EPT: London Day 1B

Day 1B of the PokerStars European Poker Tour London saw numerous notable faces come and go through the doors of the Victoria Casino on Edgeware Road. A field of 309 was the turnout, beating day 1A’s attendance by 12. This means that a total of 598 players have taken part in this year’s London main event, breaking all previous records by far.

Well-known poker faces were out in force for the second starting day, with players such as Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, Roland de Wolfe, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, Mickey Wernick, Erik Seidel, Andy Black, Chris Moneymaker, Humberto Brenes, and Noah Boeken filling the tables. Four November Niners were also present to add a little zest to an already spicy field — Darus Suharto, Ylon Shwartz, David “Chino” Rheem, and Peter Eastgate. As the day moved on, however, the majority of players chipping up were relatively new faces or online qualifiers.

One of the first major bustouts came in the form of Greg Raymer and a heart-breaking river card. All in on a J 10 8 flop with 700 in the pot, Raymer prepared to take the pot down. He flippantly turned over Q 9 for the straight, and was pretty happy when his opponent revealed J 10  for two pair. The turn fell the 3, and as the J washed up on the river, the color faded from the cheeks of a totally sickened Raymer. The table fell silent as the shocked American pro sat stunned for a few moments and then said, “That's the way it's been all year.”

Those who had similar fates early in the session included EPT Barcelona champion Sebastian Ruthenberg, Rheem, Johnny Lodden, Michael “Timex” McDonald, and Daniel Alaei.

There were some interestingly stacked tables throughout the day, such as one which was filled with Antonio Esfandiari, David Williams, Erik Seidel, and Jonathan Aguiar. The table which was feared the most, however, was inhabited by Phil Ivey, Noah Boeken, Danny Ryan, and Chris Bjorin. Pairing up such huge poker names did not seem to work well, as very soon, the chips were flying and they were hitting the rails. Neighbors Boeken and Ivey, Chris Moneymaker, Surinder Sunar, Dario Minieri, David Williams, Katja Thater, Nenad Medic, Hevad Khan, and Wernick were among the casualties later on in the day.

The World Series of Poker final nine did not fair too well, either, and only one will move on to day 2. Dane Peter Eastgate outlasted his fellow finalists, but the true success story of those of the November Nine hitting the tournaments in London is Russian Ivan Demidov who has, at the time of writing, made it down to the final three at the WSOP Europe main event, which is playing out in the Empire Casino.

Scandinavian player Erik Sjodin emerged as chip leader by the end of the evening with 148,000 — 46,500 more than the chip leader yesterday, Mohammed Jaber. Hot on his heels is Huseyin Yilmaz from Istanbul, Turkey. There are bound to be some explosions tomorrow as the remaining 84 players from today mingle with the 77 survivors of day 1A. The winner this year will be one lucky champion, as it looks as if the prize pool, which is yet to be announced, will break yet another record — at last glance the tournament clock showed an amount in excess of £3 million.

Stay right here at CardPlayer.com for all your live updates, news, chip counts, and photos from this year’s EPT London main event.

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