WPT London – live updates

11.43

11.27

DAY 3 – WPT LONDON

Day 3 is about to begin, the Tournament Director has directed the players to open their bags and unload their chips and WPT London is about to be in effect once more.

PartyPoker.com qualifier Italian stallion Giovanni Safina took the tournament by the scruff of the next yesterday despite having to fight off the combined efforts of Phil Ivey, Luke Schwartz and Erik Seidel but having done so admirably he finds himself as the chip leader with the day about to begin.

It’s been a great tournament for PartyPoker qualifiers, Safina joined at the head of the leaderboard by Tonio Roeder and Talal Shakerchi and all will be harbouring realistic amibitions of shipping their first WPT title and writing their names into the history books.

With players such as Praz Bansi, Josh Fields, Huck Seed and Luke Schwartz lying just a little down the leaderboard however, they won’t be able to rest of their laurels as a tough road lies ahead between here and the WPT final table.

The players have just kicked off, the familiar echo of chip clicking and shuffling is resounding round the room, so good luck one and all.

Let’s get it on!

20.15

Here are the final chip counts at the close of play. Safina maintains sway, but there’s a host of talent lurking just behind.

We’ll see you back here at 12 p.m. sharp tomorrow for the resumption of what will be another fiercely-contested day.

(PartyPoker players and qualifiers bolded.)

508,800 5 5 Safina, Giovanni
424,200 1 3 Roeder, Tonio
357,900 1 2 Shakerchi, Talal
344,600 4 5 Atkinson, Bruce
333,500 5 1 Patrick, Philip
310,200 5 4 O’Leary, Kevin
295,500 5 6 Field, Joshua
285,800 1 5 Bansi, Pramesh
276,600 1 1 Martin, William
271,200 1 8 Thorsson, Kristoffer
267,100 1 4 Khosa, Sandiep
263,700 3 3 Winkler, Sebastian
219,700 3 2 Sanderson, Oli
182,700 5 3 Choraria, Kamal
162,700 2 6 Seed, Huckleberry
142,900 4 2 Carroll, Adam
140,600 4 1 Limbert, Karl
140,300 4 4 Quoss, Fabian
140,000 5 7 Ashby, Richard
139,100 3 1 Teatum, Gareth
137,600 4 7 Bajarian, Bahman
132,800 4 6 Dwyer, John
129,100 2 2 Adda, Ariel
124,200 2 4 Pavlou, Mario
115,400 3 4 Cody, Jake
105,000 4 3 Chau, Christopher
102,600 3 8 Light, David
96,400 1 7 Shulman, Allyn
92,500 2 5 Schwartz , Luke
87,600 3 6 De-Mel, Priyan
84,000 3 5 Mohammed, Barkatul
75,600 5 2 Greco, Michael
72,000 2 3 Schultz, Jorg
66,300 2 8 Mattsson Saarisilta, Nichlas
65,800 2 7 Kurgandu, Igor
42,300 2 1 Boich, Wayne
41,200 1 6 Ilyukhin, Victor Victorovich
34,600 3 7 Sullivan, James

19.47

Well the day has come to a close following the end of level twelve and again it’s been gripping stuff with all sorts of tales of glory and woe interweaving in unique fashion to create the complex story of this poker tournament.

Phil Ivey and Erik Seidel came back as two of the chip leaders, but neither were able to navigate their way through the day.

Instead it was the likes of Luke Schwartz, and PartyPoker duo Talal Shakerchi and Giovanni Safini who stole the limelight – all three rising steadily throughout the day to put themselves in pole position for an attempt at the title – although Luke Schwartz’ stack received a hit right at the death as his kings were ooutflopped by William Martin’s pocket queens – Martin managing to pick up a full double-up off Schwartz.

In fact Schwartz’ stack was left at just under 100k following that hand, meaning he has slipped away from the chip lead but Martin has shot into prime contention with 275k.

We will post up the official, final chip counts shortly but for now thanks for following us. The WPT has really showcased the highs and lows and poker and when the 39 remaining players reconvene tomorrow, we expect nothing less than pure, unadulterated poker bliss once more.

See you there!

19.32

The Quali-flyers

These are the men who made their way into the tournament for a pittance and now have a shot at winning hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A potentially incredible spin-up beckons.

Giovanni Safini – 510k
Tonio Roeder – 390k
Kristoffer Thorsson – 275k
Sebastian Winkler – 270k
Fabio Quoss – 135k

19.17

These are the men with the bit between their teeth as we approach the run-in to the final table, Safina leading the way…

Giovanni Safina 450,000
Luke Schwartz 418,200
Talal Shakerchi 418,000
Bruce Atkinson 291,000
Philip Patrick 268,000
Praz Bansi 261,000
Kristoffer Thorsson 255,000
Priyan de Mel 246,700
Joshua Field 245,000
Kamal Choraria 236,700
Richard Ashby 160,000

19.05

Field of Dreams

Joshua Field has just taken a big step toward making a run at the title.

He tangled with PartyPoker qualifier, Frenchman Gerome Guitteau, on a board – the latter finally calling his chips off with on the river – only to discover the harsh truth that Field had been stringing him along all the way with a flopped set of tens.

Gerome was understandably frustrated as he walked off, muttering under his breath whilst an emotionless Field swept up the pot that has left him amongst the chip leaders at this stage.

Speaking of which, it’s about time we looked at who the men in contention are right now with 41 players remaining and the tournament starting to take shape.

Details in a moment…

18.25

“Ivey’s Out!”

Phil Ivey was crippled by Safina in that hand with queens and fired his last 5.5k over the top of a Kevin O’Leary raise to 5.2k, meaning Schwartz also made the call when it folded round to his big blind.

The flop fell and Schwartz checked in the dark, leading the giraffe-wielding Kevin O’Leary to also check behind.

Come the on the turn though, Schwartz bet out 10k and O’Leary folded.

“Ivey’s out, nut flush” said Schwartz with a note of graceless triumph, even before he’d turned over his cards – the .

“Ok,” said Ivey, striding out of the casino a beaten man for once.

See you at the WSOPE, Phil.

18.07

Safina – Rushing and Crushing

It’s been an incredible level for Safina, who has won a string of pots to shoot into what may be the chip lead – his stack an incredible 420k or so.

Recent hands saw him take the bulk of Ivey’s stack when his T-J connected hard with the T-T-x flop, and although Ivey avoided going broke, he couldn’t avoid sticking much of his shortstack in with pocket queens.

Safina then sent another player to the rail, calling a shortstack’s shove with pocket sevens and finding himself in great shape – his opponent flipping up pocket fives.

No five and Salfina was looking massive – Italy is proud of you Giovanni!

17.50

Asim Mumtaz has just succumbed to PartyPoker qualifier Kristoffer Thorsson, his 6-9 connecting well but not well enough with the 9-2-2 flop.

Thorsson had him wrapped up and drawing at just three outs for the scoop (although several more for a chop) but a blank turn and blank river left him down and out and boosted Thorsson up to a 177k stack.

17.23

Seed Flowers As Ivey Crumbles

We won’t be stupid enough to write off Phil Ivey – but his stack has taken a big hit, becoming involved in a confrontation with Huck Seed.

We don’t know where the chips went in, but we do know that Ivey had pocket sixes and Seed had pocket queens and with a close-to-200k pot in the offing, Seed’s hand held sway to leave Ivey handing over the bulk of his stack to the former Main Event champion.

That leaves Seed on 195k and Ivey licking his wounds, languishing near the wrong end of the chip counts with around 50k.

17.19

Felipe Ramos is the latest man to taste the bitterness of defeat – shortstacked, he took a pop at the blinds with T-7 offsuit, but Richard Ashby picked him off with pocket nines and although Ramos flopped a gutshot with a J-8 flop, it was one of Ashby’s nines he needed to make his draw and when it never came, the Brazilian’s day was done.

We’re doing a quick video with Felipe following his elimination so look forward to that going up on the site sometime later.

For now though, we have yet more significant pots. Here’s the noise!

17.00

Tens Moment Spells Disaster For Deeb

Freddy Deeb was the latest man to attempt to stop the bulldozing progress of Thalal Shakerchi – and he had a hand to do it with – his ace-king facing off versus Shakerchi’s pocket tens.

However, he was never able to make a pair and take the advantage, meaning Freddy’s dead. We’re sad to lose Deeb as he’s always good fun.

52 players remain as we play though level 11.

Just in case you were wondering how the Ivey Schwartz battle is going, the verbals have died down temporarily – but here are their stacks.

Luke Schwartz – 355k
Phil Ivey – 165k

Also PartyPoker qualifier Giovanni Safini seems to have chipped up – he has a big smile on his face and appears to have breached the 160k mark. Congratulations Safini!

16.39

Felipe Ramos has had an interesting day – we spoke to him earlier about his progress on video and here’s what he had to say.

Moments ago, he managed to get a double up off his difficult table opponent Praz Bansi, Ramos raising it up with pocket eights and seeing Bansi move all-in on the button.

Ramos called and found himself racing versus Bansi’s ace-king and when the board ran out with no aces or kings, his snowmen were the best hand and he was back over 100k.

This has a minor hiccup in the virtually seemless progress of Bansi today though, whose stack is now rising toward 400k.

“Some of the Americans think they can come over and just take our money, but maybe they’re finding out it’s a little more difficult than they thought…” commented Bansi as his star shines ever more brightly…

16.32

Giovanni Safina has had a really tough table today.

In his words, “Ivey is raising all the time, if note him then Schwartz,” but moments ago he managed to extract a measure of revenge on one of his tormenters.

Holding aces, he raised it up to 4k from UTG, and Ivey was the only caller from the big blind.

The flop fell K-J-5 and when Ivey checked Safina led out for 5k, Ivey check-raised to 17.5k. Safina made the call and the pair saw another king fall on the turn.

Check from Ivey and Safina also checked behind.

The river 2 saw Ivey seemingly give it up, checking back – allowing Safina to make a 17.5k value bet which Ivey reacted to by throwing his hand in the muck.

