Day 1c Chipcounts
Cristinel Costin 136600
Thang Nguyen 124700
Sebastian Parsons 123600
Martinha Pereira 120100
Atiquzzaman Atiquzzaman 116200
Antoine Saout 106700
Brian Sidhu 103100
Lok Tsui 102100
Steven Jorgensen 86100
Marcin Grzybowski 80800
Yefet Chin 78500
Vladimir Marchevici 75600
Oliver Bithell 74200
Daniel Levy 70200
Mark Barlow 69900
James Manlove 65600
Serban Rotariu 64500
Stephen Okeeffe 63400
Christopher Kadji 61900
Simon Green 61600
Charles Akadiri 60800
Martynas Vitkauskas 59200
Thales Anis Salomao Filho 59100
Grant Rayner 58000
Ivelin Ganev 57400
Tristan Chaplin 56700
Timothy Dearing 56600
Dalius Balciunas 55300
Denis Prickett 54400
Tony Doggett 53800
Mohammed Shah 53300
Dennis Van Der Meer 50600
Laszlo Balogh 50600
Stephen Goodings 50300
Jose Martinez 50100
Aleksandar Kotsev 49900
Dennis Nederlof 49800
Peter Jaksland 48400
Christopher Gordon 48100
Haresh Thaker 46200
Mohammed Zahour 46100
Carl Harris 45700
Jan Hansson 45400
Elad Kubi 45300
Michael Panteli 44500
Gareth Smirthwaite 44200
Daniel-Alexandru Craciun 43700
Santhi Thiyagarajah 43700
Alistair Yarwood 43100
Ricki Valencia 43100
Gregory Manning 41900
Matthew Cooledge 41500
Mark Salmons 40500
Arturas Drepinas 40200
Panagiotis Papaioannou 37800
Laurentiu Radulescu 37000
Mauro Suriano 35700
Claus Mikkelsen 35300
Leo Madden 35000
Florin Ignat 33000
Nicholas Stylianou 32800
Keith Miller 32500
Rytis Danilevicius 32000
Andrius Stepaitis 29900
Louis Tozer 29900
Sang Ngo 29000
Yung Cheung 28900
William Funnell 26700
Ded Kalaj 24800
Hanan Barzel 23500
Demetris Theophanous 23400
JAMES BEIRNE 23200
Dean Hyde 22400
Adam Prickett 22300
Nicolae Cristea 22100
Stuart St Jean 21900
Christos Xanthopoulos 21300
John Gilbert 21300
Giang Hong 21000
William Whicher 20900
Celal Geyik 20500
Roberto Cazzador 20000
Andrei Bourici 19500
Nicolae Cernea 18600
Lior Markov 18100
Michelle Gascoine 17700
James Guy 17500
Marcel Skowron 17500
Neil Barron 16800
Artur Chrebor 16500
Richard Edmondson 15000
Robert Drummond 14100
Leo Lim 13400
Gary Valencia 13100
Anthony Manuel Fernandez 13000
Christopher Richards 12400
Sayil Zulhayir 11600
Roei Dahan 8400
Anthony Napoutano 5500
Petrit Papushi 5500
Follow the Leader
There are players who’s survived, others who haven’t, but it doesn’t look as if anyone has enjoyed the kind of consistent run that Sam Macdonald has to date in this £100,000 Guaranteed WPT Accumulator. Having already bagged up 210,000 or so from the first two flights, Sam has 22,000 going into the last few hands of Day 1c, so looks near certain to be our overnight chip leader.
We’ll have today’s chip-counts as soon as possible for you.
How’s Your Luck?
The answer to that question if you’re Raj Nandhagopal is ‘rotten’. Carl Spicer shoved for around 7,400 (at blinds of 5,000/10,000/100) from UTG and was immediately re-raised from UTG+1 by Raj, who got folds from everyone else at the table and flipped over 
.
It was well ahead of Carl’s 
, but the board ran out an incredible 
that saw Spicer turn quads and double up to around 15k. Raj is left with around the same, but by the looks of their expressions, that amount of chips feels rather different ot him.
