EPT London Main event thread

[TightEnd]

courtesy of the Betfair blog

When you have an aggressive style of play it is quite likely that you will suffer large swings in your chip stack during a tournament. Nobody knows this more than The Queen of Poker, Annette Obrestad.

Annette, like 738 others, paid £5,000 to take part in the EPT London Main Event creating a prize pool of £3,540,500. During Day 1 421 of those players lost all their chips and had to settle for a place on the rail whilst 318 players returned for Day 2, all with a legitimate chance of taking the title and the £850,000 first prize.

Early into proceedings, Annette busted last year's runner-up, Michael Tureniec when her Ace-Ten was very fortunate against her opponent's pair of Jacks on a board that read J-9-8-x-7 to make a straight. Every tournament player needs a bit of luck now and again!

One player out of luck was the WSOPE Main Event Champion Barry Shulman. After losing a massive portion of his stack moving all in with pocket sixes on a Qh3c2h only to run into a pair of Aces, which held, Shulman once again found himself all in, this time with 5d6d on a 7d2c8c flop. His opponent, James Tomlin made the call with AcQc, spiked a queen on the turn and flushed on the river. Shulman quickly left the table, not even waiting to shake Tomlin's hand.

Meanwhile, Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot was having some fun at his table. Having moved all-in preflop he told his soletary opponent, "I have the best hand, otherwise you'd already be in there. Just try and do something before the blinds go up to 4,000/8,000." The Fish then asked if his opponent had a pair, "Yes" was the reply. "Oh then, don't call" said Ulliot, slanting his sunglasses across his face telling the table this was his impression of Van Gogh at the beach. After more dwelling his opponent folded and showed Jacks whilst Ulliot turned over pocket tens. "I'm glad you folded" said Ulliot, "Now I might win the tournament!" Unfortunately he busted not long after, though at least he still has his own hair!

Annette chip stack was rising and falling like there was no tomorrow and she managed to double up to over 200,000 when she flopped the nut flush against an opponent who bluffed his stack off on the river. He limped in middle position and Annette checked her Big Blind with Qh7h. The flop was a beautiful AhKhJh and she check-called a bet and again on the turn. She had an easy decision to call on the river and her opponent showed 7d6d for an audacious bluff!

The chips she won in this hand were quickly lost to Andrew Chen when she called his all-in bet preflop with AsJd to find she was in a coinflip against a pair of eights. The flop came 4cKd2d but the turn was an ugly eight of diamonds, the river was , locking up the hand for Chen.

Always a fighter, Annette then doubled up herself to go past the 160,000 mark when she shoved over the top of Michael 'Beppe' Greco's late position raise. Greco called with AcJs only to find he was dominated by Annette's AhQh. No help from the board for either player and Annette's queen kicker claimed the pot.

As action drew to a close Annette amazingly doubled up again when she re-raised an early position raiser wth AhKh. The initial raiser then set her all-in and she made the call. Her hand was well in front of the KdQs of her opponent, even more so when it was announced two other players had a Queen in their hand. The JdAcJh gave him an extra couple of outs but an turn and river saw him eliminated and Anntte soar past the 300,000 mark.

Play resumes at 1200 UK Time where 111 players will return to the felt with seven of them going home empty handed as only 104 places are being paid. Annette 'Annette_15" Obrestad will sit down with 312,000 chips, with the average stack being 190,000. Stay tuned to see if Annette can add an EPT title to her already impressive resume.

[NoflopsHomer]

Annette's rep has paid off for her. Finnish guy just 4bet jammed 300k into her from button with and she snapped him off with , faded a flush draw. She's chip leader with 800k now.

[TightEnd]

88 remain


current top 20

Annette Obrestad   Norway      720000
Tommy Vedes   USA      700000
Kevin Schaffel   USA   PokerStars sponsored player, WSOP finalist   600000
Aaron Gustavson   USA   PokerStars qualifier   508000
Jean Montury   France      480000
Josef Samanek   Czech Republic      477000
Nikolai Senninger   Germany      465000
Jeffery Lisandro   Italy      455000
Andrew Lichtenberger   USA      450000
Julien Brecard   France      435000
Kevin Macphee   USA   PokerStars qualifier   420000
Robert Firestone   USA   PokerStars qualifier   405000
Lawrie Inman   UK      405000
Alex Wice   Canada   PokerStars player   393000
Max Heinzelmann   Germany   PokerStars player   390000
Michael Berry   UK   PokerStars qualifier   380000
Vivek Rajkumar   USA      369000
David Morante   Spain   PokerStars qualifier   363000
Marty Smyth   Northern Ireland      340000
Darus Suharto   Canada   Friend of PokerStars   340000

[TightEnd]