Safina up to 110k – just a little below the average…

16.09

Praz Bansi is incredibly accomplished for such a young man.

He already has two WSOP bracelets in his trophy cabinet and he’s looking in fantastic shape here, his stack up to over 300k now as he begins to control and dominate his table as we’ve seen so many times before.

A recent coup saw him knock Maurice Lousky out, his ace-queen connecting harder with the K-J-T flop than Maurice’s K-T.

The nuts for Bansi was more than he needed and when all the chips were fired in on a combination of turn and river bets, Bansi’s stack was bolstered yet further – as were his chances of adding yet another incredible page to his already bulging C.V.

15.56

Double Dwyer Dishes Out Destruction

John Dwyer is starting to put his foot on the gas a little – moments ago, he took on two shortstacks in Daniel Tafur and Fuad Serhan, who had made desperate moves with and respectively, and his was looking in good shape to deliver a double knockout.

A board of ensure that is just what happened, meaning Dwyer – who was pretty short himself – had just enough to cover both opponents and almost triple through to 120k.

“Why does the best hand always win?” joked Serhan before observing sadly on behalf on himself and Daniel Tafur…”it’s the end of a dream…”

For those two perhaps, but there are still 55 players who have their eyes locked on the prize…

Daniel Tafur Fuad Serhan

15.38

Tore Lukashaugen has just clashed with fellow PartyPoker qualifier Sebastian Winkler – the pair going to war in a preflop coup that saw Winkler’s ace-king out-race the pocket knaves of Lukashaugen.

Once a board of had been dealt out in the latter’s favour – Lukashaugen was left crushed, battered, bruised but not out – yet.

Well the final piece of the elimination jigsaw fell into place moments after that, Lukashaugen unable to spin his pitiful 3k into anything more worthwhile as he too hits the rail.

15.26

Movers and Shaker (chi)s

Samuel Welbourne has also taken his leave of the table, a victim of the ever-growing chip monster, PartyPoker’s Talal Shakerchi.

Preflop, he was happy to get his chips in with ace-king against Shakerchi, but his hopes were crushed as Shakerchi flipped aces, and even though an ace and a king hit to give Welbourne aces-up, he had no answers to the top set of Shakerchi.

Goog game Welbourne, good god Shakerchi – who now has over 400k and is looking like he may have just snatched the chip lead from Luke Schwartz.

15.11

One of the host of PartyPoker qualifiers in line for the 0k booty has expired, Phillip Gruissem seeing a spot to chip up with big blind Priyan de Mel absent from the table.

With only queen-ten, he was praying for no resistance, but he hadn’t counted on his next door neighbour Sandiep Khosa waking up with two pretty ladies and spoiling his blind-stealing party.

No surprises and Gruissem’s day is done after a commendable deep run.

14.41

Schwartz, Ivey and Seidel Go To War

An odd situation saw a huge pot develop between Erik Seidel and Luke Schwartz – two of the bigger stacks at the table.

We joined the action on the river, where Schwartz’ stack was all in the middle, called by Seidel – but his pocket tens were looking pretty impregnable on the T-9-3-8-8 board and Seidel just mucked his hand.

With Seidel forced to hand over the bulk of his stack to the rampaging young Englishmen, Schwartz couldn’t help but ask, “What did you have” as he swept up the miserable-looking Seidel’s stack.

Ivey laughed and shook his hand, leading Schwartz to go on the attack.

“What are you laughing at??” he said.

“You’ve just won a huge pot off the guy and you’re asking him what he has,” Ivey responded.

“What does he care, he’s a multi-millionaire!” exclaimed Schwartz.

“That’s not the point, you don’t do that” said Ivey.

“I just wanted to find out how big a cooler it was. It’s nothing to do with you anyway,” fired back Schwartz.

“Well you asked me what I was laughing at…so I told you,” Ivey said, unfazed by the brazen Schwartz’ approach.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation, that pot has left Luke Schwartz as the chip leader of the tournament with around 340k, whilst Seidel looks down and out having returned amongst the chip leaders – reduced to a mere 50k or so.

Ivey has a stack capable of threatening Schwartz however – his 140k meaning a good run could see him get revenge on the youngster for “Team America.”

It’s a fascinatingly balanced contest and that table in particular has the potential to yield all sorts of excitement.

Stay tuned as we bring all the twists and turns to your homes.

14.27

The Spoils Of Victory

So with the final tally of players confirmed at 171, we can now announce the official prize pool.

Drum roll please…

Well the total pool has come to a sizeable £820,800, just short of the million mark, although a conversion into the more universal poker currency of dollars soon sorts that out.

It’s the equivalent of .269 million.

Eighteen players will be paid and here’s how that figure breaks down across those 18.

1 – £273,783
2 – £176,979
3 – £93,316
4 – £56,311
5 – £42,233
6 – £34,189
7 – £26,144
8 – £18,100
9 – £12,871
10 – 12 – £10,457
13 – 15 – £9,653
16 – 18 – £8,848

But wait, two of the big guns left in the tournament have just faced off in an explosive confrontation! Details to follow…

14.09

News of some of those players in the hunt for the million PartyPoker promotional bonus.

Gerome Guitteau and Kristoffer Thorsson lead the group with 130k and 155k apiece.

Tonio Roeder is far from done himself though – his stack up to just over 100k.

Whilst shorter – but still battling on are Ranin Henke and Phillip Guissem – who has 52k.

13.57

Another man to have expired is Todd Terry – his A-Q unable to do the unthinkable and topple aces. It’s cooler city here at the moment!

13.39

Abhishek Khaitan is no longer with us, taking a stab at redemption with ace-ten, the wheels fell off when he run full tilt into Igor Kurgandu’s pocket aces.

The reserved Khaitan had no complaints and tucked his chair quietly in before departing.

That elimination means that the firestorm start has left just 72 players still in the hunt with the blinds at 600, 1,200.

The average stack is around 95k so there is plenty of play but some players are clearly here to chip up or go home so the carnage may not have ended just yet.

13.35

The Table of Death

Table draw can be so crucial in tournaments like this, and Giovanni Safina won’t be loving the table he’s been drawn at.

Erik Seidel, Luke Schwartz and Phil Ivey are all present to ensure there won’t be any easy chips at this table. Ivey and Schwartz went at it on Day 1a, so we’ll be looking forward to those two picking up arms once more and facing off mano-a-mano, although the presence of Erik Seidel should complicate matters yet further.

Ducking and diving may be the order of the day for Safina.

13.19

Double Robl

Andrew Robl has been hanging around with a shortstack for a while, but his patience has been rewarded with a victorious flip, his pocket sixes fading all the outs mustered by an opponent’s ace-king.

That hand boosts Robl up to over 100k and suddenly he is in the thick of things again!

13.05

Per Dropped

Per Linde seemed to be doing so well yesterday but the wheels started to come off and he returned with a relative short stack today.

He wasn’t able to turn round his fortunes – partly as a result of having a rather uncomfortable presence in position on him, Mr Phil Ivey.

Per has left the building now but here he is with his nemesis lurking menacingly in the background.

13.02

Better Late Than Never!

It’s incredible that players can still sign up right to the end of level 8 and although there haven’t been a wave of late arrivals (we’ve just counted four so far) the quality of them is undoubted.

EPT Deauville winner Jake Cody, 2009 WSOP Player of the Year winner Jeffrey Lisandro and the man who has won multiple millions at the game, Yevgeniy Timoshenko have all sneaked in at the last minute hoping to turn their 40k – still 40 big blind stacks into something more challenging.

12.40

Zimmerman Zipped

Jan Zimmerman started the day with a smallish stack, and decided to take on another shortstack after raising with .

Unfortunately, he could scarcely have been in worse shape as his opponent held pocket aces and despite Zimmerman willing on a board of hearts, no flush appeared to bail him out, and his day was done in the early stages.

“It’s ok, I’m happy to make day two,” said Zimmerman.

“Maybe next time I’ll make day three!”

12.34

Kamal Thirsty For Chips

Kamal Choraria just won a big pot to recover to 80k after a shaky start, his connecting sweetly with the board.

We aren’t sure where he managed to entice opponent Terry Todd to put his chips in, but Todd’s looked strongest on the turn and the fact he was shaking his head dubiously following the hand suggested he felt hard done by somewhat.

“That was a nice flop,” observed tablemate John Dwyer with a wry smile to Choraria, who enthusiastically agreed.

“Yes, but there was a sweat on the turn,” said a relieved Cholaria as he swept up his newly-won 80k.

Todd down to sub 40k.

12.17

The Road To WPT Glory

To get up to date with how yesterday played out, click through to our recap of Day 1b to get up to speed.

12.10

Thor’s Hammer Smashes G To Bits

Tony G hasn’t been able to negotiate his way through the early levels, PartyPoker qualifier Kristoffer Thorsson taking care of the outspoken Lithuanian.

His exit hand saw Thorsson open the button with ace-jack to 2.5k (blinds 500/1k/100), only for Tony G to re-pop to 7.5k with pocket eights.

A brief flurry of raises and calls later and the pair were all-in, and although Tony G hit an eight on the turn to make a set, rather unfortunately, this card also completed a straight for Thorsson.

When the board failed to pair on the river, suddenly, The G Man was no longer in effect.

Incidentally Thorsson – being a PartyPoker qualifier – is in line to receive a huge bonus should he take down the tournament – 0k awaiting him if he can do this as a result of the PartyPoker million promotion.

With all the other qualifiers from PartyPoker due to share out another 0k as well if he can do it, he’ll have some fervent support here the closer he gets to that final table,.

11.52

Ok, a hectic start has seen multiple all-in moves and some big pots and busts.

94 players are at the tables today including some fresh blood to have just bought in and they’ve clearly come to gamble.

Here’s what’s been going down – many of the big hands involving PartyPoker qualifiers.

Fab Fabian Spinning Up

PartyPoker qualifier, the awesomely-named Fabian Quoss has managed to double through his shortish stack at the expense of the less extravagantly-nameed English pro Ian Woodley, finding a sweet spot with pocket tens versus the Englishman’s pocket eights.

