End of Day 2 Chip-counts:
With two dozen players making it back for what will no doubt be an incredible final day, the WPT National field has seen some incredible ups and downs all day long. Here are the final 24 players who will fight it out for a £27,500 top prize tomorrow!
Daivid Gassian 1,182,000
Arvin Rajandran 909,000
Darren Mapley 905,000
Anh Will Diep 889,000
James Mitchell 843,000
Alexandros Tsiroudis 765,000
Phil Green 748,000
Laurence Houghton 721,000
Charles Chattha 674,000
Sandra Jaz Reid 657,000
James Finigan 576,000
Onise Daneliya 564,000
Florian Duta 534,000
Stuart Nash 524,000
Abdul Miah 517,000
Yilfer Sheveet 496,000
Rahim Tadj-Saadat 473,000
Andrew Badecker 468,000
Herve Decker 439,000
Gareth Holt 400,000
Steve Owens 365,000
Bobbie Brummitt 341,000
Thang Nguyen 330,000
Edijs Cergars 283,000
We’ll be back tomorrow with all the action from 3.00pm in the tournament, but we’ll have a full write-up of today’s story up at lunchtime with all the pay-outs from today’s winning players!
Three Tables
We’ve reached the end of play here on Day 2 of the WPT-National Event in London, and we have three tables of players. dealers are just confirming their end of day chip-stacks, which we’ll bring you just as soon as they have given us them, but we saw two bust-outs just before the table chop.
Parviz Siabi lost the last of his micro-stack in an unfortunate hand where Laurence Houghton sent him home. Parviz only had ten big blinds, and his Q-Q got a quick call form Laurence’s A-6, which spiked and ace to eliminate Siabi.
On the same table, which was briefly five-handed and very choppy, Russell Jones left as his seven big blind shove with T-9 off-suit was snapped off by Alex Tsiroudis with A-J. A jack-high flop gave Alex the clear advantage and Russell couldn’t get near catching up.
Final Thirty
With twenty minutes left of the WPT National Day 2, we are rolling towards the finsih line for this day rather than racing there. All the players want to be here for the final day, they all want to make that elusive final table and fight for the £27,500 top prize. Here are some more of the stacks as the players battle for the right to make Day 3…
William Diep 1,165,000
Daivid Gassian 1,050,000
Alexandros Tsiroudis 818,000
Arvin Rajandran 780,000
Chaz Chattha 720,000
James Mitchell 700,000
Sandra Reid 630,000
Abdul Miah 610,000
Mr. Bond 480,000
Laurence Houghton 462,000
Rahim Tadj-Saadat 305,000
Parviz Siabi 250,000
Russell Jones 135,000
Finnegan Feeling It
As you can tell, James Finigan is definitely feeling like this could be his tournament..
https://twitter.com/jimbomber/status/439905477338857472
Level 21 – Blinds 10,000/20,000/3,000
Diep Deals The Pain
With just 36 players left, there are some table captains out there. William Diep has the biggest stack at Table 1, which also features long-time leader Onise DaneLiya.
Table 1 Chip-counts:
William Diep 1,140,000
James Finigan 810,000
Onise Daneliya (right) 600,000
Darren Mapley 440,000
Stuart Nash 410,000
Steve Owens 375,000
John Baylis 175,000
Chaz Chats Away
It’s no exaggeration to say that Chaz Chattha comes into his own at this sort of distance from the top prize. With 47 players left, he’s started to really dominate his table with a few words here, a fold there and a big bet everywhere he sees opportunity. He may have just pushed an opponent off the pot in the pot where the worst hand has won all night.
On a flop of 
, Chaz turned on the chat after raising his opponent (pictured above) from his 150k bet to all-in from Chattha.
“Oh, you have nines, maybe? Nines are a good hand. They’re losing though. You think I’m flushing? If I’m flushing, I’ll give up poker. I’ve got two black cards. If I show a red card, I’m giving up poker, that’s it.”
His opponent had the clock called on him, and allowed the full minute to lapse before he folded what he said was a big hand.
“Oh, you folded a big hand too?” asked Chaz, and flipped the 
.
We’re guessing he’ll stick at the game for a little longer.