Barlow Gets it Back
Mark Barlow has just managed to get the chips he lost earlier right back, having won a dramatic play-out from an all-in confrontation pre-flop. Barlow had the goods, going into the deal of the five cards which would seal Levon Jabourian’s fate with . Jabourian himself held 
, but that was looking a little stronger on the flop of 
despite Barlow hitting his set. The turn card was and
The turn card was and Lebourian moved ahead…but the river card of gave Barlow a full house and won him the pot, busting Lebourian and sending his table into predictable rapture! Barlow has over 33,000, just on average, while Jabourian departs.
We have 136 players still in their seats, with a level and a half left. We’re told that with three Day1’s to amalgamate, chip-counts for Day 2 wil come through in the morning, so it will be worth looking at the individual chip-counts for Day 1a and Day 1b if you’re following friends in the tournament.
Don’t Celebrate Too Soon
One of the golden rules in live poker should be not to celebrate before your hand has won and all five community cards have been dealt.
All the chips were in the middle pre-flop, with Nicolae Cernea shoving for around 25,000, slightly more than Margarita Stoycheva called it off with, although one hand was way ahead. Stoycheva held 
, while Cernea turned over 
, but while he did that with a resigned smile, Stoycheva curled both hands into fists and punched the air in front of her cards.
The flop of 
put Cernea ahead, and when he stayed there through the 
and 
river, Stoycheva was out of her seat and muttering something unintelligible as she walked away from the table, her chips all moved over to Cernea, who leaps above the average of 36k, quite politely it has to be said.
The Value Hand
A decent guide to how things are progressing was in evidence here in Level 6 as Adolf Vertel shoved all-in pre-flop with 
for 10,500 and was ‘called’ by a re-shove (the action was first) from Mark Barlow, who got around 25k into the middle with . The board of 2h]
gave both players a sweat, but saw Vertel double at Barlows expense.
Numbers Are In
With 222 entries in Day 1c, we’ve had a total of 558 buy-ins over the three flights, meaning we’ve just exceeded the whopping £100,000 that was in place for this incredible tournament.
With 379 ‘unique’entries (i.e. physical people in seats), we’d imagine somewhere similar to last year’s cash amounts and places paid will be mirrored. For your information, 2015 saw 42 places paid, with the minimum cash amount at £670, however we have nothing confirmed for this tournament and won’t until the morning.
It’s No for Noonan
Matthew Noonan has a great record in WPT events, cashing for over £80,000 in the WPT500 back in November 2014. He won’t be going any further here after he lost out in Level 5 of the eight we’ll play today on Day 1c.
‘The guy trapped me with pocket queens. I had pocket tens.’
Miller Time
Keith Miller was one of two callers of a raise to 1100 by another player at his table, along with partypoker qualifier Gareth Smirthwaite. The flop came 
, with Miller taking over the betting lead by poking 2200 into the middle.
Smirthwaite folded, but Keith’s opponent shoved for 8,700, and Miller looked down at his hand, 
decided it was fine to call it off. The on the turn didn’t help him, but the on the river did – it gave Keith the straight flush and byumped his stack up to 35,000. His opponent was a Hanna Barbara cartoon-blur as they made for the door.
Cold Deck for Rytis as Rayne Looks ‘Clairevoyant’
Grant Rayner (Yes, he’s been asked if it’s the same spelling as the Horoscope legend a number of times) managed to get into a pretty sweet spot in this Day 1c melee. He check-raised all-in with a set of sevens on a flop of 
and was up against . Two streets of sweat later, he had doubled his 15k stack and was looking down at better than average, with 31k with average at 22,474. Rytis Danilevicius, on the other hand, still has 23,125, but wears a frown.
Jordon Surviving
Terry Jordon may be down to fumes, but he’s surviving…somehow! On a raised flop of 
, he and James Guy went at it. Jordon bet 2,000, Guy raised to 4,000. A very quick call. On the turn of , the same bet, the same raise, the same call. On the river of a check from each player, with Guy out of position checking and Jordon showing first, and he had an agonising wait to find out he was losing. Jordon is don to fumes, just 4,000 at 150/300/50.
