£880 Main Event Day 1b | 2016 888Live Poker Festival London

10-21-2016 23:15 UTC

Aleksandar Kacharov Tops Day 1b of 888Poker London Live Main Event

MrPaulSeaton

Level 9 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

After nine levels of play, and 195 entries on the day creating a total field of 288 entries overall, Day 1b of the Main Event saw the £200,000 guarantee smashed in style as champions and legends of the game took their seats. Aleksandar Kacharov ended the day highest in chips, with 299,700 to his name, a three-bet behind Day 1a's dominators, Albert Sapiano (301,500) and Andrea Volpi, the overall leader with 302,000.

Antonio Esfandiari, Sam Grafton, Tom Middleton, Michael Mizarachi, as well as Team 888Poker ambassadors Chris Moorman and Sofia Lovgren were all in the field. However, Leo McClean got off to the fastest start when he twice got paid for value with two-pair.

Michael Mizrachi got off to a good start once he sat down and late registered. He was up to 160,000 chips when most of the field had less than a third of that amount, before making the decision to leave for an early fitness break to swim at the Olympic Aquapark. He returned after the dinner break with just as much force as he left it and promptly doubled to lead the way by a country mile with 300,000. While Mizrachi would end slightly lower on 182,100, The Grinder was a huge driving force behind the day.

Kuljinder Sindhu won a huge hand against Terry Jordon at a dynamic table, which also featured Tom Middleton. Middleton and Jordon would both bust to Shah Raza Salma's rivered quad fives and that left a path for Sam Grafton to dominate. Grafton ended highest at that table, and only behind Kacharov with 266,200 to his name. Andrew Hulme, who tangled with Mizrachi late on, ended up ahead in that battle and also carried a huge stack through with 231,000.

Behind Hulme, two ladies dominated the story. Laura Glasgow has 210,800. Sinem Melin ended the day 5th on Day 1b with 199,300 after being down to just 4,00 chips halfway through the day. Three flopped sets in an orbit put her right back into contention.

We'll be back in action at 12 midday on Saturday as we play a further nine levels or to the final table of nine players, whichever comes first.

In the mean time check out this video of 888 Partner Henri Bühler.

10-21-2016 23:00 UTC

End of Day 1b Chip Counts

MrPaulSeaton

Level 9 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

With 59 players from Day 1b joining the 20 survivors from Day 1a, here are the full chip counts:

Player	Chips
Aleksandar Kacharov	299700
Sam Grafton	266200
Andrew Hulme	231100
Laura Glasgow	210800
Sinem Melin	199300
Kzetil Hove	198700
Demetris Tryantafillou	186500
Jose Lopez	183600
Michael Mizrachi	182100
Phillippe Souki	181500
Francisco Blanco	175100
Daniel James	161000
Leo Mc Clean	155400
Sofia Lovgren	149200
Shah Raza Salma	144300
Kuljinder Sidhu	135000
Ishaq IlaJ	132000
Graham Parzin	128200
James Parker	116000
Paul Martinez	114300
Tony Douggett	112800
Sam Meeuse	106400
Dominik Nitsche	103900
Philip James	91800
Mikhail Pokrepa	90200
Vitalii Seman	88000
Alejandro Torres	86000
Antonio Maiolo	85100
Cristian Mihu	82600
Lawrie Inman	74200
Hosein Akbari	72100
Martin Spearing	71100
Vernon Sellahewa	68500
George Hassabis	67800
Al-Farouk Obe	67300
Paul Vanwalsem	66000
Paul Skipper	62000
Kasper Blanbford	56500
Salah Khelfa	55600
Christopher Cornelius	55300
John Games	52800
Terje Sirnes	52300
Ali Chaaban	51200
Timothy Vukson	49700
Andrey Veselov	48300
Luke Hayward	46600
Tomas Kozlovas	46200
Cedres Seijas	44100
Jonathan Linton	43800
Henri Buehler	43600
Ewouj Snijder	37700
Russel Crouch	37200
Leon Milcs	32900
Oahn Bui	32500
Patrice Brandt	30700
Denise Velndnovern	30100
Alasdair Alexander	29600
Marian Dodos	29000
Praninskas Rytis	26800

10-21-2016 21:44 UTC

Raza Hits Queens to Bust Middleton and Jordon

MrPaulSeaton

Level 9 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Shah Raza was all-in with the biggest stack after Tom Middleton opened, and with Middleton and Terry Jordon calling for their tournament lives, at least one player was going to end the day cursing their luck.