Level 20 – ~Blinds 8,000/16,000/ante 2,000
(Don’t) Look Away Now
You can’t take your eyes off the action for a moment here at the Aspers Poker Room, as players are dropping like flies. We’ve lost Chris Love, Paul Romain and Dave McConachie in the first few hands after the bubble burst. Romain lost when his pocket eights couldn’t hold in a button versus blind flip against Ace-King. Dave McConachie saw his chips shipped over to Onise Daneliya when his K-Q didn’t improve against the latter’s A-9, and Chris Love appeared at the cash desk for his min-cash of £630 straight after.
It’s fast and furious in the ready money round…
Rod McDermott Is Bubble Boy Supreme
Some players react badly to the bubble. Some gripe, some moan, some just steam silently in their chair, almost refusing to leave. Not Rod McDermott. There was a proposal for the bubble deal turned down of course, and then on his own table, the shortest stack in the room with just 2 antes triple up to survive with 
. Shorties doubled all round the tables, with at last count ten short-stacks doubling up or trebling up to survive. Still, Rod waited his time, hoping someone else would go before him.
Some players were given penalties for crowding tables where an all-in was taking place, and tension was just as present in the Poker Room here at Aspers as there was a sense of gallows humour. Others utilised the bubble to make profit on marginal spots, chief among these – unsurprisingly – being Chaz Chattha and James Mitchell. But eventually, Rod was in for just one and a half big blinds, and he got called quickly by the biggest stack at the table.
Rod Mc Dermott 
Chip Mountain 
The flop brought a sweat, with it falling 
. Announced to the whole floor, it got a collective ‘ooh’. The turn brought a 
, meaning Rod needed a seven or three to survive. The river was a 
however, and that was McDermott’s tournament.
“Bubble Boy!” he yelled, standing up, spreading his arms and taking a round of applause akin to a goal at Wembley. All the others were in the money. Rod shook hands, he thanked the players and wished them all luck. Then he was stopped on the way to the exit. He was met by John from Aspers and Lee from the World Poker Tour. And they gave that man a seat to the WPT National Event in Newcastle. McDermott was elated, genuinely really pleased, as if his gracious acceptance that he’d missed the money had heralded the kind act by the organisers.
McDermott bounded out, with dreams of running that little bit further when the WPT National event rolls North-East. He’ll be going all out for the win.
Level 19 – Blinds 6,000/12,000/2,000
Hand For Hand As Kara Scott Busts
Kara Scott has just busted pre-bubble with 56 players left to leave us on the money bubble. the partypoker player got fourteen big blinds into the middle in late position with 
and her opponent made the call with 
. She departs before the money but has truly brought great fun and top play to this tournament. A pre-bubble deal has been rejected, so the bubble will not be paid.
Near The Money
Two players have just busted to mean that we are almost hand for hand on the bubble of the WPT National Event here in London at Aspers Casino. Those bust-outs were players who’d both ground it from a short-stack, but with varying stacks when they eventually busted.
Yigit Isilsoy went out when he lost a 320k flip with Daivid Gassian. Gassian held 
and they held across a board of 
against Yigit’s 
. He wasn’t too disappointed, having spun his way back into contention from just two big blinds before the break.
Elsewhere, Chaz Chattha has just knocked OUT Michael Padmore. The Team Duffy pro called the shove from his opponent, and Chaz turned over . Padmore held 
but they couldn’t hold on the board of .
Some chip-counts on the bubble:
Onise Daneliya 850,000
William Diep 740,000
Arvin Rajandran 670,000
James Bond 580,000
Daivid Gassian 340,000
Thang Nguyen 330,000
Chaz Chattha 240,000
Kara Scott 165,000
Dave McConachie 130,000
Sami Idris 90,000
Good Exposure…But For Whom?
Chaz Chattha raised under the gun and the table respected the move until it came round to Paul Romain. Now up to around 150,000 from 45,000 not so long ago, Paul shoved on the button. The small blind – Rahim Tadj-Saadat – got out of the way, but when the big blind did likewise, he deliberately showed an ace, claiming not to have seen Chaz’s cards (and, one must presume, raise). What now? Chaz took off his sunglasses, and peeled one Beats headphone away from his ear.
“He’s showed me one of my cards. What can I do?”
Chaz eyes Paul Romain and tells him his hand.
