The European Poker Tour (EPT) has returned after a two month hiatus with the £4,250 buy-in EPT London Main Event. Held in the Grand Connaught Rooms in London, the Main Event saw 224 register for Day 1A on Sunday with 135 making it all the way to Day 2. The chip leader for the first flight was Anatoly Filatov who ended the day with 173,900 chips.
Filatov has been strong on the live tournament circuit in the past year, recently winning the partypoker WPT Merit Class North Cyprus High Roller Event for €156,000 ($201,986). In April, he finished second in a prelim event at the EPT Grand Final and in March, was also runner-up in the EPT Vienna High Roller Event, a score of €265,200 ($366,070). Last April, Filatov also came in third in the Berlin Cup at EPT Berlin. He currently ranks 58th in the Global Poker Index and has won over $1.1 million in live tournaments.
He might be even better known in the online game, going by, amongst others, the screen name “nl_profit.” According to PocketFives.com, Filatov has won over $1.7 million in online tournaments with his largest cash being just shy of $100,000 when he won an event in last year’s PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). He currently sits in the 317th spot in PocketFives’ worldwide rankings, having once been as high as 106th earlier this year.
According to PokerNews.com (who got the tip from Filatov himself), Anatoly Filatov really ramped it up towards the end of the day. On one particular late hand, he and Joni Jouhkimainen had four-bet pre-flop only to check the K-Q-5 flop. Jouhkimainen bet 5,000 when a 5 was dealt on the turn and Filatov called. He then bet 17,000 on the river (King) and was once again called by Filatov, who turned over A-K. Apparently that two pair was good enough, as he raked in the large pot.
With the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (WSOP APAC) taking place down in Australia, the world’s poker pro population is split between the two major tournaments. Some of the notable names to advance to Day 2 include Johnny Lodden, Isaac Haxton, Eugene Katchalov, Leo Margets, Marvin Rettenmaier, Jason Mercier, and Jake Cody.
The EPT London Main Event will need a much bigger turnout on Day 1B to eclipse last year’s numbers. In 2013, 604 players registered for the tournament, creating a £2,929,400 prize pool. It paid down to 87 places, with Robin Ylitalo taking the title for £560,980.
2014 European Poker Tour London Main Event – Day 1A Chip Leaders
1. Anatoly Filatov – 173,900
2. Jose Quintas – 141,100
3. Maximos Pertsinidis – 128,600
4. Johnny Lodden – 125,800
5. Alexander Trevallion – 125,100
6. Hossein Ensan – 124,900
7. Alfie Adam – 122,300
8. Bo Daniel Nilsson – 117,200
9. Sergio Aido – 113,700
10. Ryan Spittles – 112,800
