Pokerstars Sunday Million Seat T$/W$

Live updates from day one, level seven of the EPT London High Roller event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

Blinds: 400-800 (100 ante)

9.30pm: Gallery of the departed
There are a lot of fine players now in the ex-participant category.They fell in this approximate order:

9.15pm: Pagano bundled out
Luca Pagano wasn't likely to hang around too long with his micro-stack of about 6,000. He found pocket fours, shoved, and ran into pocket tens. Ciao.

9.05pm: Coren doubles up
Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren doubled up, getting her [ah][as] called by Masaaki Kagawa's [ac][kc]. The board of [9c][4d][10d][3d][jh] brought no unfortunate dramas, and Coren soars back up to 40,000.

Kagawa, from Japan, slips right i8nto the danger zone with around 7,500 left.

8.55pm: Well I really really raise...
As Juha Helppi was stacking his new chips Andrew Feldman pointed out that something big was going on at his table. The explosive force was provided by a lot of chips. The fuse was Dario Minieri.

The pocket Italian had made it 2,100 pre-flop. Dennis Phillips had raised to 5,500. Eugene Katchalov didn't stop at that, raising again to 13,000 before Minieri showed he wasn't kidding by making it 31,000 in total. Phillips got the point and folded. Eventually Katchalov did the same.

Dario Minieri

"Show the bluff!" yelled Feldman at Minieri.

"You never show me yours, why should I show you mine?" he replied, the Minieri grin in place.

"You never ask."

8.52pm: Eye of the tiger
Juha Helppi made it 6,000 pre-flop which Dave Ulliott and Michael Tureniec called for a [5s][jh][5h] flop. Tureniec checks in the small blind. Helppi and Ulliott do the same. On the [7h] turn Tureniec bet 14,400 which Helppi called. Ulliott got out of their way. A [6c] on the river. Tureniec took his time but made it another 28,200. Now the focus was on Helppi, who once described himself as Ivan Drago to Phil Hellmuth's Rocky IV when he came second to Big Phil in a WSOP event some years ago. Well, (bad pun alert) Helppi was pulling no punches and re-raised Tureniec somewhere in the region of 80,000. Tureniec folded immediately, leaving himself with a little more than 10,000. "Don't try to bluff me," said Helppi grinning. Tureniec didn't grin.

8.45pm: Greenstein out
Barry Greenstein came back from dinner nursing a tiny 6,000 stack. He won one nice pot, but then got his chips in the middle with [qs][qh] hoping for a nice double up that would get him back in some sort of decent shape. But he was insta called by [ac][kc], and the board of [6h][5s][kh][10d][2h] sealed his fate.

8.35pm: Full
We've now returned from the dinner break and will play another four one-hour levels until the close. The chip leader of the 53 remaining players is still the Uruguayan Adolfo Vaeza, who has close to 300,000.

At the other end of the spectrum is Luca Pagano, who has been stuck with a short stack all afternoon. Pagano explained that that was the result of a set over set encounter within the first couple of levels. Expect his last 10,000 in the middle soon enough.

Live updates from day one, level six of the EPT London High Roller event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

Blinds: 300-600 (75 ante)

6.55pm: The dinner break
Play has stopped for the 90 minute dinner break. By our reckoning play will resume at 8.30pm local time. Tom Dwan is the late elimination before the break.

6.50pm: Raising hell
Luke Schwartz and a bet of 1,600 from middle position. There's your opening line now fill in the rest. Masaaki Kagawa called in the cut off, Joe Hachem from the button. Then the small blind, Henri Kettunen, moved all-in. That made it 13,600 to Schwartz to call, which he did before both Kagawa and Hachem passed. Aces for Schwartz, [kc][qd] for Kettunen. He was behind but not forgotten: [qc][4c][8s]. When the turn came [jc] Schwartz said "Oh god kill me." When the [ks] hit the river he added another "Kill me."

Schwartz lost more on the next hand, re-raising pre-flop to 10,000 only to be re-re-raised by Sahamies who made it 25,000. Sahamies whistled while Schwartz made his decision - the prudent one, to fold.

6.40pm: busto_soon busted now
Johannes van Til, better known as "busto_soon", has departed. He was sitting to the left of Vadim Trincher, who has amassed a stack of about 180,000 now, and is opening pretty much every pot. On one such occasion, Van Til shoved for his last 12,000 or so, and Stephen O'Dwyer, further round the table, under-called all in. Trincher folded and it was a race between the two short-stacks: O'Dwyer's A-K versus Van Til's red pocket sevens. A king flopped and O'Dwyer doubled to something like 20,000, leaving Van Til very short.