“I have Ace-Queen and he’s showed me, you know. He’s showed me an ace. Do you do that with jacks?”
No response from Romain, who is not known as ‘The Rock’ for nothing. He’s wearing his lucky ‘Black Belt’ Day 2 t-shirt. He’s spun it up from nowhere to have a shot at making the money, just ten players away now.
“I think I have to fold anyway.” says Chaz and mucks, disgruntled.
Paul Romain raises Chaz from disgruntled to seriously miffed, turning over 
and shaking his head.
Our new chip leader is the overall chip leader from the start of the day as things have come full circle for Onise Daneliya(pictured, right), who has an incredible 860,000! He doesn’t even seem to care that if he leads the chip-counts at the end of the day then he’ll get to play a Sit n Go with legendary ‘Mad’ Marvin Rettenmaier! He solely focuses on adding to his monster chip-stack, which dave Mcconachie tells us that he did so by hitting the turn ‘twice with ace-rag when I have kings and jacks’. Now that’s going to help build a stack!
Level 17 – Blinds 4000/8000/ante 1000
Nearing The Bubble
With only nine tables holding players here at the WPT National UK Event, we have a little more focus on who will be making the money and the moves toward the final table here at Aspers. One table with a lot of chips is the one where Vincent Meli was chip leader. We say was because Vincent has lost a little since his peak of 540k, and now holds 420k. Abdul Miah (pictured) has 430k and we know from previous experience that he has the game to run very deep. He’ll have a lot of work to do to get there, however. Pro James Mitchell (230k) is at his table, and so is Chris Johnson, siting behind a little less on 160k. the average chips is 205,000, so the table has more than most. An opportunity.
Paul Romains In It
Paul ‘The Rock’ Romain was short, seriously so in fact, with just 45k to his name. Somehow, he’s ground his way back into contention and now has around 125k after raising all-in frequently when in the right position and taking down pots without having to show his cards a lot of the time. If you don’t know his name, it’s possibly because his play flies under the radar sometimes. he’s been around the circuit a while, loves the game and interacts with anyone away from the table, but at the felt is as focused as anyone we know. Having got his way back into the fight, he’s doing all he can to make the money – we wish him well.
New Chip Leader
With just 71 players left here in Level 16, two-thirds of the players will make the money. Plenty need to build stacks and we’ve had that surge of bust-outs, meaning the momentum leans back now to trying to make the money for some players. Lots of our players have big stacks, so we will try and round up the table captains and separate the short-stacks from the chip mountains on a trip for chip-counts. We do think, though, that our new chip leader is Arvin Rajandran (pictured), who has a whopping 625,000 chips.
Williams Waves Goodbye
We’ve lost one of the brightest personalities in the game and this tournament in Kevin Williams. Having run 400 chips all the way up to 130k, he dropped back a little, then got it in pre-flop with Dave McConachie. ‘Mac’ held 
while Kevin flipped 
and couldn’t find any paint as the board ran dry to bust him.
They’re dropping on every hand, with the field well below the hundred mark now. Will Kassouf was busted when his lost to Reza Fazeli’s 8-4, although it was only for three big blinds. The big hand he lost was when Will had J-J and was all-in pre-flop against a player with 
who spiked an ace on the turn. That player was busted in the next orbit, his K-K ousted by 5-5 after a five appeared on the flop. Carnage.
Errol Ward departed when he lost a flip with 
against the of Steve Owens. Owens has a stack and looks very focused, but all the players at the table recognise the play of Errol Ward, who’s thoroughly enjoyed his debut WPT appearance here at Aspers casino.
And finally Sue O’Connor, vanquisher of Michael Greco, has gone. She had her chips in the middle with 
on a 
flop, but was up against Darren Mapley’s and couldn’t find a club.
More chip-counts:
Darren Mapley 390,000
Abdul Miah 270,000
Peteris Berzins (pictured, right)
Samantha Griffiths 172,000
James Mitchell 130,000
Yigit Isilsoy 44,000
Level 16 – Blinds 3,000/6,000/1,000
Back In The Room
All the remaining players are back in the room as the WPT National UK London rattles like a runaway train towards the money places. We may well make that today, as we’ll be playing thirteen levels today rather than twelve with the field so large.
