In the unofficial kickoff to what will be an exciting month of poker on the Old Continent, the European Poker Tour’s £5000 Main Event kicks off today while wrapping up its £50,000 Super High Roller with a powerful final table.
The EPT London (the second stop of the Season 10 EPT schedule) has long been one of the most popular stops on the circuit, but this year it is a little different. Instead of playing in the comfy confines of the Grosvenor Victoria Casino (“The Vic”) in London, for the first time the EPT has moved to the Grand Connaught Rooms for its activities. Since last Wednesday, the players have been descending on this new location and all seems to be in place for another fantastic showing for players in London.
One of those tournaments is the Super High Roller, which began on Friday. Day One saw 38 players come to the tables (with 14 of them taking advantage of the re-entry nature of the tournament) and, by the time the start of Day Two on Saturday, the official entry list totaled 57. Eight men will come to the felt later today with each of them guaranteed a six figure payday, with the champion taking down £821,000 ($1,313,159 U. S.).
As usual with any Super High Roller tournament, the players in action on Sunday are all well known to the poker community. Leading the way is former EPT and World Series of Poker champion Martin Finger, who holds 4.74 million in chips to take a commanding lead in the tournament. A distance back in second place is Johannes Strassmann with his 2.215 million stack and, in third, Bill Perkins will enter the action on Sunday with 2.005 million.
One of the members of the 2013 WSOP Championship Event “November Nine,” David Benefield, has continued his excellent play and will be in position to make some noise at the Super High Roller final table with his 1.315 million chip stack. Christoph Vogelsang (1.215 million), Canada’s Timothy Adams (1.135 million), Germany’s Tobias Reinkemeier (845,000) and a short stacked Patrik Antonius (745,000) round out the final eight players who will vie for the title this afternoon.
While most of the attention this afternoon will be focused on the Super High Roller, the Main Event has begun alongside that action. New rules under the EPT format are allowing for players to enter the tournament up until the start of Day 2 (which will be Tuesday), so players are slowly trickling into the Grand Connaught to take their shot at the tournament. At press time, 162 players have put up their £5000 for the tournament with many notables taking their seats on the tables.
Naturally, Team PokerStars Pro is well represented on this first day, with Marcin Horecki, Leo Margets, Jake Cody, Jonathan Duhamel, Eugene Katchalov, Theo Jorgensen and Johnny Lodden entering the fray. They have been joined by such players as Mike Watson, Sorel Mizzi, Dan Shak, Kevin Vandersmissen, Shawn Buchanan, Fabrice Soulier and Martin Jacobsen. It is expected that the total field for Day 1A on Sunday will land somewhere between 250-300 players and Day 1B will be even bigger than that, as is normal in multi-Day One tournaments.
The EPT London has provided a great deal of history in the 10-year span that it has been on the circuit. The inaugural event crowned John Shipley the champion, with Mark Teltscher winning the next year. In Season 3, the EPT crowned its first female champion when Vicky Coren (playing on her “home turf” at The Vic) was able to take the title. Joseph Mouawad, Michael Martin (taking home the largest payday in the history of the EPT London, £1 million), Aaron Gustavson, David Vamplew, Benny Spindler and defending champion Ruben Visser round out the roster of champions for the EPT London.
The EPT London Main Event will play through the week, with a champion to be determined on Saturday (October 12). In addition to the conclusion of the Super High Roller today, a High Roller event (only a £10,000 buy in) and other smaller tournaments will make up the festival of poker that will comprise the EPT London.