Live updates from day one, level five of the EPT London High Roller event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Howard Swains and Simon Young.
Click refresh to see the latest updates below. The up-to-date selected chip counts are on the chip count page.
Blinds: 200-400 (50 ante)
5.55pm: Moneymaker slayed
The biggest pot of the tournament so far has accounted for Chris Moneymaker and sent Adolfo Vaeza up to about 370,000, the certain chip lead. The squeamish should look away now, as this one is a shocker: all the money went in on a J-10-4 board. Moneymaker was loving it as he had pocket jacks for top set. He had hit a dream flop against Vaeza’s pocket kings, but the 9 on the turn gave a couple of additional outs, and the queen on the river was one of them. Vaeza runner-runnered the straight for a massive pot.
5.45pm: I can’t Bear it
Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein often has a pained expression – and today he’s been wearing it non-stop. Nothing seems to be going the Bear’s way, and he’s down to just 16,000 from his 50,000 starting stack. Alex Kravchenko just took a chunk out of him, calling Greenstein’s 3,500 river bet with a board showing 9♦ 5â™ 4â™ Aâ™ 3♦ .
The Russian Team PokerStars PRO turned over A♥ 2♥ for the straight. It was good. Greenstein let out a little sigh and began tapping into his phone, no doubt relaying his tale of woe to someone.
5.35pm: Running good and running bad
Illari Sahamies has arrived and is escorted to his seat, slotting in between Masaaki Kagawa and Luke Schwartz. Sahamies looks at what he has left of his 50k, comparing it to the others. “We started with 100,” says Joe Hachem. “You’ve been running really bad.”
Hachem is working on his own numbers, making it 2,500 pre-flop which is called by Vicky Coren on the big blind for a 4â™ 9♦ 5♦ . Coren made it 7,000 and Hachem immediately folded. “No re-raise all in?” asked Coren, back up to more than 40,000.
Elsewhere it’s good night for another player. With the voice of Tom Dwan in his head John Juanda made it 1,200. Erik Seidel pushed in for not much and turned over Aâ™ Q♦ as Juanda showed K♦ K♣ . The board ran Q♥ Jâ™ 2♦ 9â™ 5♣ . Seidel out.
5.20pm: Minieri on the up
Dario Minieri is beaming, sitting behind multi-coloured towers worth about 140,000. “He knocked a bloke out,” said our photographer Neil Stoddart. “Any idea who the bloke was?” I probed. “Some bloke in a grey top,” said the magnificently-perceptive shutterbug. Still, he takes very good photos so he gets away with stuff like that.
5.15pm: Schulman runs into Kravchenko’s house
Nick Schulman and Alex Kravchenko got heavily involved on a board of Q♣ 9♠K♦ | A♥ | K♠. Schulman bet 3,000 on the turn, called, then bet 9,000 on the river. Also called. Schulman showed K♣ J♣ for the rivered trips, but Kravchenko had him all along, showing 9♥ 9♠.
5.05pm: ElkY and William, God of Thorson
There’s a bet of 725 from the cut off, called by William Thorson on the button and by Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier on the big blind. There could be trouble a-brewin’. The flop comes 9â™ 3♥ 8â™ . ElkY leads, betting 1,550 which only Thorson calls. The turn comes Qâ™ . ElkY riffles his chips, his wrist wrapped with what looks like a pewter wristband an inch wide, a relic from either the distant past or the distant future, and makes it 4,100. Thorson, a good friend of ElkY, thinks, deciding against any more friendly rivalry and folds his hand.
4.55pm: Pictorial intermission
Here’s a gallery I’ve entitled: “Gesture like a Team PokerStars Pro”.
Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Rousso
Alex “Alex Kravchenko” Kravchenko
William “William” Thorson
4.55pm: Back to the breach
Players are back, and on we go. We’re doing a fast and furious job on the chip count page, so head on over there for the latest counts. How? Good grief, this is how:
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