Here are some of the chips from around the room as players settle back into their seats:
Vincent Meli 540,000
Steven Micthell 376,000
Gary Miller 220,000
Chaz Chattha 140,000
Mats Rosen 155,000
Kara Scott 125,000
Reza Fazeli 115,000
Chris Johnson 115,000
Rizgar 100,000
Rahim Tadj-Saadat 98,000
Daivid Gassian 70,000
Philip Gould 48,000
Paul Romain 43,000
Speaking With Sue O’Connor
Some of our dinner break has been spent talking to the lady who busted poor Michael Greco yesterday on flight 2 in the now infamous AA < AT hand. Sue told us how she made a mistake, but how the history at the table and previous hands between the two influenced her move. She’d previously made a tough fold with 
when ahead, and felt like she might be pushed off the pot.
Sue figured that the re-raise pre from Michael with his aces might not make him look strong. He played it really well, as she boldly shoved with A-T to push him off the pot and of course he called…but Sue hit Broadway for a 120k pot. Sue is still in the hunt for the £27,500 top prize here in London, and has around 120,000 chips now, too. that’s around 24 big blinds, and as Sue rightly said to us just now, we’re ‘at that stage for shoving’.
Break Time
Players are off on their breaks for an hour as dinner means the 104 players still involved get a full hour to replenish and refuel. They’ll return to blinds of 2,500/5,000/500 and with Vincent Meli the big chip leader, everyone will be looking on building a stack to make the money. Dave McConachie is the latest player to do just that, taking a big one from Briony Stone after his 
rivered a straight and he got 35k more value into the pot with Briony having a lower straight.
Elsewhere, we have lost Eve Goodman from BLUFF Magazine, as well as our final SnG winner Katje Svendsen, both of whom busted today after bringing a touch of glamour to proceedings. Partypoker’s Kara Scott remains involved. Starting the day on 175k, we saw her endure a horrible middle period of the day so far, dropping to just 50k at one point after losing with flush under flush and QQ < KK to double up a shortie.
After those knocks, it took guts to fight back into it, but the Canadian/British/adopted Italian has staying power and the ability to mix it up in fine style at the felt and she’s ground her way back up to 105k, which is a little short of the 138k average. It’s still a highly playable stack in this excellent WPT structure, which has been given plenty of positive feedback by Aspers’ players this afternoon.
Reza Fazeli Interview
Having won Flight 1 with 143k, Reza Fazeli (left) decided not to play another flight, instead treating this Aspers Accumulator as effectively a £200 freezeout. So was it a wise move? We caught up with the genial player to find out how today has been going for him so far.
https://soundcloud.com/partypoker/reza-fazeli-interview-at-wpt-n
Half Million Reached
We called him as a big stack, but there is no doubt which man is running rule over the Aspers Poker Room right now in the WPT-N London event. Vincent Meli has 503,500 and the clear chip-lead. He is destroying his table, and his latest efforts compare to the earlier call he made on the same table. Hassan Irfan raised to in mid position, with Vincent and Reza Fazeli both calling. The flop came [3h 
and Vincent alone check-called a bet of 19,500 from Hassan, with Fazeli sitting back in his chair to observe the action. The turn of 
brought another bet from Hassan, this time 40,000, again a Meli call.
The river of looked unimportant unless either player had gone to the turn with 9-T or 9-5. As it was, Irfan bundled 94,000 into the middle – it was now a very big pot. Meli called it after two minutes in the tank, showed and that was good enough. Hassan missed his flush, so we’re told, but Meli has half a ‘milly’ and won’t care how.
Big In The Game
Poker is such a great mindsport to watch. We’ve often compared it to football in the sense that you never get to run alongside Lionel Messi as he scores a winner in the last minute but right here at Aspers Casino, you just need to buy-in to the Accumulator-format WPT-National event to sit next to the best in the business as they ply their craft.
Big Stacks
Here are some of the biggest stacks in the room right now as just 130 of the 260 players remain. Money places start at 54th.
