2016 888Live Poker Festival London

£880 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2016 888Live Poker Festival London

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a10
Prize
£45,300
Event Info
Buy-in
£880
Prize Pool
£228,096
Entries
288
Level Info
Level
25
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000

Level: 8

Blinds: 600/1,200

Ante: 200

Hof Trebles as Bounty remains

Level 6 : 400/800, 100 ante

Natalie's Hof's 888Poker Bounty prize of the buy-in amount back if they knock out the sponsored pro on their first buy-in is tempting players into the fray and it has had the desired effect for Hof's stack.

She shoved pre-flop for 22,100 with {A-Diamonds}{8-Diamonds} and was called by Michael Benson with {9-Diamonds}{9-Spades} and Artan Dedusha with {10-Diamonds}{10-Spades}.

The board of {2-Clubs}{4-Diamonds}{3-Hearts}{A-Spades}{8-Clubs} saw Hof treble and Benson depart, Dedusha still has a very playable stack.

Player Chips Progress
Natalie Hof de
Natalie Hof
68,600
16,600
16,600
Artan Dedusha gb
Artan Dedusha
64,100
-6,900
-6,900
Michael Benson
Michael Benson
Busted

Kevin Allen Reaching High

Level 8 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

It's a case of a tournament high chip-wise for Kevin Allen as the popular London pro was one of two callers to 2,600 pre-flop on the button.

The flop of {K-Diamonds}{6-Spades}{K-Hearts} saw all three men check, but on the turn {10-Hearts} Allen bet 3,500 and only one caller followed him. The river {6-Clubs} saw Allen make it 9,000 and that elicited a fold.

Albert Sapiano has the chip lead in the Main Event with 300,500 chips.

Player Chips Progress
Albert Sapiano gb
Albert Sapiano
300,500
Kevin Allen gb
Kevin Allen
213,400

Jacobsen Busted Again in the Best Company

Level 8 : 600/1,200, 200 ante
Martin Jacobsen and Kara Scott share time at the felt before Jacobsen again busts in Scott's company.
Martin Jacobsen and Kara Scott share time at the felt before Jacobsen again busts in Scott's company.

Martin Jacobsen's career highlight will always be intrinsically shared with a poker player he never had to face when he won the WSOP Main Event. We're talking about legendary presenter and player Kara Scott, who was hosting the World Series spectacular that fateful night when the Swede turned his dreams into reality.

Since then, Kara Scott told us yesterday, the pair have actually met a few times at tournaments. Scott, whose best result remains a runner-up finish at the Irish Open for €312,600, has built a great stack of around 144,000 so far on Day 1a, well above average and looking good for a Day 2 adventure unless something terrible happens in the final level after the break.

Jacobsen, meanwhile busted in Scott's company in the £2,000 High Roller last night and has done the same here, all-in with {K-Hearts}{J-Diamonds} , called by Kevin Allen's {A-Clubs}{10-Clubs} and busted by the river.

When they meet again, Jacobsen might wait for a table move to go all-in!

Players on Final Break

Level 8 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

The remaining 33 players wil enjoy 15 minutes respite from the focus of reaching for Day 2 and return for one more level at 10.15pm local time. So too will we!

Level: 9

Blinds: 800/1,600

Ante: 200

Kara Scott Busts Another

Level 9 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Kara Scott called the all-in of Angelos Nastos, who had moved all-in pre-flop for his last 50,000 chips.

Angelos Nastos: {8-Clubs}{8-Hearts}
Kara Scott: {Q-Clubs}{Q-Spades}

The board of {5-Clubs}{10-Clubs}{3-Clubs}{7-Clubs}{7-Hearts} had four-flushed Nastos dead by the turn, and Scott moves up the leaderboard again, now threatening the very highest chip stacks.

Player Chips Progress
Kara Scott ca
Kara Scott
221,500

From Two Antes to Twenty Big Blinds - Charles Akadiri

Level 9 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Charles Akadiri must feel like he is bulletproof right now after being all-in and at risk three times in a row and surviving each time.

"You've got twenty minute to spin that up!" said Kevin Allen as Akadiri looked down at two antes after a crushing defeat when losing with a flush to a full house in a previous hand.

He got those into the middle with {7-Clubs}{6-Clubs} and as it would have was suddenly front and centre in a three-way all-in against pocket nines and pocket eights. The board of {6-Hearts}{7-Spades}{Q-Spades}{K-Diamonds}{3-Hearts} more than trebled Akadiri up to 2,600.

That was still less than two big blinds, so in it went in the next hand, this time due to a raise from Kevin Allen and isolation from a player with {A-Clubs}{10-Clubs}, looking to more than treble-up again with {A-Diamonds}{Q-Hearts}.
The board of {5-Diamonds}{10-Hearts}{Q-Diamonds}{Q-Spades}{J-Spades} paid off Akadiri again. Seven big blinds and a dream.

The third hand in a row saw Akadiri move all-in, get raised by one player then re-raised all-in by another player, and with a fold from the middle position original raiser, Akadiri was heads-up to treble-up again. This time, he was in poor shape, with {5-Hearts}{4-Hearts} well behind his opponent's {5-Spades}{5-Clubs}.

The flop of {6-Clubs}{8-Spades}{9-Hearts} saw Akadiri remain behind.

"Seven for a chop?" he asked the poker Gods.

The dealer found a {K-Hearts} instead.

"Heart for the win?" Akadiri requested, upgrading his wish.

The river {6-Hearts} gave Akadiri the unlikeliest of three consecutive hands in which he more than trebled up, and he now has 21 big blinds, more than enough to pass the next hand. And probably exhale.

Player Chips Progress
Charles Akadiri gb
Charles Akadiri
35,600
-75,500
-75,500

Three More Hands

Level 9 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

With the tournament clock paused, there will be three more hands. Big stacks in the room include Albert Sapiano, who has the only stack we can tell by eye is over 300,000 chips.

Other players who will not fear the first few levels of Day 2 include Kara Scott, Kevin Allen and Andrea Volpi, although as an average, the feature table for the last two levels including Natalie Hof, Arron Fletcher and Chris Da-Silva, although each of those players look to have plenty to come back with.

As soon as we have the details, so will you.

End of Main Event Day 1a Chip Counts

Level 9 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
PlayerChip Count
Andrea Volpi302,000
Albert Sapiano301,500
Kevin Allen290,000
Kara Scott271,900
Catherine Hanna204,100
Arron Fletcher173,600
Gerald Ringe151,900
Christopher Brammer129,300
Charles Chattha127,600
Adrien Alain123,900
Chris Da-Silva120,000
Andy Achillea114,100
Sorie Kamara108,800
Ka Him Li85,900
Andrew Pursue74,700
Enzo Del Piero74,000
Jonathan Roux54,800
Natalie Hof49,500
Ciprian Paunescu27,400
Santiago Lopez23,000