Suddenly his miserable 16k has become 36k.

11.32

In seat order, including the two late entrants at the top of the counts, here are the men still vying for the title, along with their chip stacks.

Day 2 has already kicked off, it’s been a fast start and we already have a number of allin moves so here are the coujnts and brace yourselves for the action coming up.

40,000 Cody, Jake
40,000 Lisandro, Jeffrey
101,000 1 1 Choraria, Kamal
188,600 1 2 Shakerchi, Talal
112,000 1 3 Mattsson Saarisilta, Nichlas
33,700 1 4 Welbourne, Samuel
28,000 1 5 Dwyer, John
81,800 1 6 Terry, Todd
16,400 1 7 Serhan, Fuad
80,000 2 1 Sytnikov, Dmytro
59,300 2 2 Baxter, Derek M
226,200 2 3 Seidel, Erik
59,100 2 4 Maurer, Niklas
82,400 2 5 Schwartz , Luke
140,000 2 6 Safina, Giovanni
37,700 2 7 Limbert, Karl
28,000 3 1 Khaitan, Abhishek
94,300 3 2 Light, David
44,900 3 3 Ramos, Felipe
103,500 3 4 Schmejkal, Ernst
44,300 3 5 Sanderson, Oli
108,300 3 6 Bansi, Pramesh
71,000 3 7 Boatman, Ross
100,800 4 1 Boich, Emeline
65,800 4 2 Gavatin, Mats
39,500 4 3 Patrick, Philip
97,800 4 4 Dunlop, Fabien
59,200 4 5 Brown, Jamie
134,400 4 6 Field, Joshua
99,500 4 7 Adda, Ariel
16,700 5 1 Van Zadelhoff, Steven
80,000 5 2 Atherton, Lee N
24,100 5 3 Kajaria, Rishi
47,200 5 4 Gouga, Tony
120,300 5 5 Mumtaz, Asim
38,900 5 6 Gray, Jason
80,000 5 7 Ilyukhin, Victor Victorovich
34,200 6 1 Roeder, Tonio
105,700 6 2 Millar, Alex
18,100 6 2 Quoss, Fabian
35,700 6 3 Abrahams, Javed
54,400 6 4 Miah, Ashique
139,200 6 5 Shook, Tyler
40,800 6 6 Greco, Michael
62,700 6 7 Beevers, Joseph
59,900 7 1 Clark, David
91,400 7 2 Lukashaugen, Tore
93,400 7 3 Seed, Huckleberry
229,800 7 4 Ashby, Richard
31,500 7 5 Teng, Andrew
77,800 7 6 Guitteau, Gerome
70,800 7 7 Deeb, Freddy
46,300 8 1 Teatum, Gareth
70,000 8 2 Bartha, Ferenc
96,800 8 3 Mohammed, Barkatul
32,500 8 4 Schultz, Jorg
31,900 8 5 Zimmermann, Jan
78,200 8 6 Shulman, Allyn
235,000 8 7 De-Mel, Priyan
69,900 9 1 Henke, Ramin
57,300 9 2 Alfarhan, Safwan
117,400 9 3 Chau, Christopher
149,800 9 4 Atkinson, Bruce
31,900 9 5 Gruissem, Philipp
20,500 9 6 Efstathiou, Andy
72,300 9 7 Inman, Lawrie
29,100 10 1 Linde, Per

02.18

The full list of how the players finished up the day chip-wise is available…and here it is.

These players will hook up with the remaining players from day 1a when we return tomorrow at 12 p.m. to play down from 90 players to 27.

The stage is set for an incendiary confrontation and we know there will be some fireworks so make sure you hit us up to see what happens.

See you there…

235,000 – de Mel, Priyan
229,800 – Ashby, Richard
140,000 – Safina, Giovanni
139,200 – Shook, Tyler
134,400 – Field, Joshua
117,400 – Chau, Christopher
104,100 – Khosa, Sandiep
101,000 – Choraria, Kamal
99,500 – Adda, Ariel
92,000 – Martin, William
78,900 – Aston, Adrian
78,200 – Shulman, Allyn
77,800 – Guitteau, Gerome
71,000 – Boatman, Ross
70,800 – Deeb, Freddy
67,200 – Fitoussi, Bruno
65,800 – Gavatin, Mats
59,900 – Clark, David
59,100 – Maurer, Niklas
54,400 – Miah, Ashique
54,200 – Wong, Nicholas
51,000 – Winkler, Sebastian
47,200 – Gouga, Tony
40,800 – Greco, Michael
37,700 – Limbert, Karl
32,500 – Schultz, Jorg
31,500 – Teng, Andrew
27,200 – Tazelaar, Justin
24,100 – Kajaria, Rishi
16,400 – Serhan, Fuad
9,500 – Sunar, Surinder

00.29

Big Stacks

So who are the men who are leading the event right now?

Well, here are the men(and woman) with the big stacks and there are a few surprises…

Priyan de Mel – 220k
Richard Ashby – 215k
Giovanni Safina – 140k
Nicholas Wong – 115k
Allyn Shulman – 110k

Obviously Priyan de Mel and Richard Ashby are pulling away from the field right now with just 56 or so players remaining but Special congratulations to Allyn Shulman, who has shown her first-to-be-dismissed husband how to do it! (although as the current WSOPE Main Event holder, Barry is unlikely to begrudge his wife her own slice of success.)

Also look who’s back!

Wong has bounced up and down like a yo-yo on a trampoline today and almost out earlier following that big hand versus Giovanni Safina, he has made an almost miraculous recovery to reenter the chip counts. Good going sir!

And that is that!

The day has drawn to a close with the end of level 7. There are 54 players left out of the final tally of 94 which means we are currently braced for 90 players to return tomorrow for day 2. This number could be bolstered by late registrations who are allowed to continue to enter by the end of level eight.

Well it’s been a great day for poker once again – we’ll have the full counts coming up once they’ve been officially handed out but for now – thanks for following. It’s been a blast.

We’ll see you back here at 12 p.m. sharp for the restart where once again we’ll bring you news, views, videos and gossip as we cahrt the path to WPT glory.

Don’t miss it.

23.52

Rosaman Gets Jack

One of the PartyPoker qualifiers is now reduced to cheering on his teammates from the rail, given he has just shot his last.

Reduced to just 12k, he made a move for the blinds with ace-five but his desperate shove was picked off by a tablemate with pocket jacks and when there was no bullet in sight to bail him out, it was all over for him.

“Good luck guys,” he threw out as he left the casino.

Greco Likes a Threesome

That may sound like a tabloid headline, but Michael Greco enjoyed the three way action he got a minute ago as the last few stacks of chips at his disposal went in preflop with ace-king.

Greco nudged some friends on the table behind to rail the pot, but they needn’t have had any concerns.

He was called in two spots but the live players checked down the ace-high board and before he knew it, Greco’s aces-up hand was back in the game with over 45k – still some way off the average however.

23.34

Welcome Tony G

Tony G is an irrepressible force when he’s on form and despite joining in the tournament late today – he is already creating waves on his table – as well as already having dismissed one opponent.

Immediately upon his arrival, Bruno Fitoussi began cracking the jokes.

“You’ve already got more chips than me,” he jested – though The G Man took his comments in his stride.

“That’s because I’m a better player than you Bruno.”

He backed up his immodest assessment of his skills moments later when he sent Robin Keston – who had been spiralling downward – to the rail, his big slick holding versus Keston’s dominated king-queen.

“It was almost a good move!” said Tony G as he swept up the chips that bolstered his stack to 52k already.

23.28

Ashby Misclick Creates Monster

Moments ago Richard Ashby made the equivalent of a live misclick, although luck smiled on the summer bracelet-winner, who can do no wrong today.

He meant to raise to 2.5k with the blinds at 400/800/100 but due to a recent colour up, he actually made it 11k, picking up two 5k chips and a 1k instead of two 1ks and a 500. Whoops.

Jakob Carlsson noticed the mistake and tried to capitalise when it reached him by moving in with pocket fours, in a bid to pick up the 11k, although it was all gravy for Ashby who was going nowhere with pocket kings and snap-called.

The board ran out with no four spiking to save Carlsson, meaning another huge pot heads the Englishman’s way, Carlsson hits the rail and Ashby is now a dominant chip leader with over 220k.

“I would have called with seven-high there,” said Ashby – perhaps warding off any embryonic thoughts tablemates might have been nursing about slowing his incredible progress today.

23.13

The PartyPoker Crew

Team Pros and PartyPoker qualifiers alike are mixing it up with some success here at the WPT and we want to keep you abreast of their progress so here’s their current chip stacks.

Giovanni Safina – 147k
Kristoffer Thorsson – 140k
Dmytro Sytnikov – 83k
Tyron Krost – 77k
Jimmy Ostensson – 70k
Surinder Sunar – 66k
Sebastian Winkler – 60k
Per Linde – 45k
Tonio Roeder – 32k
Michael Rosaman – 15k

22.57

Tony G Goes Head-To-Head With Usain Bolt

Tony G has made some outrageous statements before but is this the most outrageous of all?

He has issued a challenge to sprinting sensation Usain Bolt, offering to take him on in a foot race…and no, there won’t be a “bike” involved.

Insane, we hear you say. Welllllll….yes, although all is not as it seems.

For more details, click through to the full article on Tony G’s challenge to Usain Bolt.

22.49

We just spoke to Giovanni Safina during the break who is understandably quite excited at this stage, as he finds himself as one of the chip leaders.

We underestimated the size of that monster pot versus Nicholas Wong – in fact the pot was in excess of 150k, and as he has won another pot following that – he now finds himself as the chip leader of the whole tournament.

He has used those chips to apply maximum pressure to his opponents and it is working effectively so far, moments ago, he flatted a raise from the small blind with ace-nine, only for the big blind to pop it up to 5k.