Vincent Meli (pictured, above) 340,000
Arvin Rajandran 280,000
Konstantinos Toulis 260,000
Hassan Irfan 250,000
Lucas Bezzina 240,000
Ross Mannion 210,000
Gary Miller 210,000
Big Fold By A Big Player
Chaz Chattha has been grinding roughly the same stack all day, on around 100,000. He’s just made a superstar fold after there was 25,000 in the pot pre-flop to lose a little… but save a lot. Money saved is money earned, as they say, in poker. Chaz folded to an open shove of 65,000 from his opponent on 
and folded A-T. His opponent smiled, turning over A-Q. ‘Nice fold’ he remarks, cursing his luck not to get another 65,000 chips no doubt.
Chris Gordon Caught By The River
Chris Gordon has just been busted after an extraordinary hand at one of the outer tables here at the WPT National event in Aspers Stratford. One player opened to 16,000 and Bobby Brummitt (pictured, right) called. Gordon raised, however, popping it to 45,000. Only Brummitt called. The flop came 
and that’s when the chips went in, the whole lot of them. Chris had Bobby covered, but it was for basically all the chips the two men shared, and the pot was over 300,000 chips. At this stage of the tournament, it was a huge pot in every sense. Both men stood up.
Chris Gordon
Bobby Brummitt
What a cooler! The turn of wasn’t important, but the on the river sent the table into gasps. Chris reeled back, turning away from the action. Bobby sat back down, and nonchalantly declared:
“I put you on aces, actually.”
This sent Chris apoplectic. His opponent was telling him he called with the worst hand and he knew it. Bobby was undeterred, stacking a mountain of new chips. Chris was visibly distraught, not just by the bad beat, but what he perceived as some needle after the hand had concluded, as well as the original flat-call for over 40% of his opponent’s chips with Big Slick. The very next hand his 
lost to when all the chips went in pre-flop. He was just one card from a top ten stack…and instead, he’s looking for the exit.
Level 13 – Blinds 1500/3000/ante 300
Avery At The Double
Tina Avery has more than doubled here at the Aspers Accumulater WPT National Event in London. She made her move on the flop in an interesting leveling hand with her opponent. Pre-flop, there was 12k in the pot, with Tina playing a stack of around 43,000. Heads-up with her enemy, the flop came 
and Tina continued to 3,000. She was face with an immediate raise – to 9,000 but, undaunted, she shoved for around 28,000 more. Her opponent made the call eventually, and showed . Tina flipped and held though the turn and 
river to double to around 80k.
Back in the game.
Meli The Menace
Vincent Meli is a very experienced pro and came into play today looking like someone to watch. He’s even more so now, being the quiet man at his table (which contains Will Kassouf , pictured) but sitting behind an amazing 350,000 chips!
Meli built his stack from winning several medium pots, like the one he took down from Will just now. With 55,000 in the pot, the board showed 
when we joined the action to see Kassouf pop around a third of his remaining stack – 15,100 chips – into the middle. Meli thought, riffled, processed – all in silence – and eventually made the call. Kassouf showed the but Meli flipped and that was enough to take yet another pot.
Level 12 – blinds 1200/2400/ante 300
We have some big, big stacks in the room, with Philip Gould (155k), Tim Timotheu (140k) and Paul Romain (see below) all up above six-figures. But all of them pale into relative insignificance currently when stacked up against Peteris Berzins. Coming into the start of the day with just 37k, he has spun that up to a massive 301,000 and is clear chip leader. He only played because his friend was here at Aspers, it has become his local and last week he won the weekly league for his ticket! Incredible.
Still In The Hunt
With 152 players left now, Everyone is excited about what they could be winning here at Aspers for the WPT National event:
https://twitter.com/Paul_Romain/status/439787918199361536
Prizes Announced
Prizes have been announced here at the WPT-National Event in London, with 54 places being paid. The min-cash (54th-46th inclusive) is £630, while those finishing between 45th place and 37th place get £740. 36th-28th place pays £850, while those coming between 25th-27th place receive £975. The bigger pay-outs are right here to the right…
Level 11 – Blinds 1000/2000/ante 300
Seat Of Death?
Although the money will not be until 54 players remain, and we expect that to be much later tonight, all the players really are having a great time. Even players who have busted are sticking around to rail friends, play cash and enjoy the surroundings and refreshments that only Aspers provide. The poker is a priority, however, and everyone still in the hunt for the biggest slice of the £137,340 prize-pool are keenly focused on getting to the final table.
