£220 Opening Event
Day 1b Completed
2016 888Live Poker Festival London
£220 Opening Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2016 888Live Poker Festival London
Buy-in
£220
Level
30
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000
Mitchell Makes Hay on Day 1b
Level 13
: 2,000/4,000, 400 ante
James Mitchell (pictured, centre) finished top of the chip counts on Day 1b here at Aspers Casino in Stratford as the £100,000 opening event almost broke through the guarantee with a day to spare. 41 players survived to make Day 2 after some fantastic poker along the way.
With 275 entries meaning 451 overall, tomorrow's final Day 1 flight of Day 1c looks set to bring the prize-pool nearer the £150,000 mark. British pro and former Irish Open winner James Mitchell ended the night on 512,000 chips to reign supreme, a full 100,000 clear of Mihai Pop in second overall. Both players are still behind Graham Hawkes (515,000) and overall chip leader Arron Fletcher (535,000) from Day 1a.
Mihai Pop is still on top, as he seems destined to make Day in rude health, chips-wise. The monotone mauler has been silent but deadly all evening long and just won a cooler of a hand to leapfrog James Mitchell at the top of the leaderboard.
While James Mitchell accrued his chip lead courtesy of a series of smaller, less-newsworthy pots, Mihai Pop had one big win to propel him up the leaderboard. Reaching the turn with 
, Pop called the all-in move of his opponent on a board showing 
and was behind to pocket fours, but an ace on the river gave him a massive 300,000-chip pot and he never looked back.
While many players made it through to Day 2 with great chip-stacks, such as Artan Dedusha (343,000), Lofti Boughanmi (229,500) and Parvez Ahmed (161,000), others were eliminated before the final 13th level. Late in the day, we lost Aspers regulars Anthony Hardy and Vinnie Anderson, the latter after surviving several levels at ten big blinds or lower.
Shane Rouine seemed destined to double his way back into contention, but couldn't get any value from 
and soon ran out of cards thereafter to bust late on.
Raheem Tadj-Saadat led the field halfway through the flight, after bullying his way to victory with 
against two players pre-flop. the opponent who called did so with 
and the one who folded ditched pocket tens....and would have made quads by the river.
"Why didn't you call?" was Tadj-Saadat's tongue-in-cheek question, but the last laugh was not to be his as he failed to make the overnight chip counts.
Players will have one final chance from 2.00pm GMT on Saturday as flight 1c takes place a little earlier than on Thursday and Friday. With the 888Live Poker Room full to bursting on Friday, we can only expect the same tomorrow. Whoever survives as chip leader in the room may well lead the way into Day 2.
End of Day 1b Chip Counts
Level 13
: 2,000/4,000, 400 ante
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| James Mitchell | 512,000 |
| Mihai Pop | 412,500 |
| Artan Dedusha | 343,000 |
| Shlomo Dubnov | 241,500 |
| Ion Albu | 235,000 |
| Lotfi Boughanmi | 229,500 |
| Micheal Harb | 218,000 |
| Marios Nicolau | 208,500 |
| Dan Moldova | 207,500 |
| Money Singh | 204,500 |
| Petrit Papushi | 203,000 |
| Bradley Joyce | 198,000 |
| Thomas Pederse | 196,000 |
| Paul Muehlthale | 179,000 |
| Sorie Kamara | 161,500 |
| Parvez Ahmed | 161,000 |
| Emilio De Angelis | 149,500 |
| Hristo Georgiev | 149,500 |
| Mohammed Ullah | 142,000 |
| Trevor Bulless | 137,500 |
| Thissa Desilva | 135,000 |
| Andrzej Dubaj | 132,500 |
| Leon Cambell | 130,000 |
| Nicola Montalbano | 127,000 |
| Sakis Nicolaou | 123,000 |
| Mark Davey | 117,000 |
| Rodney French | 116,500 |
| Jim Manlov | 109,000 |
| Yimin Yang | 109,000 |
| Ciprian Paunescu | 107,000 |
| Paul Hun | 104,000 |
| Paul Goul | 99,000 |
| Carlos Gonzalez | 98,000 |
| Aleksandrs Brics | 95,500 |
| David Corkett | 94,500 |
| Gladys Long | 91,000 |
| Chuc Gia Khuu | 70,000 |
| Warren Tolentino | 63,000 |
| Edward Barton | 57,000 |
| Joseph Chacholiades | 50,500 |
| Paul Skipper | 50,500 |
James Mitchell Takes the Lead
Level 13
: 2,000/4,000, 400 ante
James Mitchell is definitely out chip leader in the room right now, but not by much. He has the lead by around 34,000 from Mihai Pop, who has been moved from his original table. Mitchell was moved to his earlier, but looks in complete control of it. Pop will need to focus quickly if he wants to get to know his opponents in time to make more chips from them.
James Mitchell is one of poker's interesting characters, but also one of its quietest. His best result remains his 2010 Irish Open Main Event victory, which netted him $809,094 but he has cashed consistently and built a live tournament winnings score of $1.7m in the past eight years.
Softly spoken at the table, but one of the most popular players on the circuit and revered by his peers, Mitchell mainly plays in the UK and has dominated the London circuit at points in his career, yet never seemed to be in a period where he's on fire or in a slump.
Can either James Mitchell or Mihai Pop catch Day 1a Chip leader Arron Fletcher (535,000)? We'll find out tonight.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
400,000 | 100,000 |
|
|
366,000 | 45,000 |
Level: 13
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 400
Mihai Flying High
Level 12
: 1,600/3,200, 300 ante
Mihai Pop is still on top, as he seems destined to make Day in rude health, chips-wise. The monotone mauler has been silent but deadly all evening long and just won a cooler of a hand to leapfrog James Mitchell at the top of the leaderboard.
Reaching the turn with , Pop called the all-in move of his opponent on a board showing but was way behind his opponent, who held pocket fours. The river was an ace, however, and that is a big reason why he's sitting on over 320,000 right now.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
321,000 | 1,000 |
|
|
60,000 | 5,500 |
Campbell and Anderson Back from the Brink
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 300 ante
Leon Campbell was down to just 12,000 chip a couple of levels ago. He's now up to 150,000 chips and looking comfortable as a player could be in the same seat he's been in all day long.
"I've been on the attack a bit, but playing fairly sensibly with it. I've been picking my spots and managed to get back."
Campbell isn't the only one. Vinnie Anderson was down to the same short-stack. He's still involved for now, grinding away below the average.
"My friend got through sitting in this seat all day, so I'm going to do the same. Put my name on the list!" declares Anderson.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
150,000 | 150,000 |
|
|
59,000 | 38,000 |
Ahmed Has the Hooks
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 300 ante
Parvez Ahmed was all-in and covering his opponent pre-flop, and in a great position to chip up with 
facing off against 
.
The board of 
saw Ahmed coast home and he is looking in the mood to run deep.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
165,000 |
Level: 12
Blinds: 1,600/3,200
Ante: 300
Mitchell Marching, Hardy Hard Up
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 300 ante
James Mitchell loves a High Roller tournament and will surely be looking at competing in the £2,000 High Roller later in the week here at the 888Poker London Live Festival. But he's looking to reach Day 2 of the opening event with it's £100,00 and currently has 186,000 chips.
Someone with a lot less is Anthony 'The Booky' Hardy. The London cash game professional lost a chunk of his stack after "Making a move with pocket deuces" on a flop of K-J-T. The gentleman who Hardy was up against made what turned out to be a good call with 
. Hardy has a spin-up stack of ten big blinds.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
186,000 | 94,200 |
|
35,000 | -75,000 |