Suspecting a squeeze, Safina moved all-in and was rewarded for his aggression by a fold.

It’s all going to plan for the Italian now but this is no-limit poker and at any moment the wheels can fall off.

Stick with us to see if Safina can continue to build on his previous success.

22.21

No Luck With The Ladies For Keys

It’s not been James Keys’ day. Every move he’s made seems to have been blocked one way or another and it was almost apt that his final hand should see him coolered, running his short stack ship with pocket queens into the pocket aces of tablemate Justin Tazelaar.

It didn’t get any better for Keys as his opponent hit an ace on the flop to leave him drawing almost dead and by the turn, he had grabbed his coat and rushed out of the door to catch the last tube.

He was followed out by the more gracefully exiting Heather Sue Mercer, who succumbed just moments after him.

22.17

22.16

Wong Moves At the Wong Time

Nicholas Wong has already proved he has the spirit of a gambler, shown when he backed up his second pair and gutshot, sending Sam Oatley to the rail.

There’s smart gambling however and foolhardy gambling…and when he took on PartyPoker.it Team Pro Giovanni Safina moments ago, he had badly misjudged the situation.

We missed how the action went on the flop, although it sounded as though Safina may have check-raised Wong’s bet on the board, only for Wong to now three-bet allin with pocket deuces for the straight draw.

Safina wasn’t going anywhere though, holding a set of fives, and had a stack big enough to cause Wong a lot of damage – 57k or so.

So Wong had some outs at least but was in rough shape and any sniff of victory was enveloped by the rank smell of defeat as the board paired on the turn to leave him drawing dead.

Safina takes down an enormous pot worth over 100k, whilst the previously pretty big-stacked Wong is reduced to a paltry 17k.

Or at least he was, although he swiftly managed to double through with ace-king moments later, getting in a race with pocket fours and taking it down without hitting an ace or king when the board double paired above the pocket fours to leave Wong sweeping up the pot and immediately back into contention…

Suddenly things are starting to hot up!

22.05

Another One Bites The Dust

We have had 93 entrants in total today (although it’s not too late for a few more to register!) but we are now down to just 71 remaining.

The rate of attrition has been a little lower than yesterday it seems where it was carnage throughout. Today has seen the better players taking little nips out of the smaller fish at their table, gradually getting fatter and fatter stacks in a series of small coups.

However the blinds are now 300 600 meaning there is just a little more pressure on the smaller stacks and the last two hours of play could see more than a few exciting changes.

In fact, we’ve just seen a huge hand..and it’s one of the PartyPoker.it Team Pros Giovanni Safini who has taken it down.

Details to follow…

21.52

PartyPoker.com qualifiers Per Linde and Jimmy Ostensson are part of 10 players eligible for special WPT jackpots. If one of the 10 eligible PartyPoker.com qualifiers wins the WPT London, the champ will receive an extra 0,000 bonus – in addition to the large sum they will pocket for claiming victory.

Not only that, but their 9 compadres will have a great incentive to cheer on any qualifiers in contention for the trophy as they will split a further 0,000 should they pick up the title.

It’s a very juicy addition to what is already a bulging prize pool approaching the £1 million mark with every entrant.

Our very own Tatjana grabbed hold of Linde and Ostensson during the break to hear their thoughts on how the day has panned out for them so far.

Here’s their thoughts.

21.31

Robin Keston is well on the rise in the chip counts right now, and he has just eliminated Rudy Blondeau to further bolster his burgeoning stack.

He is now approaching six figures with 95k, but is still some way off Richard Ashby, who now has over 140k and is looking more and more threatening with every hand.

21.23

Serhan Victory Averted

David Lloyd was odds-on to be the next casualty moments ago, holding on an flop versus Fuad Serhan’s vastly superior .

It looked like it was curtains for LLoyd unless he could spike some kind of sequence to give him a chop or a nine for the scoop.

The on the turn looked unlikely to be of use but then came a seven from heaven for Lloyd to get him out of it and give him half the pot.

“What a horrible river card,” observed Serhan calmly, though he had the wherewithall to look on the bright side.

“Better than a nine though! You live to fight another day.”

That hand left Lloyd with 30k and Serhan with just about double that.

21.15

Channing Chopped Down

Neil Channing is no longer with us, the Blackbelt supremo detailing his tale of woe, just before departing the poker arena.

He saw a raise from UTG re-popped by Bruno Fitoussi to 3.1k from UTG+2, before electing to flat with pocket kings from the small blind.

“It had been a squeezy table,” he revealed.

Suddenly the big blind Alex Millar sprung into action, making it 8.5k and although suspicious, Channing made the call with a view to backing up his hand with his stack.

When the flop came T-T-3, he followed through on his intentions, check-raising Millar’s c-bet of 8.5k allin, although when he was snapped off, he discovered the rather unfortunate truth that his vague suspicions did have some grounding as Millar showed down aces.

There was to be no salvation on turn and river meaning Channing was ousted and one more big gun has been silenced.

The game continues however as we move into level six – the penultimate session of the day.

20.57

Building A Chip Stack, You’re Doing It Wong

A rather unfortunate hand moments ago, saw Sam Oatley move allin on the turn of a board, only to be called by Nicholas Wong, who seemed in highly jovial mood, giggling and laughing throughout the hand.

When Oatley turned over for top pair, Wong laughed and said, “I only have one out!” implying he had pocket queens – the only hand that would have made sense but when he turned up for second pair and a gutshot, he had significantly more than that – an 8,5, or 7 all sufficient to reverse the status quo and seal the deal.

Oatley meanwhile was sweating like Pavarotti on a treadmill, cutting a contrasting figure to the laughing Wong as he nervously watched the dealer deal the river.

It was a 5!

A nasty river saw Oatley explode in anger.

“How many times is this going to happen! You wouldn’t believe how many times!” He snatched up his jacket and stormed out of the casino.
The dramatic developments caused no impact on the still-laughing Wong as he arranged his new big stack of just over 75k.

20.35

Henry Hammered As He Jacks Up The Price

Henry Nowakowski looked on a one way trip to the top of the leaderboard, but moments ago he took a big hit that undid all his good work.

Holding jack-ten he was pleased as punch with the turn card and went to war with Niklas Maurer for Maurer’s not inconsiderable stack.

Luckily, Nowakowski had him well covered – lucky because Maurer had him drawing at just 4 outs with pocket sixes for a set.

The pot was a huge one with 83k in the middle but there were no more surprises as Maurer’s set held to catapult him up toward the leading bunch with his new stack of …well 83k.

Nowakowski meanwhile, humourlessly handed over his chips (no one’s happy after losing a pot this big) but must have been pleased that his earlier good work meant he was capable of a recovery from this setback, 37k giving him ample wiggle room to rebuild.

19.53

Thomas Luisan has just departed the arena – the PartyPoker qualifier sending the last of his chips marching into battle on an A-2-3-5 board with ace-king, feeling that despite the threatening nature of the board – he was too invested to make a fold.

Sadly his troops were cut down and slaughtered brutally by Kristoffer Thorsson, whose pocket fours had improved to a straight on the turn – and before he knew it, Luisan was heading out of the door and to the rail.

GG and RIP.

18.04

The players have just broken for dinner. They will be resuming at 8.15 and the blog will continue then.

Just before we go off to grab some food, we should let you know that Chris Moorman’s attempts to spin his 16k back up into a worthy stack have failed and he has been eliminated. It’s all over for the next hour but we’ll resume with Richard Ashby as the likely chip leader.

See you in an hour!

17.52

The Last ‘Bastian Holds

Sebastian Winkler could and perhaps should have been out of the tournament moments ago but somehow he slipped the noose with his tournament chances looking thinner than a piece of string on a diet.

He held ten-eight on a board but was in deep trouble versus Safwan Alfarman’s queen-ten – clearly looking down the barrell of defeat but by the time we had joined the hand the rest of the board had come out to turn around his fortunes and give him a much healthier stack of over 40k.

“That was lucky,” he said unnecessarily!

“I had few outs.”

Alfarman looked like he might explode inside but managed to keep his rage bubbling inside for now, although some small spouts of steam blowing out of his ears indicated that there may be a storm brewing…

17.44

The rules of the tournament mean players can keep buying in till level 8 – which will be the first level of tomorrow.

Some players are taking full advantage of this rule to make extremely belated appearances, including the small but charismatic Freddy Deeb, who popped into view moments ago to take his seat and shot at glory.

We’re big fans of Freddy Deeb and if he garners a stack there aren’t many players capable of using it as effectively as he showed by taking down the WPT High Roller’s Event in Paris just before the World Series.

Here’s a shot of Freddy, settling into his new surroundings.

17.30

Phil Ivey is notoriously media-shy when it comes to interviews.

The man values his privacy even more than his blinds so when the bold Tatjana Pasalic saw an opening to speak to the great man, she snatched that chance and spoke to him.

Here’s what Ivey had to say.

17.24

Chip Leaders

Here are some of the chip leaders as we head into the middle of level four. It’s shaping up nicely for Richard Ashby, the high stakes cash player dealing very effectively with his table right now.

PartyPoker qualifier Jimmy Ostensson is also well in contention, showing that his assessment of his weak table earlier was perhaps an accurate one.

Richard Ashby 120k
Gerome Guitteau 110k
Jimmy Ostensson 73k
Kirstoffer Thursson 66k
Keith Johnson 64k
Robin Keston 64k
Justin Tazelaar 54k
Rishi Kajaria 52k
Neil Channing 49k

Heather Sue Mercer is not amongst the chip leaders but given her numerous male fans, we felt obliged to throw them a bone. Enjoy your bone guys.

17.07

The casino interior has been decorated by the work of Lisa Jane with some striking poker imagery.

We like its unusual take on some of our favourite characters so have included a couple of examples for you to take a look at. See what you think…

If you are interested in more of her work, why not take a look at Lisa Jane’s website but remember to hit us back for the latest updates, including a look at the current chip leaders as we stand – to follow shortly.

16.21

Sida Yuen has expired having nursed his shortstack for some time.