He got his final 2,500 in soon after with [as][3d], but Trincher's [4s][6h] hit a six on the river to end busto_soon's participation. No doubt he'll be back to the sit n go tables, where he'll have a rare chance to play in a game that doesn't also feature Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick. The British sit n go specialist is still in the £1,000 six-max side event in the same room.

6.35pm: Hachem unhappy
Joe Hachem, normally a happy chap, currently has a face that resembles a bulldog chewing a wasp. He's not struggling in chips, but his stack of around 48,000 tells a tale of someone who just can't seem to get going.

This latest hand typifies his day so far. On a board showing [7s][9c][ad][5s] Hachem bet but Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies re-popped to 12,400. Call. The river came [3c] and both checked.

Sahamies showed [9d][10d] - Hachem showed 9-6 and threw his hand into the muck in disgust. Sahamies up to approaching 90,000.

6.30pm: Synchronised Swedes
The Swedish tyros Per Ummer and William "William" Thorson are now on the same table, which is not good news for James Obst. First Thorson took a chunk, betting 4,550 on the turn, with the board showing [10h][jd][9s][3d], which Obst called, and then 16,000 on the river of [9h], which Obst refused to match. Similarly, Obst folded when Ummer bet 4,500 on the turn on the next hand, looking at [ad][kd][5c][9s]. We never saw what any of them had.

6.20pm: Prizes
It's not just fun. They're also playing for the following prizes, just announced by the tournament organisers.

1 - £542,000
2 - £326,000
3 - £193,000
4 - £141,000
5 - £104,000
6 - £74,000
7 - £60,000
8 - £45,000

A permanent record of that will be on the prizes page. And keep abreast of who's still in with a chance of winning them on the chip-counts page.

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS

6.12pm: Juanda cracked
On a flop of [7s][2d][4c] John Juanda made it 5,400. Vadim Trincher on the button, a big guy getting a massage, calls for a [10d] turn card. Now Trincher made it 11,000. Juanda thought for a while before matching that and adding a further 20,000 to thing. Trincher moved all in and Juanda called. Aces for Juanda but they're beaten by Trincher's [7h][2h]. Juanda out.

6.10pm: One two three for Illari
Illari Sahamies is quickly making up for lost time. On a flop of [5d][qc][4c] he turns his chair around to get a massage as everyone checks a six-way pot. On the [3h] turn he made it 7,200 which the five other players pass to. It's a similar story on the next hand, an under-the-gun raise of 1,000 that got no action. Sahamies expression doesn't change in the slightest, although it's possible it can't - the massage therapist is pulling back on his forehead and digging her fingers into his neck at the same time.

Next hand, [5d][2h][5h] on the flop. Sahamies checked in the big blind before Vicky Coren made it 600. Sahamies called, tossing in a yellow chip, then a red for a [6d] on the turn. Now it's 4,400 from Sahamies, enough to make Coren fold.

6pm: An hour until dinner
This is the last level before we break for a 90-minute dinner break. I will be eating duck.

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.

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 [9d][5s][4s][as][3d].

The Russian Team PokerStars PRO turned over [ah][2h] 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 [4s][9d][5d]. 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 [as][qd] as Juanda showed [kd][kc]. The board ran [qh][js][2d][9s][5c]. 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 [qc][9s][kd] | [ah] | [ks]. Schulman bet 3,000 on the turn, called, then bet 9,000 on the river. Also called. Schulman showed [kc][jc] for the rivered trips, but Kravchenko had him all along, showing [9h][9s].

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 [9s][3h][8s]. ElkY leads, betting 1,550 which only Thorson calls. The turn comes [qs]. 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".

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier


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:

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS

Live updates from day one, level four of the EPT London High Roller event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

Blinds: 150-300 (25 ante)

4.40pm: Break
Players are taking a 15 minute break at the end of the level. Shortly before we broke, we discovered a new chip leader. It's the Uruguayan player Adolfo Vaeza, who explained: "I doubled with Erik." That's Erik Seidel, by the way, who remains in but with a short stack.

4.39pm: Juanda delivers Glantz-ing blow
John Juanda made it 800 pre-flop but Matthew Glantz had seen a pattern from the cut off. "That's three in a row now you've raised," he said, taking him on with a raise to 2,500. Juanda called and they saw a [qc][ks][as] flop. Juanda checked before Glantz made it 3,200. Juanda called. A [4c] on the turn. Juanda checked again. Perhaps sensing trouble Glantz checked too. On the [8h] river Juanda made it 6,000, saying "that's three in a row." Glantz folded.

