Pokerstars.com EPT London: Day 1B - At A Glance

[NoflopsHomer]

Welcome back to the day where we do it all again! Yes, it's groundhog day as another 250+ players go at it in search of that £1 million guaranteed first prize. We'll (attempt) to start once more at 1.30pm, see you there.

Last night's chip counts.

Mohammed   Jaber   101500
Max   Pescatori   99300
Liya   Gerasimova   97400
Sorel   Mizzi   94300
Carter   Gill   81600
Walid   Rizkallah   73500
Gus   Hansen   72800
Michael   Martin   72200
Jeffrey   Hakim   62600
Ian   Frazer   60700
Erik   Friberg   58400
Joseph   Elpayaa   57100
Priyan   Demel   54500
Ali   Sarkeshik   54300
Soren   Blanner   53500
Ramin   Henke   52900
Eric   Liu   52300
Arnaud   Mattern   51800
Theodoros   Aidonopoulos   51400
Scott   Montgomery   51300
Darrin   Flint   50300
Raphael   Kampshoff   46800
Victoria   Coren   46700
Guillaume   De La Gorce   45500
David   Benyamine   44800
Beth   Shak   44400
Mohammed   Zahour   44100
Phidias   Georgiou   42700
Georges   Moussa   42700
Ran   Azor   41400
Vanessa   Rousso   40300
Neil   Suarez   40100
Gicquel   Youn   39200
Pascal   Perrault   38900
Marcello   Marigliano   37500
Steffen   Rasmussen   36900
Michael   Watson   34200
Daniel   Albright   33700
Peter   Smurfit   32900
Robert   Firestone   32700
Mark   Deacon   30600
Franklin   Diaz   26200
James   Reid   25800
Andrew   Rees   25700
Pier   Ruscalla   25000
Denes   Kalo   24500
Andre   Johnstone   24000
Paul   Dack   23900
Oscar   Schweinbarth   23500
Tim   Witte   23100
Anthony   Cascarino   22900
Sondre   Horgmo   22700
Kathy   Liebert   22700
Robert   Willis   22700
Christian   Grundtvig   22400
Frode   Gjesdal   22300
Jerzy   Hajdamowicz   21900
Isaac   Haxton   21400
Alexander   Kravchenko   21300
Joseph   Mouawad   21100
Allan   Baekke   20900
Davor   Lanini   20600
Fuad   Serhan   20600
Charles   Berreby   20400
Bruno   Martin   20400
Justin   Truesdell   19900
Alexia   Portal   18400
Florant   Aubert   17800
Brian   Green   16800
Alexander   Jung   16800
Yevgeniy   Timoshenko   15200
Pawel   Chmiel   14900
Nicholas   Levi   14600
Jeff   Kimber   14500
Edward   Holden   14300
Rumit   Somaiya   12400
Victor   Ramdin   7900

[NoflopsHomer]

To borrow from Inspector Gadget, "Wowzers!"

It's absolutely teaming here, the list of alternatives is longer than a Tikay train-story and includes lots of those who busted the WSOPE last night including Johnny Lodden, Soren Kongsgaard and Chris Moorman. Perhaps there's never going to be more of the American pros on the EPT circuit than at this event today and certainly it's proved a scheduling success.



Julian Thew is part of a tough looking table which includes Micky Wernick, EPT Barcelona winner Sebastian Ruthenberg and Roberto Romanello. Thewy and the Welshman were already involved in a chunky 4k pot with Julian betting 2,000 on an flop. Romanello mucked and Thewy showed him the old bullets... 

[NoflopsHomer]

Boris Becker has made the trip here, I love the guy on the left's reaction to the mixture of ginger beard and blonde hair.

[NoflopsHomer]

Danny Ryan and Praz Bansi are part of what looks an interesting table, Ryan admitting about not being too bothered about missing the WSOPE.



Of course, then it gets interesting when the empty 1 seat turns up...



The Chris Bruce/Mike McDonald Table practice their model poses.

[NoflopsHomer]

Paul Foltyn, looking up blonde on his iPhone and wondering who the hell is Pablo...

[JungleCat03]

Hi guys!

An early perusal of the tables reveals some incredibly tough line ups out there.

There was no shortage of talent on show yesterday but even that has been eclipsed by the abundance of ability showcased in today's field. It should prove a very interesting day!

Off to a good start is Micky Wernick, who is at table Thew/ Ruthenberg.

He was seen betting a Queen high board and picking up a call, before the river paired one of the low cards and he faced a 1,600 bet, which he called...

His opponent showed A-Q for TPTK, but Micky had the boots, the bullets, American Airlines, pocket rockets, Aces, call 'em what you will, they were good and he boosts up to 14,000 at this point.

[JungleCat03]

You want more stars?

No problem...

Here we have Norwegian legend Thor Hansen. His list of accomplishments make for impressive reading.

$2.5 million in career winnings, 6th overall in the Scandinavian all-time money winner list, 1st in the Norwegian list, two WSOP bracelets and a lifetime of poker experience make Thor one of the best in the business.

[JungleCat03]

From an old star to a new one.

Some say poker is a young man's game. Well German player Sebastian Ruthenberg is one of the crop of young players to be taking the game by storm.