31 remain

8-16k blinds level 21

Nikolai Senninger   Germany      1500000
Eric Haik   France   PokerStars qualifier   1180000
Benjamin Spindler   Germany   PokerStars player   1100000
Annette Obrestad   Norway      1090000
Raymond Wu   Taiwan   Team Pokerstars PRO Asia   1080000
Michael Berry   UK   PokerStars qualifier   980000
Vivek Rajkumar   USA      940000
Darus Suharto   Canada   Friend of PokerStars   900000
Martin Gudvangen   Norway      860000
Kenneth Hicks   USA   PokerStars qualifier   805000
Josef Samanek   Czech Republic      790000
Kevin Macphee   USA   PokerStars qualifier   725000
Jonathan Weekes   UK      700000
Rodrigo Dos Santos Caprioli   Brazil   PokerStars qualifier   650000
Tobias Reinkemeier   Germany      630000
Kevin Schaffel   USA   PokerStars sponsored player, WSOP finalist   620000
Karim Bennani smires   France      595000
Ivo Donev   Austria      555000
Marty Smyth   Northern Ireland      540000
Adam York   UK      520000
Darren Woods   UK      515000
Philip Byers   USA   PokerStars player   474000
Dominic Cullen   UK   PokerStars player   464000
Theo Tran   USA   PokerStars qualifier   460000
Andrew Lichtenberger   USA      460000
Tamas Lendvai   Hungary   PokerStars qualifier   430000
Mitesh Anjaria   Canada      355000
Rui Milhomens   Portugal      310000
David Morante   Spain   PokerStars qualifier   287000
Peter Eastgate   Denmark   Team PokerStars PRO Nordics   279000
Aaron Gustavson   USA   PokerStars qualifier   245000
Alessandro Lusso   Italy      213000
Will Molson   Canada   PokerStars player   196000
Jean Montury   France      175000
Michael Greco   UK      50000

[TightEnd]

Day 3 is over
Entries 730, remaining 24
Level 22, 10,000-20,000 (2,000 ante)

Player   Country   Status   Chip Count
Michael Berry   UK   PokerStars qualifier   1837000
Rodrigo Caprioli   Brazil   PokerStars qualifier   1647000
Nikolai Senninger   Germany      1587000
Tobias Reinkemeier   Germany      1291000
Josef Samanek   Czech Republic      1215000
Vivek Rajkumar   USA      1196000
Benjamin Spindler   Germany   PokerStars player   1110000
Ivo Donev   Austria      1062000
Theo Tran   USA   PokerStars qualifier   991000
Peter Eastgate   Denmark   Team PokerStars PRO Nordics   988000
Aaron Gustavson   USA   PokerStars qualifier   946000
Raymond Wu   Taiwan   Team Pokerstars PRO Asia   872000
Rui Milhomens   Portugal      869000
Andrew Lichtenberger   USA      862000
Adam York   UK      806000
Eric Haik   France   PokerStars qualifier   770000
Annette Obrestad   Norway      730000
Marty Smyth   Northern Ireland      719000
Dominic Cullen   UK   PokerStars player   622000
Karim Bennani smires   France      620000
Martin Gudvangen   Norway      590000
Kenneth Hicks   USA   PokerStars qualifier   393000
Kevin Schaffel   USA   PokerStars sponsored player, WSOP finalist   377000
Philip Byers   USA   PokerStars player   344000
Jonathan Weekes   UK      272000

[TightEnd]

Mr Berry is on a freeroll

It was just a few weeks back that Berry had no real plans to be here. It took winning a 5,771-player Mirror EPT Challenge on PokerStars. That win took him to a 290-player qualifier and first place there earned him his seat in London's Main Event.

He considered anything after the money today as just another freeroll. Every money jump was just more money than he invested nothing but time to earn.

[TightEnd]

Meanwhile Jason Mercier is at it again

What more can we say about Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier? Well we've done 'Mercier wins this', we followed up with 'Mercier wins that', and now we can top it with 'Mercier wins the other'. The young player from Florida has just added the £2,500 No Limit side event here at EPT London to his trophy cabinet... and another $185,000 to his bankroll.

Mercier's success story shows no sign of ending. He first hit the big time when he won EPT San Remo in Season 4. Months later he final tabled EPT Barcelona, and six weeks further down the line he won the first big EPT 5 High Roller event - scooping the £20,000 buy-in showcase in London.

More results followed, and this summer he added a WSOP bracelet after winning the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event. It was just weeks after this that PokerStars announced he had joined the illustrious Team PokerStars Pro, and that seems to have just spurred on his poker even more: he chopped a side event at EPT Barcelona last month, and only last week he final tabled the WSOP-E Main Event in London, finishing fourth for $440,000.

[GreekStein]

Meanwhile Jason Mercier is at it again

What more can we say about Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier? Well we've done 'Mercier wins this', we followed up with 'Mercier wins that', and now we can top it with 'Mercier wins the other'. The young player from Florida has just added the £2,500 No Limit side event here at EPT London to his trophy cabinet... and another $185,000 to his bankroll.

Mercier's success story shows no sign of ending. He first hit the big time when he won EPT San Remo in Season 4. Months later he final tabled EPT Barcelona, and six weeks further down the line he won the first big EPT 5 High Roller event - scooping the £20,000 buy-in showcase in London.