Raza:
Jordon:
Middleton:

With Sam Grafton actively and vocally anti-railing his friend Middleton, the flop came giving Raza the best hand and Jordon hope.

"Yes! The queen. We love to see that." shouted Grafton amid the chaos of raucous laughter.

The turn was another queen, the and the river a . Shah did not have the most equity going into the play-out, but he ended up with the best hand.

Grafton cheered and amusingly asked Middleton to leave the table, while Jordon was out too, to considerably less amusement on his part than Middleton showed. But then, Tom Middleton finished second in the High Roller here last night for £18,400!

Shah Raza has 159,700 and is right back in with a chance of winning the 888Poker London Live Main event!

Player	Chips	Progress
Shah Raza	157,900 157,900	157,900
Tom Middleton	Busted

Terry Jordon	Busted

10-21-2016 21:27 UTC

The Needs of Nitsche

MrPaulSeaton

Level 9 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Team 888Poker Pro Dominik Nitsche had a fairly disastrous High Roller tournament, but is still in the hunt for the London Live Main Event title. He told us about his time so far in England's capital.

"The High Roller couldn't have gone much worse. I'm hoping to run better in the Main." he said, but also confirmed that he's been having fun pranking his new Team 888Poker team-mate Natalie Hof.

"It's been great. I used to live in London, but I didn't like it as much as where I live now in Edinburgh. I have friends there and I love being there."

Nitsche spends a huge chunk of his time on the road, of course, but has no plans to slow down this year.

"I'll be going to Manila and Macau for some big tournaments, and then Prague."

Nitsche isn't focused on titles like winning a WPT or EPT as opposed to just winning tournaments. He clearly loves the action and a shot at glory and he's still going for that in the Main Event with 75 players left. With only 20 into Day 2 from yesterday's thrilling Day 1a, everyone has Andrea Volpi's overnight lead of 302,000 as a sighter.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dominik Nitsche	65,100 65,100	65,100

10-21-2016 21:01 UTC

Middleton Mullered by Terry Jordon

MrPaulSeaton

Level 8 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Tom Middleton, High Roller runner-up, laughing earlier on Day 1b. Every so often, the joke is on every player in poker.

Tom Middleton lost the chip lead he had over his table in one hand, up against Terry Jordon on a table also featuring Sam Grafton.

"Terry had pocket aces and hit top set. That's fortunate!" Middleton told us as he volunteered reasons why he lost over 100,000 chips to the ebullient Jordon. "What are the chances of both of those things happening?"

The answer came from Grafton at the other end of the table.

"He did say 'I have the nuts' on the turn. That was the clue for me." Grafton teased to laughter from the table.

"And then he bet 30,000 on the river and said 'I can beat anything you have.'" Grafton continued, "Apart from that, though, he looked weak."

Middleton grins and blushes at the same time.

"I have trust issues." he jokes.

Jordon smiles too, needing to say nothing to be on the right side of the gag. He has 205,000 chips, almost three times Middleton's (or Grafton's) stack.

Player	Chips	Progress
Terry Jordon	205,400 131,100	131,100
Tom Middleton	78,000 -85,200	-85,200

10-21-2016 20:44 UTC

Three-Way All-In Creates New Leader

MrPaulSeaton

Level 8 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Alexander Kacharov has overtaken Michael Mizrachi as the biggest chip-stack in the room, with 280,600 after being all-in against two players on a flop of .