He was the unfortunate victim of Steven Van Zadelhoff in that last big hand, Yuen’s kings undone, and the last of his chips saw him bet the flop and push the turn with a gutshot and flush draw, only to brick the river and leave him on the rail.

Bad luck sir.

16.15

Assorted Chip Counts

Just so you can track how some of your favourite players are doing, here are some chip counts for some of the more well-known players.

73k – Richard Ashby
60k – Neil Channing
50k – James Keys
33k – Tyron Krost
29k – Gaetano Luppina
27k – Marty Smyth
26k – Michael Greco
24k – Heather Marie Mercer
24k – Chris Moorman
21k – Frank Kassela

We’re now down to 82 out of the 91 entrants with the blinds at 100/200/25 and the end of level 3 just within sight.

15.39

I'm on a boat!

Van’s The Man!

Steven Van Zadelhoff has seen his stock rise, his stack a healthy 73,500 right now, and much of that came as a result of an interesting hand where he hit the jackpot.

In his own words from his twitter report…

“Woww that was the WEIRDEST hand! :) i open 550 with T8cc from cu, sb calls, active bb squeezes to 1850. I 4bet to 5200. Sb now makes it 9300

But the bb thought he just called so he announced call as well. With having to pay only 4100 for a pot then growinh to almost 30k i sighcall

The 3 of us see the flop… 883 !! Jackpot! He minbets i shove and he puts it in with KK. No help for him, ship it to the Maltese fish! 74k.”

Must…be…nice!

15.29

Murphy’s Poor

Safwan Alfarman has dealt a potentially crucial blow to Anne Marie Murphy, his pocket aces tangling with her queens and holding up to leave him with a juicy 62k stack whilst Murphy is on the brink of elimination with just 1.6k.

Ashby Dishes Out Ticket To Valuetown

Richard Ashby has been one of the early risers – the summer bracelet winner chipping up efficiently to 65k and he has done so by extracting max value from almost every situation he has been in.

He did just that a moment ago to the man who caused Anne Marie Murphy such consternation, limping in for 200, before calling a raise to 650 from Safwan Alfarman.

The flop fell and Ashby led out for 1k, called by Alfarman.

The turn was the , Ashby checked and Alfarman also made a check after thinking for a few moments.

Come the on the river, Ashby now bet out 1,900 and again Alfarman dipped into the tank, finally emerging to make the call with pocket fives, only to find out the grisly truth that he had just paid off the Englishman’s thin value bet with ace-ten for second pair.

15.05

The PartyPoker Superstar Updates

We took the opportunity during the break to have a few words with some of the PartyPoker qualifiers to find out how their WPT experience is going for them so far.

First off an upbeat Per Linde has 50k.

“I’ve not played any big hands so far but I’ve won some small pots. It’s going well so far!”

Also doing well is Jimmy Ostensson.

“I have a very good table. It’s very soft,” he said. “I won a big pot with pocket nines on a 8-T-J-x-7 board when I made a biggish bet on the river and my opponent said, “I’m not good enough to fold,” with pocket aces.”

Jimmy has 50k also.

Giovanni Safina – in what appears to be a recurring pattern also has around the same amount of chips, although a little more in 53k.

His biggest hand saw him call a button raise to 300 from the small blind with ace-three, only for the big blind, who had been raising often to make it 1350.

Safina made the call and the board fell A-J-5.

Check from Safina and the BB bet out 1,700 which he called.

A queen on the turn saw Safina check again and call a 3,850 bet.

The river came a blank six and Safina refused to buckle, check-calling an 8,650 bet after a long think for three minutes, which led to his opponent to make an altogether swifter muck, his triple-barrelled aggression falling on stony ground on this occasion.

14.24

Handing Out Rub-downs

Well, some of the players might just be sitting back taking it easy right now – with ample time to hand pick their spots – so while they wait what could be better than a gentle, soothing massage from one of the attractive masseurs to pass the time.

We thought you might enjoy a picture of one of these photogenic ladies so here you are.

The spoils of the professional poker player eh?

14.19

Marko Busic has been a loud, intrusive presence on his table but with 7k left, he may well be silenced shortly.

For now though, he is looking to double up and his antics are ruffling a few feathers at his table.

Moments ago, he shoved for 7k pre-flop in the dark but did so out of turn, meaning there was an inquiry and ruling based on his action.

“The allin stands…UNLESS there is some action in front that changes the bet size,” was the ruling and when the preflop dust had settled, he picked up two callers.

With on a board, he must have been feeling like he needed to hit when one opponent bet out 15k to leave him heads-up.

However, the other player just had leading Busic to yell out “Freeroll!!!” then strangely, “look at that s***,” for some reason.

He failed to hit his freeroll however but chopped up the other player’s 7k in the pot, although it proved a temporary reprieve as he was seen slinking out of the doors a few moments ago.

Several of his tablemates were seen removing earplugs at his dismissal.

14.05

Gutshots All The Rage As Kassela Survives

No sooner had we had one all-in but suddenly we had another, a strangely shortstacked Frank Kassela moving in and called on a board, his spookily similar to the hand that had just seen Barry Shulman busted out.

His opponent, Tyron Krost, who won the Aussie Millions at the start of the year to propel his name into the history books, held for two pair, but once again the draw got there with the on the river following the blank turn.

“There’s one of ‘em,” said Kassela, sweeping up the pot, before offering some avuncular advice to his younger neighbour.

“Flopping two pair ain’t worth s**t today,” he said. “I should know, it’s done me no good.”

“You’re better off not doing that,” he concluded, offering some clues as to why his stack was so depleted.

That hand helped but left him still shortish with around half a full stack at this stage.

13.44

Shulman Runs Into A Real Chamaa

Barry Shulman is an ex-parrot, sorry player – the first to be eliminated in the day – and he wasn’t too happy about it either.

We caught him walking away from his table, muttering “he called 6k with a gutshot and hit it!” – referring to his executioner Adnan Chamaa, although a little gentle investigative probing yielded some more details that cast a somewhat different light on events.

First off, Shulman had shoved the last of his chips on the turn of a board with queen-ten and Chamaa had made the call with – so a gutshot yes but also a flush draw and two overs.

Plenty of outs and the nine on the river was one of them, meaning Shulman receives the dubious honour of first man down, as well as giving his wife bragging rights for outlasting her husband.

Good game!

13.29

More For Moor

There’s not a whole host of action yet with the tiny blind to stack ratios – even the more laggy players don’t need to commit large amounts of chips on 3 street bluffs just yet (give ‘em time though…)

This pot wasn’t particularly big, but was illustrative of many that have played out so far, Chris Moorman raising it up to 550 from early position with what we thought might have been .

He picked up 4 callers but when the flop fell and he led for 1,200, they all melted away like snowflakes in front of a furnace, and he bolstered his stack with over 2.2k in plundered chips to move back to just over his starting stack.

“I’ve just come back from Villamoura…it didn’t go too well,” joked Moorman, who has yet to back his incredible online form up with a live result of note.

Will this be his time?

12.50

Kassella Can’t Put Yuen A Hand

Sida Yuen has already boosted his chances of success, winning a decent-sized pot off the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela no less and Kassela was impressed.

We joined the hand on the river of a – with 13k or so already in the pot – and the thoughtful Yuen silently considered his options for a few moments before sliding out 8.5k.

Kassela looked unsure what to do before raising his eyebrows and making the call.

Yuen showed him pocket aces for top set and Kassela tabled king-queen for a flopped but outdrawn top two pair.

“That was well played,” said Kassela. “A lot of people would have checked there but he must have put me on a set of kings or queens.”

Yuen up to 60k, Kassela down to 40k.

12.38

Channing Likes His Chances

Blackbelt supremo Neil Channing has a fulsome C.V. with accomplishments aplenty, including a near-bracelet miss from this summer’s WSOP.

He is looking confident and clearly fancies his chances against the field.

“Looking round the room, there’s a few players here who would struggle in a £30 rebuy, let alone a WPT!” was his scathing assessment, although he did qualify his criticism.

“Not at my table, sadly.”

Last, But Not Least

There’ve been some late arrivals, and considering players will be able to buyin up to level 8 – the first level of tomorrow – we could see even more arriving as we navigate through the day.

These late arrivals are not men to be sniffed at either with the 2007 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. k runner-up, Bruno Fitoussi, 2010 WSOP bracelet-winner Richard Ashby and 2007 Irish Open winner Marty Smyth all arriving with bad intentions.

12.13

A quick note on the structure for those who missed out yesterday.

The players are starting with 40k stacks, playing seven hour and a half levels. There will be a fifteen minute break following each level and the players will get a 90-minute dinner break once level four is completed.

The day will end after seven levels.

So as you can see there is plenty of play and there is room aplenty for the more aggressive players to make some sick moves on each other whilst conversely the tighter, snugger players have ample time to pick their spots and bide their time.

A number of strategies were used successfully yesterday but whichever path the players decide to take, they will still need their fair share of fortune if they are to make a run at the title.

11.43

Day 1b Starts Afresh

The Palm Beach casino has opened its doors once more to welcome the great and the good into its bowels in a bid to crown the latest, mintiest-fresh WPT champion.

Yesterday saw a thoroughly entertaining day of poker, replete with riveting developments and exciting confrontations.

We saw young apprentice Luke Schwartz go toe-to-toe with the veritable master of poker, Phil Ivey – Ivey just about edging it on points though both remain firmly in contention.

The big story though was the dominant display by Erik Seidel, who marked his 101st appearance at a WPT with a mesmerising display of poker, that laid waste to his table and left him heading the pack come the close of play.

So on to Day 1b.

At first glance it doesn’t look to be quite as high a calibre of field as yesterday, which would have been tough going, but nonetheless there are a number of big names nestling amongst the pack waiting to strike like vipers.

Players such as Chris Moorman, the online sensation, Neil Channing, the man , the myth are mixing it up with transatlantic talent such as Heather Sue Mercer.

We’re looking forward to seeing how things develop here.