4.35pm: Business
Soon after the elimination of Ashton Griffin, Sammy George also went over to see Tom Dwan and to compare stacks. Those two have got a high-stakes heads up game going on sometime this week -- they're playing blinds of one-squillion, two-squllion, I think -- and it appears they might have some side action on their participation in this event too. "Come on, you can't turn down a last longer," Dwan said. "You have 93,000 chips. I have, like, half that."

George, seemingly reluctantly, agreed and they shook (or pumped fists) on what sounded like: "Twenty-five? Fifty? OK, twenty-five." (The thousands were implied.)

Shane Reihill, sitting next to Dwan, seemed to think that durrr was still the favourite in this last longer, but the American disagreed: "I'm the biggest dog ever," he said. Reihill was insistent, so Dwan said: "You can buy my action if you want."

No sale.

4.15pm: Not a cooler
Sammy George has just accounted for Ashton Griffin -- the man they call "Any Two" dumping "theASHMAN". Griffin had [ah][qh] and there were two hearts on the flop; George had pocket sevens and there was a third of those among the same community cards. "What a cooler!" George said, as Griffin strolled away from the table and over to Tom Dwan to tell him of his departure. "Not a cooler. I mean, it was just weird that I had a set and he had the nut flush draw." The real miracle, of course, is that these two both had legitimate hands. That "Any Two" nickname doesn't come from nowhere.

4pm: It's good to be back
There's a board of [ks][9s][6s][4s][6c] and it's Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren against Luke Schwartz. Schwartz got a bit of attention earlier by taking an hour off, returning after shaking off an earlier beat. He immediately got stuck in. Coren had made it 2,500 and was waiting for Schwartz to react. He called. "I have jacks," said Coren, but Schwartz turned over [ac][qs] for the flush. Coren joked it was a slow roll. "I just felt you weren't bluffing," said Schwartz. "I didn't think I was!" replied Coren. The break may have done the Englishman some good.

3.50pm: Raymer reveals curious TV favorite
Greg Raymer is on fine form, chatting away to his table, local boy Sammy "Any Two" George, who said: "You know the best movie to come out of America? Police Academy!"

"Police Academy? Are you serious? Is that meant to be an insult?" replied the Fossilman, perplexed by George's choice of cinematic heaven. "Well in that case, do you know the best TV show to come out of Britain?"

"No," said the shaven-headed Brit.

"Bargain Hunt," said Raymer. "It's a great show."

"Now that really upsets me," came the reply. "I mean, come on, Bargain Hunt?"

Oh well. The fun never ends. Enough of this frivolity, however, as this is a serious event. Raymer, between dreaming of Bargain Hunt, has amassed a tasty stack. He's now up to 90,000.

Meanwhile, Luke Schwartz, who was sitting at the same table as Vicky Coren and Joe Hachem for the first two levels, has disappeared. He's been missing for several hours now, his stack of 45,000 waiting patiently for his return. Next to him is a stack that has no owner at all all day.

"He's coming," said one of the tournament staff. "Who's is it?" asked Hachem. "Ilari Sahamies," came the reply. That's online terror Ziigmund to you and I.

3.45pm: New level
Don't these levels just fly by. It's already level four, and the chip leader at this stage is this man, Joe Cada:

Live updates from day one, level 3 of the EPT London High Roller event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

Blinds: 100-200 (25 ante)

3.45pm: Waiting, waiting
Benny Spindler made it 4,000 to go on a flop of [2h][7s][10h] from the big blind. He got two callers for a [4d] turn. Spindler then made it 9,550 as behind him David Elder busted from his table, a mock sad expression on his face. Meanwhile Spindler's bet forced a player out but still left Eugene Katchalov who then asked Spindler the toughest of questions by moving all in.

Spindler took a sip of water from a plastic cup as Katchalov's chips were laid out. The German has his headphones off now, better to pick up the noise of Katchalov thinking perhaps. Five minutes passed, then six. Over on Greg Raymer's table a player is asleep - not resting their eyes but properly asleep. The dealer takes his ante without waking him up and someone nudges him when the action gets to him. He folds, good for another two minute power nap.

Seven minutes on Spindler now. Then eight. He exhales, stares, riffles and folds. Down to 38,000.