Kacharov held for a set of fives, but was up against and . The turn of gave his opponent the straight, but the river gave Kacharov Quad fives and left pocket aces in last place.

Kacharov shares the felt with Tom Middleton (78,000) and Sam Grafton (72,000) as well as Michael Harb (25,000) and Terry Jordon (201,000)

Player	Chips	Progress
Aleksandar Kacharov	280,600 280,600	280,600

10-21-2016 20:06 UTC

Mizrachi Several Lengths Clear

MrPaulSeaton

Level 8 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Michael Mizrachi has enjoyed the best day of any of our players so far during the 888Poker London Live Main Event Day 1b.

The American known as 'The Grinder' has ground his opponents into dust so far and has almost as many chips as the overnight chipleader from Day 1a Andrea Volpi did after all nine levels. So how has he done it?

"I registered a couple of levels late, then managed to get up to 150,000. Then I went for a swim."

Mizrachi is modest. He didn't pop for a quick spin around a jacuzzi or paddle in a puddle. He went to swim for 2 hours 30 minutes at the nearby Olympic Swimming Pool that is part of Stratford's Aquapark here in London. The fitness fanatic generally tries to complete 3,200 metres of a swimming session. He left the action nearly two levels before the dinner break. He just returned (late) and proceeded to bust another player to accumulate by far the chip lead in the room.

"Does the leader win a prize or something?" Mizrachi asked.

The answer being: no, apart from the grudging, envious respect of his attendant peers.

"I'll have 420,000 by the end of the night...or nothing."

Length by length, Mizrachi is pulling away from the pack.

Have a look at his Calling the Clock from Day 1a:

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Mizrachi	300,600 160,400	160,400

10-21-2016 19:44 UTC

The Moormans Leave

MrPaulSeaton

Level 7 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

Both Chris and Katie Moorman have been busted within minutes of each other.

Katie Moorman got into a sticky situation at the feature table when her suited K-T got into trouble into trouble on a king-high flop against a set of jacks. Katie had the flush draw too and was unable find any help to eliminate that player. She got her last chips into the middle after the dinner break with against and saw paint on the flop brush her out of the field.

Chris Moorman busted when he shoved all-in for 14 big blinds with and was re-shoved on by fellow Team 888Poker ambassador Sofia Lovgren with pocket eights. That all-in was then called by a player with pocket kings and they held to bust Moorman and leave Lovgren seriously short-stacked.

But don't worry, you can get more from Chris in his New Book!!!

Player	Chips	Progress
Chris Moorman	Busted

Katie Moorman	Busted

10-21-2016 16:58 UTC

Day 1b Sees Guarantee Broken

MrPaulSeaton

Level 4 : 200/400, 75 ante

With a whopping £200,000 Guaranteed Main Event, the 888Poker London Live Main Event was going to need a lot of entries!

Well, it got them. With 288 entries across the two Day 1's, the guarantee has been well and truly smashed, with £228,096 in the prize-pool.

Players have one more level before their one-hour dinner break.

10-21-2016 15:22 UTC

Mizrachi Chipping Up

MrPaulSeaton

Level 4 : 200/400, 75 ante

Michael Mizrachi has started to build an impressive stack at his Day 1b Main Event table here at the 888poker London Live Festival.

The elite No Hold'em player who calls Ohio homemade it 1,600 from the small blind and was called by the player on the button. The flop of saw Mizrachi continue for 2,000.

"That's not a bad flop for me." he said, but he was ignored by the big blind player, who immediately raised all-in for 11,125.

"I'm drawing." said Mizrachi's opponent after Mizrachi called.

"You don't want to be drawing." confirmed Mizrachi as he turned over for the nut flush draw. He was up against .

The slightly improbable landed on the turn, meaning Mizrachi had his nut flush, and the river was meaningless. 'The Grinder' has well over the chip average.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Mizrachi	46,500 46,500	46,500