Stick with us as we bring you all the many twists and turns on the path to glory.

Game on!

02.42

Day 1a Final Chip Counts

Well it was quite a day of poker all told and as expected it is the legendary Erik Seidel who holds sway with a whopping 226k.

Look at that man Phil Ivey though, risen up to 4th having been up and down all day long. Here are the full counts and there are many stories waiting to be told after what has been just the first day.

We’ll be back tomorrow at 12 p.m. local time here in England so join us then for the resumption as the path to WPT glory continues.

See you there!

226,200 2 5 Seidel, Erik
188,600 6 4 Shakerchi, Talal
149,800 4 1 Atkinson, Bruce
146,200 Ivey, Phil
124,300 1 5 Kurgandu, Igor
120,300 3 3 Mumtaz, Asim
112,000 Mattsson Saarisilta, Nichlas
110,700 1 2 O’Leary, Kevin
108,300 Bansi, Pramesh
103,500 4 5 Schmejkal, Ernst
100,800 2 2 Boich, Emeline
96,800 3 4 Mohammed, Barkatul
93,400 6 6 Seed, Huckleberry
91,400 Lukashaugen, Tore
82,400 Schwartz , Luke
80,000 Ilyukhin, Victor Victorovich
72,300 5 5 Inman, Lawrie
70,000 6 1 Bartha, Ferenc
69,900 Henke, Ramin
68,800 Tafur, Daniel
65,600 1 4 Boich, Wayne
62,700 Beevers, Joseph
59,300 4 7 Baxter, Derek M
48,100 Cao, Yongfu
46,300 5 1 Teatum, Gareth
46,200 2 8 Woodley, Ian
44,900 Ramos, Felipe
39,500 Patrick, Philip
38,900 3 2 Gray, Jason
38,000 6 7 Sullivan, James
37,300 Robl, Andrew

00.44

The last few minutes of level seven are just playing out and the day is destined to finish shortly with around half the players who started – 36/72 – still in with a shot of that coveted and inaugural WPT London title.

It looks like Erik Seidel will be the man leading the pack when they wrap things up, assuming there are no enormo-hands in the next few minutes.

Once they bag and tag the chips, there will be an official count which we will pass onto you once we receive it.

And that’s it! A fascinating day’s play is in the bag and we’ve seen some incredible play and intriguing developments.

Stick with us for the final counts but for now, thanks for following and make sure you join us tomorrow as we rinse and repeat and hope for similar excitement on day 1b.

Adios amigos!

00.29

Luke Schwartz is still going along nicely with around 75k and moments ago he showed his mettle, three-betting his earlier nemesis Phil Ivey.

Ivey posed in classic Ivey poker face, mouth agape as he contemplated his action. Finally he decided to throw his hand, leaving Schwartz to showdown 8-4 offsuit.

“You see that,” said Schwartz triumphantly, a minor battle won but a long way from winning the war.

00.16

Our New Chipleader

Clearly the earlier accolade handed out to Erik Seidel for making his 100th and 101st WPT appearance has been a source of inspiration for him as he is just destroying his table right now.

A recent big coup saw a raise to 2.8k, called in at least one spot, before Seidel also made the call from the big blind.

The flop fell 5-4-3 and Seidel elected to check-raise the early position raiser#s bet of 2.2k to 5.5k.

Undeterred, his opponent made the call, leaving the pair heads-up to the turned .

Seidel continued the aggression with a further bet of 10k on the turn, which was again called.

The river was a relatively blank nine and a 25k bet this time from Seidel was eventually called by his wavering opponent.

He was right to be cautious. Seidel showed A-2 for a flopped straight and bolstered his already enormous stack, which has risen imperiously to over 170k as we stand, which looks like being the chip lead.

Can anyone stop this behemoth of poker from destroying all before him?

00.09

Bansi Too Slick

Praz Bansi doubled through moments ago – five-bet shoving ace-king for his 60k stack, only for his opponent to feel invested enough to make the call with ace-queen.

No shocks on flop, turn and river and Bansi had shot up to close to the chip lead with a 125k stack.

“Standard hand,” laughed the double WSOP bracelet winner.

23.49

Roland Fed To De Wolfes

Well we didn’t witness De Wolfe’s exit but Huck Seed’s brief interrogation of his tablemates told us most of what we needed to know.

“Where’s Roland?” asked Seed.

“He’s out.”

“How?”

“Bluffing.”

“What couldn’t he bluff?”

“The second nuts.”

So there you are. No 2nd WPT title for De Wolfe.

23.20

Gray’s Day Brightens

It’s been a slow day for Jason Gray but he’s back in the mix after seeing a rather sick hand play out where he fired his final chips into the middle with pocket aces on a board only to pick up not one but two callers.

The big-stacked Asim Mumtaz was one of those who partook in the sickness, although he wasn’t much threat with pocket kings. Nasty cooler sir. (Maybe he’s owed at least one of those after that one outer versus Akenhead earlier.)

But then in stepped another player who was a genuine threat with 9-8 for top two.

It was looking bad for Gray but the on the turn opened up a lot of outs for him as one of his two bullets was the .

The river?

It was the to complete his flush leaving Mr 9-8 looking frustrated at missing out on a huge scoop.

“Best hand won,” commented Praz Bansi from the neighbouring table which had taken an interest in the three-way shananigans going on next door.

Gray’s back in effect with almost 50k.

Meanwhile you might be interested to take a look at the PartyPoker video showing clips of Tony G, Mike Sexton, our very own lovely Tatjana and other tidbits from the opening of the WPT here in London.

It’s a cracker.

23.02

Chick Flips

Perhaps a tad dispespectful. In fact the female representation of the tournament (just two) have done well to out-do their male counterparts and both reach the latter stages of the day whilst men aplenty have fallen round them.

Kathy Lehwe has gone through the day looking for spots but hasn’t managed to accumulate too many chips and moments ago she went for a double through with a very acceptable hand in ace-king.

Her stack meant she was likely to get some action if anyone had a reasonable hand and get it she did as she was called by an opponent with pocket sevens.

The flop wasn’t entirely unpromising, despite the fact it kept her opponent in front as she now had a gutterball draw to go with her overcards, but when the turn was an ugly , the gutterball was all that remained and a full-house-completing on the river was more than enough to see her put her coat on and wish her table good luck as Kathy Lehwe departs the arena just before the final level of the day.

Here she is in happier times with fellow eliminee Dragan Galic. It wasn’t all bad. Remember those happy times Kathy.

22.53

A few chip counts from some men we haven’t heard from in a while.

They are not forgotten.

Praz Bansi – quietly going along with a very respectable 70k.
Roland de Wolfe – 55,300.
Paul Jackson – 28,500. We have barely mentioned Paul Jackson over the tournament but he is a very capable player and may get a chance for revenge on Ivey at some point for that hand.

You know.

Thathand. (Just click the link)

Andrew Robl – 21,500.

Oh and Andrew Robl isn’t out either, although his paltry collection of chips (just six) suggests he may need help sooner rather than later. Will it be busto or robusto for Robl?

22.31

Handbags and Glad Rags…and Man Bags

We’d like to say we’re torn on Luke Schwartz’ choice of bag here at the WPT but to be honest, majority opinion seems to be firmly united in the “just no, Luke” camp, with more than a few even taking refuge in the “say WHAT??” trenches.

We’ll leave you to judge for yourselves the merit of his man bag.

You like?

We no like.

22.24

“Tell Me When I Can Look”

Well Phil Ivey was a big chip leader and looked to pile the pressure onto his opponents with his big stack, but he chose the wrong opponent with the wrong hand moments ago.

We missed the preflop action but there must have been a likely four bets at least for Kevin O’Leary to find himself allin with pocket jacks against Phil Ivey but his steel will was rewarded as Ivey could only table pocket fives.

That’s when he uttered the memorable opening words of the post.

He had no need to worry though, even though every card must have been a potentially heartbreaker for him with a 100k+ pot looming.

No five or sick straight/flush combination arrived however to ruin his day and moments later he was the proud new owner of a close-to-the-chiplead stack of 102k.

Ivey meanwhile was back in the trenches with just over 50k to his name. As usual he looked utterly unfazed.

What a game this is turning into!

22.12

We’ve been perusing the cardroom for the big stacks to give you a flavour of who is holding sway right now and we think we’ve found the biggies.

Here they are for you to either gasp at in awe or shrug and sigh, “variance.”

It’s up to you.

Igor Kurgandu – 137k
Asim Mumtaz – 118k
Phil Ivey – 102k
Felipe Ramos – 81k
Luke Schwartz – 71k

But wait – the rapid fire pace of recent times hasn’t slowed at all and already we have a change on that leaderboard. Details to follow…

22.03

Scratch That Galic

PartyPoker Pro Dragan Galic was unfortunate to lose a large chunk of his stack earlier versus Ian Woodley and his run of misfortune has not ended – as he is now bounced out of contention.

His exit hand saw him holding – committing the last of his chips on an ace-high, two diamond board on the turn.

Unfortunately he was up against ace-king – though with plenty of outs to turn his equity disadvantage round.

Sadly for Galic none materialised on the river and he was sent packing into the dark london night to seek entertainment elsewhere. We wish him luck in his quest.

22.00

We’ve had a incredible sequence of hands over the last few minutes.

Here’s the news.

Mumtaz Hits Quads Versus Hitsquad

Oh what sickness.

Poor James Akenhead. Deuces were his saviour earlier when he managed to double through with them, but suddenly they became the filthiest hand he’ll have ever seen.

We joined his table to see him grabbing his coat and looking like he wanted to be somewhere very far far away…the rest of the table were mumbling sounds that sounded very very sympathetic.

We swooped in to see Akenhead with a pretty strogn hand in front of him, pocket threes on a for a full house.

Oh dear what could the matter be? Well the problem was, and the reason for his newfound lack of love for those baby ducks he used to cherish was his opponent Asim Mumtaz held them and they had one outted the hitsquadder on the turn.

