Kaveh Kiavand needed help when he was all-in on the flop with slightly more chips than his opponent. 45,000 chips in the middle at blinds of 300/600/100 and Kiavand held against on a flop of .
The turn of gave Kiavand instant pay-off, and his opponent was already a few metres away from the table after the river fell .
We've had 251 entries so far today (including re-entries) on Day 1b, with 217 players still in seats. An incredible turn-out, and along with the roaring cash game trade that Aspers is famous for on a Friday night, there are simply no available seats in the vast 888Live Poker Room! Alternate numbers are being taken...
Players are on a break for the next 20 minutes, and with 200 of them in the room, the bar could be busy! We'll be back as soon as the players are in their seats for Level 5.
Terry Jordon often starts tournaments in top gear, flying into pots and playing a high variance game in order to chip up early or rebuy should problems occur. It's the former that is happening so far here on Day 1b, and he just won another pot to reach over 50,000 chips.
Raising to 1,200 from early position, Jordon got three callers to a flop of . He continued the betting, leading for 2,600 and this time, only one caller came along for the ride in the big blind. The turn of led to to two checks, as did the river of , whereupon Jordon turned over . That was good enough, and as his opponent mucked his cards, Jordon quipped: "Easy money. Easy chips, there."
While Jordon is at the upper end of the chip counts, he's not at Oscar Kirby's level. the young man who dropped below starting stack early has almost quadrupled his stack in Level 4, and approaching the break is leading the way on 86,000 chips.
Vinnie Anderson's regular casino is Aspers here in Stratford, and having final tabled more tournaments here than most, feels at home in the 888Live Poker Room here at the London Live Festival.
Anderson bet 1200 at blinds of 150/300 from under the gun, and was surprised to get four callers to a flop of . After Daniele Repici in the big blind checked to Anderson, he continued for 3,200. Everyone folded, but as Anderson turned to him and said "You're the last one", Repici raised - all-in for over 22,000!
Anderson folded, claiming a pair, but Repici won't care. The Italian player stacks up 32,000. Although that's still some way behind Anderson's double-starting-stack 50,200, Repici is well above average.
As you can see from the room pictured left (courtesy of 888Poker's William Powell) , it's very busy here on Day 1b. We have over 200 players in the room and two more levels of late registration and re-entry.
We joined an interesting pot between Daiva Baruskaite and Paul Romain, who are sat next to each other, with the talented Lithuanian player Baruskaite to the left of Romain, another London regular on the tournament circuit.
Both players have strong live records which only show signs of improving, with Baruskaite any cash at all in this tournament from going into the six-figure mark for live tournament winnings. Romain is no slouch either, with $225,000 to his name at the live felt.
The board already showed and we joined the action to see Baruskaite call Romain's bet of around 1,400 on the the turn. The river of prompted a check from Romain, however, and Baruskaite bet 3,200. Romain looked down at his stack of 14,400 chips and eventually elected to fold.
While Romain is short-stacked, Baruskaite has around double his stack and is above the average of 26,026 in the room, with 180 players in seats.
Grant ferguson was the original aggressor and proved the age-old adage in poker that pot control is king. Ferguson only called from under the gun, but when the big blind player saw three other limp too and raised to 1800, Ferguson's check-raise to 5,600 took over the betting lead. A player in middle position and the big blind raiser both called to see a flop of .
Ferguson led the flop for 4,000, but this time only got a call from middle position. On the turn of , Ferguson's 6,000 bet - roughly half of his stack - was enough to get a fold. He piles up 39,000, a very healthy growth of his starting stack of 25,000.
Warren Tolentino bet 600 from under the gun, and Oscar Kirby called in the next seat, along with the players in the cut-off and button positions.
The flop of saw Tolentino continue for 1,100, but this time only Kirby called. The turn of saw Tolentino lead again, this time for 2,000, again just called by Kirby. the river of saw Tolentino ping in his final 2,400 chips and Kirby called, turning over . But Tolentino had and his turned trips doubled his shorter stack up to above average at 27,000. Kirby was healthy chip-wise before that hand so still has over 22,000.
against 
on a flop of 
. 
gave Kiavand instant pay-off, and his opponent was already a few metres away from the table after the river fell 
led to to two checks, as did the river of 
, whereupon Jordon turned over 
. That was good enough, and as his opponent mucked his cards, Jordon quipped: "Easy money. Easy chips, there."
.
, Ferguson's 6,000 bet - roughly half of his stack - was enough to get a fold. He piles up 39,000, a very healthy growth of his starting stack of 25,000.
saw Tolentino continue for 1,100, but this time only Kirby called. The turn of 
saw Tolentino ping in his final 2,400 chips and Kirby called, turning over 
. But Tolentino had 
and his turned trips doubled his shorter stack up to above average at 27,000. Kirby was healthy chip-wise before that hand so still has over 22,000.