3.35pm: And more chatter
Meanwhile on another table, Tony Bloom and Juha Helppi were involved in a small pot as Roland de Wolfe wandered past. De Wolfe is playing in the side event, but began talking football -- specifically Leyton Orient, and the attempt to determine in which league they play. Bloom and Helppi were looking at a board of [qc][8s][ah][9s] as this chattering was going on, Bloom betting 1,700 and getting the Finn to fold. The football conversationalists may or may not have been aware that Bloom was just the man to ask about such lower-league soccer matters: he is the chairman of Brighton and Hove Albion, who currently sit one place above Orient in the English League One.

3.30pm: The words of the son of God
There's some riveting conversation going on at the table featuring Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson and John Juanda. The EPT's massage therapist extraordinaire, Sookhee Blatrix, is bringing her characteristic pummeling to the wiry frame of Seidel, while regaling them with the woes of trying to take a massage cushion onto a plane. "What? They made you check a cushion?" said an incredulous Ferguson. "What, do they think you're going to go into the cockpit and suffocate the pilot?"

3.15pm: More for Mortensen
Carlos Mortensen had been drifting in chips, but then won a nice pot to take him back to a more comfortable level. When we caught up with his table the board was showing [6d][9s][2h][10h][7c], and the Spaniard had bet out 10,600, leaving just 7,100 behind. The player in seat nine went into the tank for a few minutes before making a reluctant call - only for Mortensen to show [7d][8d] for the straight. He's now up to 55,000.

Team PokerStars PRO Humberto Brenes, humming away happily at his table, just went back over the 50,000 mark, check-raising to take the pot on a [js][2d][9c] flop.

Meanwhile, Victoria Coren, who is on a tough table that includes Joe Hachem and Luke Schwartz, is finding time to relax between hands by playing Sudoku. Quite well, as it happens.

3.12pm: Room fills
The tournament floor is now packed as the £1,000 6-max event kicks off. More than 200 have coughed up the monies, including Team PokerStars PROs Chad Brown, Ivan Demidov and Victor Ramdin. We'll keep you up to date with all the side events at this EPT London Poker Festival.

3.10pm: Blinking red link to chip counts
The headline says it all:

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS

3pm: Sointula takes a swig of Molson
Will Molson, who was responsible for taking most of Phil Ivey's chips in the first level, is still cruising at about the 85,000 mark, but lost some to Jani Sointula in a recent tangle. It was a formidable starting line-up: Dennis Phillips and Dario Minieri also saw the flop, each calling Sointula's 800 raise. That came [4s][ad][8c] and Minieri checked allowing Sointula to bet 2,500. Phillips got out the way, as did Minieri after Molson called. The [kh] turned and Sointula now bet 5,500. Call from Molson. The river was [4d] and Sointula fired 11,800. Anguished, Molson let it go.

2.55pm: Cada can
Our chip leader in these early stages is November's own Joe Cada, who is up to 109,000, more than double the starting stack. "Seat free!" bellowed the dealer as Cada stacked up all those yellow chips. The cards had already been mucked and Cada's opponent had vanished, so details are a little thin on the ground, I'm afraid. Be sure to stay tuned for more tip-top reporting like that.

2.50pm: Help Juanda, help help Juanda...
A tough hand for John Juanda, fresh off a massage. The board already showed [ks][qh][ac][10d] and Juanda had raised but was staring at a re-raise by Adolfo Vaeza to 10,000 total. Juanda called for a [qs] on the turn. Wasting no time he shoved in 50,000, a tower of yellows that looks impressive despite falling on its side. Vaeza called in a a flash. "I have a straight," said Juanda but with some perfect Hollywood Vaeza replied: "Not enough. Full house." He turned over tens. Chris Ferguson called over the massage therapist. "Get back!" Too late for Juanda this time who takes a 32,825 dent.

Vicky Coren

2.45pm: I can see clearly now
There's a flop on the board showing [8s][4s][ah]. "I need to put my glasses on," says Vicky Coren, playing the hand but also talking to Roland de Wolfe at the same time who's browsing a copy of Coren's book. Coren, glasses now on, checks, as does Nikolay Evdakov. They do the same on the [3d] turn. When the [kd] hits the river Coren bets out, getting the call and showing [ks][3s] for the pot. At no point did she stop talking with De Wolfe.

2.35pm: Play and players
Play has now resumed, and we've been furnished with a full list of players. The tally got all the way up to 73 in the end, which is not that many fewer than Jason Mercier beat last year. I reckon our fist prize could be up near the £400,000 mark. We can but dream.