand.”

“It was a good start,” said Kassela with a grin as he rejoined his table.