Briony Stone dropped down to 11,000, but on a queen-high flop got it in with Q-9 and rivered two-pair to take down the pot. The very next she was all-in pre-flop with 
, and had two callers, hitting a six on the flop to treble up, she now has an above-average stack of 80,400. Sadly for Briony, her beau Nick Van de Weyer endured a miserable time when he sat down at Kara Scott’s table. To her direct right, Nick was all-in pre-flop with A-Q and called by pocket fives for a 75k pot…only for a 5 to hit the flop. That’s three players who’ve been to Kara’s right and busted in quick succession. we’ve heard of the ‘Table of Death’…but the Seat of Death?!
Play It Cool
Kevin Williams has doubled again to report a growth from 400 chips to 40,000 in what is a stunning recovery. His latest all-in was thought to have been called by his opponent when he asked the dealer for a chip-count and got the news it was 19,300.
“Cool.” he said. the dealer asked him to turn his cards over to showdown, but the player denied he was calling.
“I said cooooooool.” he drawled.
“It’s not a call.” said Kevin, smiling, “But you might want to think about bandying around words like that at a poker table. Some of us have our tournament lives at stake!” Much laughter from all parties, and an eventual CALL from Kevin’s opponent. Kevin was in good shape, with against and rode out the board of 
to pile up an astonishing amount of chips compared to just twenty minutes ago.
Two Depart As Kassouf Crushes
So much of the action in this Day 2 has been at Will Kassouf’s table that the other players at the table can’t be wrong in christening it the ‘feature table’. Kassouf has just busted Marios Andreas, when the latter was all-in with 
and Will called it off with . A jack-high flop kept Marios in the tournament, but the turned ace sent him home after the river bricked.
Dr. Ash got it in with a flush draw against A-K and couldn’t hit, while Kevin Williams has just suffered two massive blows to his chances, losing consecutive pots to drop from 105,000 to 400 chips (two antes) in two devastating hands. One pot went the way of another player after they held T-9 on A-T-9-7-5, but since he ran T-7 into K-K and dropped to almost being out, he’s spun that 400 into over 14,000! It would be a massive comeback were he to fight back from here.
Level 10 – Blinds 800/1660/ante 200
Kevin Williams Calls It Off
The diminutive pro Kevin Williams always manages to carve himself the kind of table image to suit the players he’s sharing the felt with – it’s the skill of a pro that separates them from the hopefuls and gives them that most vital of powers in multi-table tournaments – table control. Williams has that for sure now after he has boosted his chip-stack to match his talent early on Day 2.
Starting the day with just 57,400 chips, he called a min-raise pre-flop along with another player to see a three-way flop of . His enemy raised to 5k, which Tina Avery dodged and only Kevin called. The turn of saw his opponent shove – and Kevin quickly call. Kevin showed and his opponent held 6-3 off, with only a 4 able to save his tournament life. An on the river gave Kevin his enemy’s whole stack, and he now sits comfortably on 110,000.
In the hand directly after that one, Tina Avery was all-in and at risk of her own tournament life with 
on a flop of 
against her opponent’s .
“It’s OK,” she said out loud to the table. “The jack of diamonds is coming right now.”
And there it was, up jumped the exact card she called on the turn and she faded the river to double up.
“You can call me a witch if you have to.” she said, laughing as she piled up an above-average stack.
We’re far too polite for that!
Kara Scott All-In
With a starting stack of over 175,000, you might not have expected to have seen Kara Scott all-in this early on Day 2. Circumstances and personalities change poker hands, however, and the partypoker Pro took advantage of the situation between herself and a Farmer at her table (Terry Farmer to be precise) to push him off a valuable pot. Having told us how she dipped a little from her starting stack after doubling Terry twice, we were there to see Kara raise to 3700 from the dealer button. Terry was in the small blind, and re-raised to 11,800 – around 30% of his stack. Kara wasn’t fazed, politely declaring herself ‘all-in’ and Terry went into the tank.
Eventually, he folded, deciding not to chance it.
“I think you might have got me that time.” he remarked. Kara beams a smile and rakes a pot, now back up to around 140,000 and in the comfort zone.
