ISPT Wembley Main Event Day 5: Pete Linton Leads the Final Six

June 04, 2013

Matthew Pitt Senior Editor

The penultimate day of the International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT) Wembley Main Event started with 20 players vying for the €1 million first-place prize. Of those 20 hopefuls, only six are still in after several hours of play on Day 5.

The eliminations came quickly from the moment tournament director Simon Trumper started the day. Within minutes, James Sullivan, Neil Benardout and Giuseppe Stagno had been eliminated, and the remaining players had to redraw for new seats.

Despite the potential seven-figure first-place prize on offer, the aggression shown by the players never wavered, and that resulted in elimination after elimination throughout proceedings. Leon Louis, Leigh Wiltshire and two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Praz Bansi were the next players to lose their stacks, and they were followed to the sidelines by the legendary Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, Freddy Deeb and Florian Hoeller.

Check out this interview with Devilfish shortly after his elimination:

Hitting the exit next was Bassam Elia, who told PokerNews he has never played in a casino setting before, preferring to play cash games at his and his friends’ houses instead. Something tells us that the €19,000 he won for his 11th-place finish in this tournament may change his mind in the near future.

Just four hours after play began, the final table was set. After Jean Miguel Lacerda doubled through Pete Linton with pocket aces against Linton's ace-queen, his tournament ended abruptly. Ferhad Seyadi opened in the cutoff and then called when Lacerda moved all in from the button. Lacerda showed A♠J♦ and Seyadi the A♣Q♣. Neither player improved by the river, and Lacerda exited in 10th place to secure final table.

The nine finalists were sent on a 60-minute dinner break, during which a deal was discussed that would have seen the remaining prize pool split between each player based on chip count with €200,000 left for the eventual champion. After much deliberation, the players decided to keep the payouts as they were intended to be and to continue the tournament.

Half-an-hour into the finale, the first player busted – and in unfortunate circumstances. The action passed around to Linton in the small blind and he min-raised to 240,000. Julian Gardner called from the big blind and the duo shared a 10♥9♥10♠ flop. Linton continued with a 240,000 bet, only to see Gardner raise to 550,000. Linton went into the tank before emerging with an all-in bet. Gardner instantly called and showed 10♦5♦ for trip tens, a much stronger hand than the A♠8♠ of Linton. The turn was the 4♠ and it was followed by the K♠ river, improving Linton to the nut flush and leaving a stunned Gardner to exit in ninth place.

Eight became seven when the short-stacked Jerome Brion open-shoved from early position with 10♣10♠ and Gwendoline Jadot, who is the last standing female player in the ISPT Wembley Main Event, called from the big blind with A♣K♣. A board reading 7♥K♦5♣6♠4♠ condemned Brion to an eighth-place finish and pushed Jadot toward the 5-million chip mark.

Day 5 came to an end 40 minutes later when Seyadi chose J♣2♣ to move all in from the small blind for 11 big blinds. Nick Hicks made the call with 7♣7♠, and when the board ran out 2♥8♥6♠4♥10♥ Seyadi was eliminated and the tournament paused for the last time.

Play resumes at 12:00 U.K. time on Wednesday and continues until one man or woman has won all 40,450,000 chips in play. At the moment, Linton leads with 11,070,000 chips, followed by Alban Juen with 7,615,000 and Hicks with 6,230,000. Each player is guaranteed a prize of at least €73,000, though PokerNews expects a deal to be made in the early stages of play, judging from the talk between the players earlier in the day.

ISPT Wembley Final Six Seat Draw