More results followed, and this summer he added a WSOP bracelet after winning the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event. It was just weeks after this that PokerStars announced he had joined the illustrious Team PokerStars Pro, and that seems to have just spurred on his poker even more: he chopped a side event at EPT Barcelona last month, and only last week he final tabled the WSOP-E Main Event in London, finishing fourth for $440,000.

How does this guy do it!?

[TightEnd]

courtesy of the Betfair blog

It took just under 11 hours of play to whittle down 111 players to the final 24 in the £5,000 EPT London main Event. Each of the remaining players is guaranteed to go home with at least £17,000 but they will all have one eye on the £850,000 awarded for winning the tournament.

Betfair's Annette Obrestad started the day with 312,000 and she quickly added 35,000 to this on the first hand! Less than an hour later, when on the money bubble, her stacked peaked at 430,000.

With the screens displaying 105 remaining players, it meant the next person to bust out would go home empty handed. That dubious honour went to Piero Mormina after he open-shoved his last 28,500 chips with 3h3s only to be called by German Benny Spindler with Js8c. The board ran out 7sTcThAd9c and Spindler's straight was more than enough to burst the bubble. Spindler finished 3rd in the EPT Main Event in Paradise Island in January and will be looking for at least more of the same when play restarts this afternoon.

Ms Obrestad then won a mammoth pot to become the tournament's chip leader. Harri Suni raised on the button and Annette re-raised in the big blind. Suni then shoved all in, prompting a call from the talented Norwegian. Both players revealed their cards, Suni had Ad8d whilst Annette was ahead with AcKd. The flop of 7cQdTd brought Suni a flush draw but it failed to appear as and fell on the turn and river and Annette boosted her stack to around 750,000.

Shortly after the break, 'Annette_15' extended her chip lead when she once again got her money in whilst dominating her opponent's hand. This time Annette raised to 16,000 in the cutoff, Raymond Wu flat-called on the button but Umberto Vitagliano moved all-in from the blinds. Annette then re-raised to isolate Vitagliano and Wu obliged by folding his hand. Annette held AsQc and was up against AhTs and it stayed ahead on a board reading JhJs2s6h4d to take her to 900,000.

Not everything was plain sailing for the 2007 WSOPE Main Event Champion as she managed to get all-in with Aces on a flop showing Qx8x5x to find she was against Ace-king but the turn and river were both Kings to knock her back down to 750,000.

Her relentless aggression looked like it was paying off as she passed the magic 1,000,000 chip mark later in the day but after losing 77 to A6 and either initially being played back at and then getting no action towards the end of play, Annette Obrestad finished the day with 730,000 chips, to put her 16 from 24 in terms of chips.

There are still some notable faces left in the field including 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion, Peter Eastgate, popular Irish player Marty Smyth and WPT winner Vivek Rajkumar. The title of chip leader goes to Michael Berry (pictured), an amateur player who won his seat in a freeroll held in conjunction with the Daily Mirror newspaper! What a story it would be if he could take the tournament down, well finish second behind Annette of course!

Twitter Updates from Annette15 yesterday

    * 730k. Done for the day. Down to 24. about 13 hours ago

    * 750k. Got AK. Got reraised. He folded to all in. See they always think im fos even tho i play no hands. It rly is unbelievable about 13 hours ago

    * 600k. Cant win a pot. The few times i try they never fold or always have something about 13 hours ago

    * I keep bleeding. No hands, no spots. Too few chips. Hate this stage of tournies. Such a shove fest. Got 700k about 13 hours ago

    * 760k. God blinds eating me alive now about 14 hours ago

[NoflopsHomer]

lol Tighty - you missed out the ones about her thoughts on Benny Spindler.

[GreekStein]

lol Tighty - you missed out the ones about her thoughts on Benny Spindler.

whole thread on 2+2

[ripple11]

Meanwhile Jason Mercier is at it again

What more can we say about Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier? Well we've done 'Mercier wins this', we followed up with 'Mercier wins that', and now we can top it with 'Mercier wins the other'. The young player from Florida has just added the £2,500 No Limit side event here at EPT London to his trophy cabinet... and another $185,000 to his bankroll.

Mercier's success story shows no sign of ending. He first hit the big time when he won EPT San Remo in Season 4. Months later he final tabled EPT Barcelona, and six weeks further down the line he won the first big EPT 5 High Roller event - scooping the £20,000 buy-in showcase in London.

More results followed, and this summer he added a WSOP bracelet after winning the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event. It was just weeks after this that PokerStars announced he had joined the illustrious Team PokerStars Pro, and that seems to have just spurred on his poker even more: he chopped a side event at EPT Barcelona last month, and only last week he final tabled the WSOP-E Main Event in London, finishing fourth for $440,000.

How does this guy do it!?

"In the well" pls!.

[booder]

lol Tighty - you missed out the ones about her thoughts on Benny Spindler.

whole thread on 2+2

link plz

[George2Loose]

lol Tighty - you missed out the ones about her thoughts on Benny Spindler.

whole thread on 2+2

link plz

yup cant find anything on betfair or 2+2

[GreekStein]

thread appears to be removed from 2+2