I spoke to Sebastian shortly after he won a bracelet in the summer, beating Chris Ferguson heads up to claim the title. Back then he was overwhelmed, his english stuttering, his eyes blinking under the glare of the watching poker media's lights, he epitomised the deer caught in the headlights.

Fast forward a few months and Sebastian found himself a winner once again, taking down the Barcelona EPT at a tough final table and suddenly his whole demeanor appeared changed. He was confident, his English was fluent and he looked every part the star oozing confidence as he laughed and joked with the media.

With two such impressive notches carved into his poker CV already, the sky is the limit for the German and he will prove a tough nut to crack for anyone who has to face off against him over the next five days.

[JungleCat03]

As I mentioned there are some brutal tables out there. There's little deadwood in this event as the creme de la creme of the poker world have turned out in force to participate.

The EPT really has grown in stature and although the strong field can be partly attributed to this EPTs proximity to the WSOPE, both geographically and time-wise, the star-studded turnout both here and at EPT Barcelona is surely part of a trend illustrating that the EPT is rapidly becoming the foremost poker tour in the world.

One table that neatly demonstrates the strength of the field is table Barry Greenstein. Joining the bearded high stakes star are blondite Keith "The Camel" Hawkins, who threatened to join the November Nine with a deep run in this year's WSOP Main Event, Devilfish, a man who is often paradoxically introduced by comperes as "The Man Who Needs No Introduction" (surely they should just say nothing then?) and Johannes Strassmann, multiple EPT final tablist and Jason Bourne look-a-like, who is tipped by many to win one sooner or later.

Such a tough line-up, not a lot of value there!

It hasn't stopped Barry Greenstein being thrilled at the prospect of today's play!



For the dubious amongst you, trust me this is Barry's "I'm having almost as much fun as it is possible to have without actually lying in a bathtub of strawberry Haagen-Daaz with Eva Longoria" face.

Next up here's that man everyone loves to hate. Somehow I luckboxed into finding the perfect angle to catch his be-jewelled knuckles glinting perfectly in the light.

Here is Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, ex-safe cracker, poker phenomenon and musical maestro. Say no more.



And Keith Hawkins, who almost crowned a successful poker career with a WSOP Main Event final spot. A tough competitor with a heart of gold, will of steel and balls of brass, here's The Camel...

[JungleCat03]

Fossilman Buried

Greg Raymer is OUT! The former WSOP main event winner was very unlucky too...Holding Q-9 he saw a flop of 8-T-J. They don't come much better than that!

He got his stack in against his opponent who held T-J and was in great shape for an early double through till a Jack hit the river to fill his opponent up and send the Fossilman spiralling out of this EPT.

Raymer looked upset, almost to the point of tears but ever the graceful ambassador of poker, he left with his dignity intact while his lucky opponent swept up his stack.

Here he is moments before that fateful hand...

[NoflopsHomer]

Antonio Estfandiari and David Williams are playing a game. It's called, "What Erik Thinks."

Basically, the pair come up with questions like how old was the oldest person ever? And then they guess the answer and it's not the person who is correct, no no, it's whoever is closest to what Erik Seidel says is the answer.

There was a variation of this earlier last week when Antonio and Phil Laak played this as "What Johnny Lodden thinks." They asked him how long it took Marco Traniello to do his hair in the morning, Traniello answered but Laak and Estfandiari said, "No, it doesn't matter how long it takes, it only matters how long Johnny thinks it's going to take."

[JungleCat03]

A bad start for Chris Bruce, who is sharing the felt with 19 year old Canadian superstar Timex and the shark wielding Costa Rican Humberto Brenes.

He lost about 30% of his stack, betting and calling bets over flop, turn and river with pocket Jacks as an overpair, only to find his opponent with Q-Q.

A nasty situation, but Chris was canny enough to avoid terminal damage and with plenty of play left in the stacks and blinds, he will find opportunities to get those chips back with interest at some point.

[NoflopsHomer]

Devilfish calls a bet on a board for around 1,725 before shoving all-in on the river. His opponent sighs and folds, though there's a slight suspicion they were chopping when Devilfish shows .

Meanwhile on the table of Death, Noah Boeken check calls a Praz Bansi bet on a flop before both players check the turn. On the river, Boeken checks a third time to the Hitsquadder who sizes out a 1,800 bet. Boeken, in his colourful hoodie as ever, makes the call and Praz flips . Boeken taps the table and mucks.

[NoflopsHomer]

Players are on a short break.

[JungleCat03]

Sick hand just played out between the most recent EPT winner Sebastian Ruthenberg and  EPT Baden winner Julian Thew.

Following a small raise from Roberto Romanello, Ruthenberg re-popped the Welshman by 1,000 before Julian raised to 3,100.

After a little kerfuffle(Roberto never goes quietly!), Romanello ducked out of the hand and back to Ruthenberg, he took a few moments to assess his options before pushing his stack in...

Given Julian's reputation, this was perhaps an understandable move with the A-K that Ruthenberg held, although his timing was horrendous as Julian had come fully prepared for battle with pocket Aces!!

Little chance of an outdraw, and although a King on the turn offered a sliver of hope to the EPT Barcelona winner, when the river blanked, Julian had accounted for a massive dangerman and moves into what may be the chip lead at this early stage with 25,000+.

Go Julian!