Akenhead wanted to leave fast and did so – we can’t blame him whilst Mumtaz was now the proud owner of a 118k stack – vying for the chip lead.

“You’ve hit some hands,” someone commented on the table in what is a contender for the obvious observation of the year award.

He sure has. And what a time to do so! Mumtaz near the top of the leaderboard now.

21.28

Another quick correction. Pardon us for fumbling the ball once more but it is actually Erik Seidel’s 101st WPT not 100th as earlier stated.

The presentation was held back for the London WPT to give Seidel a fitting commemoration for this significant event.

Congratulations Erik and we’re off to work on our verbal, mental and physical dexterity which clearly needs a touch of polish!

Don’t worry next time we’ll score a touchdown, hit the back of the net, knock it out of the park etc. Whatever your poison.

21.23

A quick correction to the Ivey/ Schwartz hand.

The players have just taken a fifteen minute break following the end of level 5 and Schwartz revealed he actually had the on the river for a very baby flush.

“I considered making a hero call but I didn’t think even Phil Ivey would be sick enough to bluff with 7-8 there.”

He was chatting with Huck Seed, who told him he was knocked down to 55k. “Don’t worry, it’s early days said Schwartz, who was still left with a healthy 68k following that huge hand versus Ivey.

20.59

Ivey and Schwartz Clash In Monster Hand

Witness the master versus the apprentice in what was truly a clash of the titans.

We joined the hand on the turn of a #6c#5s#5c#Kc board, Schwartz betting out 20k into the 25k pot and a contemplative Ivey making the call, leaving himself around 35k back, enough to cover Schwartz.

Come the flush-completing #2c river, Ivey, first to act, now moved in for his remaining stack and Schwartz uhmmed and ahhhed a little…before throwing away the face up.

Ivey smiled as the table exploded with guesses at his unshown hand.

“Seven-eight of diamonds” guessed Joe Beevers.

Schwartz, who is now sporting a massive hole in his crippled stack said, “I thought for sure you would think I had a house when I bet 20k on the turn.”

“You should have checked the river!” he continued, implying Ivey could have won more chips off him that way, as Ivey just smiled away and stacked the chips.

“Yeh but I couldn’t beat a jack,” jibed Ivey finally, causing Schwartz to burst into laughter.

“I don’t believe you!” he said. Ivey now has a huge 110k stack.

Like Dr Frankenstein, Luke Schwartz may just have created a monster…

20.29

Bullet Shoots Down Cowboys

Ian Woodley has seen his stack dribble mainly downward since the start of the day, but he just bucked the trend moments ago, though he owed his double-through more to the vagaries of fortune than skill.

Team Poker Pro Dragan Galic has been a vocal presence at the table, giving his tablemates a verbal hammering throughout, and a number of them were no doubt looking to stick it “in his eye” so when Ian Woodley found ace-king, he was happy to back his hand up with his 29k stack.

Galic however was never folding, holding a dominating pair of kings and it looked likely Woodley would be the next man taking the rueful walk of shame out of the Palm Beach Casino.

That didn’t prove the case though – the board fell a largely innocuous to the turn and with Woodley preparing to find other ways to spend the next four days than at the WPT – suddenly it all changed on the soul-crushing river.

If it was online, there would be cries of “rigged!” in the chat box – but being live instead we just heard a sharp intake of breath and a muttered “sick” from the crowd.

“Sorry,” said Woodley who looked anything but, positively beaming as he raked in the pot.

“It’s ok,” Galic returned. “No one ever believes me when I raise.” Woodley back in the game with 57k whilst Gallic is looking in a spot of bother with just 20k now. Bad luck sir.

20.13

Not So Hot-to-Trottman

Sometimes a man just has to take a stand, and Luke Trottman decided to draw a line in the sand moments ago, committing his remaining stack preflop with king-queen.

Just like in comedy though, timing is everything in this game, and when your opponent has pocket aces, the time is not right.

Thus it was for Trottman and though he spiked a queen on the turn to at least open the door of recovery just a sliver, he proved unable to improve further and as the board ran out just to put a final nail in his already firmly sealed coffin.

One more man down and the there are now just 52 players remaining from the opening 72.

Game on….

19.54

Akenhead’s Ducks Avoid The Big Slick

We spoke to James Akenhead earlier and he was a little down about his luck but managed to crack a smile or two nonetheless. Moments ago, he went for a big double-through in a preflop coup that worked out nicely for him.

Holding deuces he was up against in the hands of his opponent and it was coinflip time for the youngster.

The anticipation grew with every card snapped over by the dealer.

The board fell and somehow Akenhead managed to dodge the six outs required to send him to the rail.

“How good do you run!” commented someone at the table in disbelief.

“Oh please…” dismissed Akenhead as he stacked up his newly won chips, his stack back in contention at 34k.

19.38

We’re back from dinner and already there is some friction and sparks happening at the table. In our short round of the tables, we saw some very interesting hands, including a double up for one rather well-known Englishman.

Details to follow in a moment…

18.24

We all like to hear a rags to riches story and it’s going to take a somewhat miraculous turn around from young qualifier Johan Fredrik Furuly if he is to turn around a bad start.

Moments ago however the green shoots of recovery were seen peeking through the rubble of misery and outdraws as his pocket aces held up in a preflop allin coup versus ace-king.

His stack is still a meagre 17,150, but all is not lost and that still represents a decent amount of play at this stage.

Let’s see those shoots turn into a mighty oak Johan!

We’ll be back at half past eight local time to see this dramatic day to its conclusion. See you then!

18.04

Some people have recognisable names, some have recognisable faces, but there are a select few who can lay claim to having the most recognisable voice in poker.

Nonetheless, you play the dulcid tones of Jesse May and almost every to almost any poker player and he will more than likely correctly identify his unique infectious laugh and enthusiastic delivery.

May is currently busy in the casino speaking to lots of players and picking up some choice interviews with same and you can catch his current show, which will be appearing later tonight by clicking through to this page.

Whilst at it why not visit the archives to give yourself a little slice of poker history framed in May’s inimitable style and delivery. We know you won’t be disappointed.

17.49

There are just two ladies playing the event today and one of them has just given herself a massive boon.

Emiline Boich is the lady in question – she waited patiently for a good spot and found a great one – getting her chips in preflop with pocket aces – only for her unfortunate – and covered opponent to find pocket kings at the same time.

It was looking like lights out, curtain city time for her luckless opponent and when the board blanked after briefly threatening to make a flush, she had a stack over 50k, whilst one more man hit the rail.

“That’s the first hand I’ve played all day. I’ve been saying I am going to get aces and they will get broken.”

It just goes to show, not every baseless, superstitious premonition you have in poker comes true. Who’d have thunk it?!

Nice hand Emiline.

17.33

Frazer Dips Down

It’s not been the best of starts for Ian Frazer but he is still in there fighting away with 32k and with his long record in poker – he can never be counted out.

He took time out a few moments ago to enjoy a joke with Joe Beevers, although Beevers has more reason to be enjoying himself – the Hendon Mobster up to over 62k as we speak.

17.12

Cox Pipped

Juggling a shortish stack for some time Nicholas Cox always looked in trouble and moments ago, his luck finally ran out. We saw him dashing out of the door and his opponent – holding pocket nines – was sweeping up the smoking remnants of his stack with a smile on his face as wide as the Cheshire cat.

Cox is miaow’t.

17.06

Ivey’s On Easy Street

The players are back at the felt…well some of them at least.

Phil Ivey is in no rush to take his seat, just sitting back and relaxing in the casino foyer while more nervous opponents hurried back lest they missed a single hand. It’s all too easy for Ivey, whose stack rose impressively to nearly 70k just before the break but there’s one man at least who is putting him in the shade.

The ever relaxed Huck Seed.

“What you got Huck?” inquired Ivey and Huck let him know the bad news. “Over a hundred thousand.”

“I’ve just got 70,” said Ivey and Seed jumped in with a quick rubdown. “Oh is that all?” leaving a laughing Ivey still relaxing in prone position whilst Seed moved a little quicker to take his place at the felt before level four kicked in.

16.40

Prey For Me – Mantis Expires

Karl “The Mantis” Mahrenholz, one of the trio of hitsquad members with their eyes on the prize, now has his eyes on the exit as he has busted out during level three.

We didn’t see his exit hand although just before he rushed out of the door he explained, “I lost two massive draws versus Roland De Wolfe then dusted off the rest.”

De Wolfe meanwhile is licking his chops with a chip-lead-threatening stack of 97k, and as a buxom masseur kneads his weary limbs, life could definitely be worse for the accomplished Englishman as we speak.

Once again the players have retired for a fifteen minute break before they return to play out the last level before dinner. See you shortly…

16.24

The Life Of Ivey

Well it’s not all roses in the garden of Ivey right now, although he’s putting in a fair amount of work to make things happen.

He’s been raising liberally on this level (100/200) from late position to 600, and has had mixed results so far.

Sometimes it works, such as when he made it 600 and was called from the blinds before c-betting the king-high all spade flop.

A quick fold and Ivey was richer.

Kevin O’Leary was less benevolent however, calling Ivey’s raise – the pair going heads-up to a board and Ivey check calling an 800 bet from O’Leary.

The turned was checked by both players, then when O’Leary bet out a smallish looking 900 on the river, Ivey wasted little time in throwing his hand away – Ivey gets poorer.

So it’s up and down for Ivey but more down than up as we speak as he is back to just over 40k, although that starting stack still affords him a great deal of play and if any man knows how to use it…

16.17

Schwartz Sniffs Out A Fish

Luke Schwartz has proved himself an irrepressible force before and he looks like he’s doing it again here, his stack having already risen up to 55k – arranged dubiously in stacks of 5-8 chips.

A few seconds ago, he raised to 525 from under the gun and received a total of 4 callers, all of who ran and hid when the young Englishman fired out a healthy looking 1725 on the flop.

He nonchalently collected the pot, creating several more stacks before finding time to comment on his neighbour’s salad.