Kozak Eliminated
Maria Kozak is here with Terry Jordon, the popular London circuit player. She’s just left the tournament after a three-way all-in at her table. Also involved were Vinne Anderson, who was all-in pre-flop with and Charles Akadiri, holding 
. Maria had 
and would need some serious help, but didn’t get enough of it on the dry board of 
, which sent her and Vinnie to the rail.
Gang Wang Up, Down & Out
Gang Wang won a big four-way pot against JJ Hazan and two others at the ‘Sam Macdonald’ table, chipping up to over 25,000. He’s just lost the lot in a post-flop three-way all-in that again confirms this table as the action table here on Day 1c.
This might be the last chance players have to book a Day 2 seat, but rather than tightening up, there seems to be an almost kamikaze attitude to the play! The flop read and along with Wang who held , another player held 
and Justin Tsui 
. Tsui was well in front, and the turn kept that the case. The river saw him bust both Wang and an unnamed enemy, who left directly following the hand. Tsui has over double-average, with over 59,000 chips.
*** End of Day 1b Chip-counts are now fully updated in Day 1b Blog Post – Click HERE! ***
Level 3 Blinds 100/200/25 – 189 Players Remaining from 193 Entries Grzyowski Wins Epic All-In
Grzyowski Wins Epic All-In
Sam Macdonald’s table, also featuring Jeraint ‘JJ’ Hazan, has started like a train, and it’s no surprise that Macdonald himself predicts that someone on his table, not necessarily him, will ‘have 50k by the end of the second level’. Given that players only start with 20,000 and blinds are 100/200 with 16 minutes left in Level 2, it may seem unlikely, but the last hand proved that the action is hotter than a fast food chain’s apple pocket in the Sahara.
Seeing Martin Grzyoswki raise to 550 pre-flop and get two callers including JJ Hazan, one player decided to re-raise up to 3,000. That saw only Grzyowski call, and the pair saw a flop of 
. Seat 7 open-shoved for the rest of his average-sized stack, and got a snap-call from Grzyowski, the latter flipping and delighted to see the raiser turn over . The turn and river came and and we lost Seat 7, who flew out of his chair and the tournament area so fast we couldn;t even catch his name. Grzyowski has around 40,000. Maybe Sam was right!
In Their Seats
We have 162 players sitting down already on Day 1c, with 219 needed to hit the guarantee of £100,000. It could be a close-run thing, with the cash tables full too here, Aspers Poker Room is Stratford is absolutely rammed.
Taking part in Day 1c from the off are several big names, plenty of huge characters, and more one chip leader, with Sam Macdonald joined by Gabriel Tuna, Mike Panteli, JJ Hazan, Raheem Tadj-Saadat, Vinnie Anderson, Daiva Baruskaite, Chris Gordon, Tristan Chaplin and Terry Jordon all in the mix!
Macdonald on the Attack
Sam Macdonald is the unofficial chip leader from the first two flights, having bagged up 65k on Day 1a and 145k on Day 1b, creating a 210,000 chip mountain that is unlikely to be topped after all three flights.
That hasn’t stopped him playing the third and final flight, however, and he has almost doubled up in two hands against the same player.
First, he got into a raising war with which flopped an open straight draw, but missed the flush draw, as Sam check-raised until the river, whereupon he shoved with jack-high. His opponent asked if he’d show his hand should he fold, and when Sam replied that he’d be happy to if it was a two-way street, Sam and his opponent (and the table) saw that he’d bluffed two-pair away from a juicy pot. The same hand paid off for Sam again to bust his new-found and
The same hand paid off for Sam again to bust his new-found and quickly-busted friend as it hit the nuts on the turn to leave Macdonald our early pace-setter in this final flight, up to 37,000 at 50/100. With the stack he has already amassed, he could have the whole table running scared.
Final Furlong
Welcome back to our live coverage of all the action at Aspers Casino in Stratford, where the players have been battling to build an accumulative WPT Accumulator stack over two flights already. You can read all about Day 1a and Day 1b by clicking on them, but here in London, we’re back to blind levels of 50/100 for 8 more levels of fun and frolics.
Who’ll bag a Day 2 seat or add to their pile of chips already in the bank? We’re about to find out…