Early Exits
With 260 players coming back, we were always going to have a lot of early bust-outs and two dozen have gone out of the tournament so far. Included amongst those are Dave Shallow, whose namesake stack was abandoned after Flight 1 and we never saw him again (much to the pleasure of the players at his table) but others have come back today to run into trouble.
Danny Blair returned with just 30,000 in chips, and he got it all-in blind-on-blind with “and up and down straight draw against top pair” and couldn’t hit on turn and river. He’s not the only one making an early departure. Marinos Mina has gone, he shoved all-in pre-flop with for fifteen biig blinds, but was up against ! He actually improved on the 
flop, but couldn’t find a diamond or running straight cards across the and river.
Some players are doing very well, however. Dave McConachie has a great record in day 2’s and it’s not difficult to see why. We actually doubt if we’ve seen many better at coming into Day 2 at top speed, and with a stack of 157,100 at the start of play (top ten stack) he has been bullying his table-mates from the word go. He must be above 180,000 already, threatening the very top of the leaderboard.
Kassouf On The Rollercoaster
Will Kassouf (pictured, left, on his Day 1 flight) is sat down with some of the louder players in the room, and as you may or may not know, table-talk is very much part of his game too! When he got involved in the action early, we wanted to be close to a potential blow-up/meltdown/celebration. Will came into today with just 36,000 chips (30 big blinds) so he was always going to be one of the most active players when play resumed. So it proved as he went up and down over the early stages of Level 9 here in London.
Raising pre-flop from 3000 to 8400, Will told his heads-up opponent that he just wanted ‘to get rid of my change’. It was just the two men involved and the flop came . Both players checked that flop, a move Will would come to regret. On the turn, the came in and Will check-called 6,000, taking a long time to consider his options. He later declared that he ‘always planned to jam the turn on anything other than a king’. The river came a , a seemingly innocuous card if ever there was one for that board, but Will checked to his opponent who shoved all-in! Will was in the tank longer than was comfortable, and he eventually open-folded – his opponent told him he had King-Jack.
One hand later, and Will, down to 19,000 exactly, with his wish for no change satisfied, call the all-in of the button next to him when in the small blind with . his opponent had an off-suit and with two spades on the flop and one on the turn, Will had outs. A miracle king on the river doubled him through his opponent and Will now has 40k, a slight improvement on his opening stack.
Progress is progress…
Level 9 – Blinds 600/1200/ante 200
Play is under way here at the Aspers Poker Room in London, and the WPT National Event shows no signs of slowing down. The action is fast and furious already, with blind levels now 40-minutes and allowing more play as players know that their moves now to knock out another player from the tournament will mean they’re not coming back.
There are some great match-ups around the room, with Team Duffy pro Chaz Chattha (pictured, 100,400 chips) takes on Kara Scott (178,400). Elsewhere, two men who have run so deep in another live Lonfon MTT that they played out a thrilling heads-up finale are sat right next to each other in Yigit Isilsoy (87,500) and Chris Gordon (60,000) face off. Tommy Zhang takes on James Thomson, while partypoker qualifier ‘flintsword’ (a.k.a. Yves Farges) faces up to ‘The Rock’ or Paul Romain to his frenemies.
Day 2 Is Here!
Welcome back to Aspers Casino in Stratford, London as Day 2 of the WPT National UK Event reaches a crucial stage. 260 players have made it through from the three accumulator flights, and from here on in, we have ourselves a freezeout tournament on our hands….but not any old freezeout!
With just £200 the buy-in, a staggering prize-pool of over £129,000 is up fro grabs. That’s an amazing amount of money and the winner is likely to walk away with more than £30,000 – easily the most incredible value for just £200 buy-in we’ve ever heard of!
We’ll bring you all the live updates right here through to the conclusion of Day 2, as well as exclusive photography of the event, live interviews with some of the stars and much, much more.
Play gets under way at 2pm, with all the Day 2 chipcounts available here if you haven’t checked out the runners and riders before the big kick-off.
This is going to be a very special day indeed…
Take On Pokerfest!
Now take all of above and go crush it at Pokerfest! Yes that’s right it’s back, bigger and better than ever before! Running from the 2nd-16th March, 2014 Pokerfest is a 15-day online poker series packed with 67 events! And with more than $1 million in guaranteed prize pools this could be your one time!