“That’s one fishy salad. It’s ‘cos they put anchovies in,” observed the wise gourmet.

Schwartz up to 58k.

15.52

“Richest Man In Hungary” Bearing Gifts

Kevin O’Leary has over 75k right now and we were curious as to where his stack came from.

“I won most of it from the richest man in Hungary,” he said – indicating tablemate Sandor Demjan. “He’s played about 95% of hands!”

Just as he spoke, almost as if to punctuate this comment, we heard an allin and call coming from his table.

“That’s probably him now,” said O’Leary and his words proved prophetic as indeed Demjan was allin for his last 10k pre-flop, holding nothing more ace-five.

His opponent Adebayo Odetoyinbo had him in bad shape with pocket eights although with , Demjan hit a great flop as it fell #Qd#Td#5d for a pair and the nut flush draw.

There was an inevitability about the hand as the hit the turn to complete the outdraw and a blank river saw Odetoyinbo say “nice hand” as he took the bad beat with good grace – his stack dropping to below 20k whilst the “richest man in Hungary” got a little richer, doubling to over 20k.

15.42

Ramos Checks It Out

Felipe Ramos has had a less than auspicious start, although he knows when to hold his horses.

Seeing James Akenhead make it 525, there was a flat call from middle position before Ramos grabbed the pot and gave it a little squeeze, raising the price to pay to 1575.

MP called and the pair went heads up to a A-8-7 board.

Ramos couldn’t resist leading out for 2.6k but when his opponent called, the pair checked down the ace on the turn and the 4 on the river – only after Ramos contemplated a further bet for two minutes.

He was wise to make the check – his opponent showing down a surprisingly strong ace-king for trips whilst Ramos threw his hand into the muck.

Although he lost that pot, Ramos is far from dejected and still has over 40k to play with.

“You know what happened the last time I played a tournament with a small number of runners. I won it!” he told us during the break suggesting some form in these kind of events – although to be fair, it was just a 0 event, not the £5k WPT challenge that lies ahead of him here.

15.31

Cox Up

Nicholas Cox had got himself in a precarious position – his chip stack looking very vulnerable and moments ago Sanjay Nandwani almost delivered the fatal blow.

The pair went heads up to a board and Cox final few chips flew into the middle with for second pair, which was by far second best versus Nandwani’s pretty pair of ladies.

The turn card however bailed out Cox as he spiked a ten to make two pair, underlined by a small tap on the table and when the river blanked, an almost emotionless Nandwani took the beat in his stride, handing over a small amount of chips to Cox who is still some way off making a full recovery with a sub 20k stack.

15.24

There’s a slight fixture congestion in the poker world at present with an EPT taking place in Villamoura and the WSOPE less than two weeks away meaning the turnout here, although brimming with quality is a little lower than expected.

As a result, the directors are rethinking the strategy of seven level days and the day might be curtailed a little earlier than expected, the current thinking suggesting they may finish up with 3 or 4 tables left depending on how fast things are playing out.

Tomorrow is expected to be a much busier day however…with late registrations allowed, enthusiastic EPT eliminees looking for action likely to fly over and play and a history of day 2s being busier.

A total attendance of 250 is being tentatively suggested, which will create a juicy £1.25 million prize pool and mean the players are gunning for a cracking first prize.

Bring it on!

15.02

The players have just taken a short break following leve three so that gives us a chance to tell you about last night where players who had qualified online were given the chance to rub shoulders with some of Party Poker’s Elite in a social setting, before taking them on at the felt.

PartyPoker Team Pros Ian Frazer, Tony G and Dragan Galic mingled with the starry-eyed hopefuls and with the drinks flowing, and glamorous ladies providing an engaging spectacle, it was a fitting opening to the tournament.

Luckily we had a camera ready to catch the action so let us bring the cream of the opening party to your homes. Here are the pictures hosted on our Facebook fanpage.

Enjoy!

14.50

Combing The Palm Beach

Although it’s a little early for comprehensive chip counts, a quick scan round the room shows there are some large stacks beginning to sprout from the average – still just over 42k with 67 players left out of the opening 72.

We think Huck Seed may well be the chip leader at this stage – his 110k looking very dominant as we stand. He was offering some nutritional advice as we passed his table.

“I like to mix up what I eat – eat bad foods now and again. You hear of these guys who eat healthily for six years, then eat a steak and drop down dead!”

Right now his diet is good old fashioned 100% chips and it’s working well for him.

These players are also flying high as we speak:-

Andrew Robl – 92k
Kevin O’Leary – 85k
Praz Bansi – 62,225
James Akenhead -52,500
Phil Ivey – 49,450

14.35

May The Schwartz Be With You, Luke

Love him or hate him, no tournament is the same once that rogue-ish player Luke Schwartz has joined the mix and he’s turned up way into level three here.

Already he’s stirring up the table a little, trying to talk Andrew Robl into a last longer bet.

“Well I’ve got 110k, so yeh I’m up for a last longer,” laughed Robl as Schwartz reconsidered whether this was a viable bet. Where there’s a will…

“Ok, 3-1,” offered Shwartz, only for Robl to reassess his own stack. “Actually i’ve just got 92k,” said the high-stakes player, leaving Schwartz’ attempts at booking action blocked again.

“Ok then my 2k to your 5k,” Schwartz dangled in front of Robl – but the Busto to Robusto star was in stubborn mood refusing to budge. “No,” Robl countered forcefully.

“Alright we’ll wait and do it later when I have more chips,” a buoyantly optimistic Schwartz threw out.

Good luck trying to nail down that bet Luke!

14.03

Star Seed Flowers

Huck Seed has already sent an opponent to the rail in what has been a surprisingly aggressive start out there, he’s up to over 65k already, having busted an opponent holding pocket aces on an ace-high board.

His opponent mucked and left the arena in sharpish fashion, so fast in fact that we weren’t able to see his hand, although judging by the post-hand analysis, it seems like he might also have held a set.

“Well he had an out, but he had to go all the way to heaven to get it,” commented a tablemate following the dismissal.

A quiet and determined-looking Seed just quietly swept up the chips.

In other news Roland De Wolfe has just arrived fashionably late – and we know the Triple Crown winner * is capable of making a fast start. So we’ll be keeping our eyes on him…

* Just in case you weren’t aware – the famous Triple Crown of poker consists of a WPT, EPT and WSOP title. Only two men have ever done it – De Wolfe and a fresh-faced Gavin Griffin. It’s tougher than Chuck Norris coated in granite.

13.37

The players have just had a short end of level break to snatch a quick drink and catch up but we’re back at the felt and the sound of chip riffling and clicking is permeating the playing arena once more.

Just to fill you in on the structure of the tournament. They will be playing seven levels today – each being an hour and a half. Dinner will follow level four, which will be at approximately seven and we will then have a further three levels to finish the day.

We spoke to some of the Party Poker Team Pro during the break so let’s bring you up to speed with how they are doing.

Dragan Galichas 42k right now and he told us he hasn’t played any significant pots thusfar – failing to tangle with Erik Seidel…at this stage.

Team Pro Felipe Ramos is at 38k – his two significant pots seeing his pairs outflopped by other players flopping sets…so not so hot for the Brazilian so far.

And Damien Rony is representing the unsung masses, the Frenchman an online qualifier who must be both excited and just a little nervous at mixing with this illustrious group of players.

His early performance suggests he is not overawed by the others however, playing out a pot with pocket kings where he slowplayed a Qh-Ts-3h board, only to fire 6k on the turn, which his opponent made 18k.

He called and the pair checked down the 7s on the river – Rony’s kings good as he chipped up to well over 40k.

13.13

The Levy’s Run Dry

We’re sad to say the amiable and accomplished player Nicolas Levy has seen his chances turned to dust at this early stage.

We joined the hand on the turn of a 9-4-3-Q board with both players allin, seemingly on the flop which made some sense, seeing as Levy held pocket jacks for the overpair whilst his fortunate opponent – Sandor Demjan – held 4-3 for a flopped two pair.

An irrelevant eight on the river changed rien for the Frenchman and as he left the table he was gracious enough to offer a slightly dejected sounding “good luck guys” as he disappeared from the casino fast – disappoint trailing him like a slightly moist grey cloud.

12.46

Despite the deep stacks and relatively paltry blinds, we have seen one significant hand of note play out – two players finding themselves allin preflop!

As the announcement went out that we had an allin, the watching rail and surrounding press were like bloodhounds scenting the prey, bounding over to watch the carnage – only for a decidedly undramatic denouement as the pair of combatants both turned up pocket aces.

There was still the distant rumble of thunder in the background as a four flush could deliver an early bad beat story which would have been a knife in the heart with the blinds this small and the pot so big.

However there was no sickness, the board blanked out and the table chuckled as the threat of danger rapidly dissipated.

12.41

You want a multiple bracelet winner playing his 100th WPT? Hello Erik Seidel.

You want a former November Niner, Poker Million winner young hotshot pro? Hello James Akenhead.

Perhaps you’re looking for a healthy serving of gallic flair or some classic British beef? Nicholas Levy and Joe Beevers have you well catered for.

Or maybe, just maybe you’re looking out for a veritable living legend – the man many think is the best player to have ever graced the felt. We give you Mr Phil Ivey.

It’s a mouth-watering line-up befitting the occasion and we are champing at the bit to see how it all plays out. Hold tight as a sensational day (and week) of poker beckon.

12.09

First man walked on the moon, then the Berlin wall was knocked down and now the latest seismic event in history – the WPT has come to London.

It’s a momentous occasion and guarantees to see a number of the top pros travel into the heart of london to take their shot at what will be one of the tournaments of the year.

The Palm Beach Casino at the Mayfair is playing the host and we’ve already seen through the doors a healthy blend of local and overseas talent descend into the hotel cardroom.

There’s quite the lineup as you would expect. Have a look at this roster…

12.00

11.50

Okay, cards are in the air at the inaugural WPT London! Moments before the action kicked off, tournament director Jack McLelland presented Erik Seidel with a gift to commemorate his 100th WPT appearance.