£2,200 High Roller
Day 1 Completed
2018 888poker LIVE Festival London
£2,200 High Roller
Day: 1
£2,200 High Roller Smashes Guarantee; Song Leads 32 Survivors After Day 1
Level 9
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The second event of the 2018 888poker LIVE Festival London follows into the footsteps of the €220 Opening Event and easily surpassed the guaranteed prize pool of £50,000, as Day 1 of the £2,200 High Roller attracted a total of 61 entries. Of those, only 32 players bagged up chips and will return for Day 2 on Thursday, November 29th, 2018, to the Aspers Casino in the Westfield Stratford City.
Leading the field after nine levels of 30 minutes each is UK's Yiqian Song with 433,500, followed by Ajay Kejriwal (407,500) and Gerald Ringe (396,500). Among those to bag and tag for the night were also such notables as , Matas Cimbolas (226,000), 888poker ambassador Martin Jacobson (203,000), 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event champ Jack Sinclair (157,500), Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (148,000), Thomas Muehloecker (114,500), High Roller regular Orpen Kisacikoglu (89,000) and 888poker ambassador Chris Moorman (31,000).
Along with all other events of the festival in London, the £2,200 featured a 30-second shot clock and the tournament also included the very popular big blind ante format. Almost half of the field was eliminated throughout Day 1 including the 2018 WSOP Main Event champion John Cynn and runner-up Tony Miles, Antoine Labat, Enzo Del Piero and the 888poker ambassadors Parker Talbot, Ana Marquez, and Vivian Saliba.
Within just a few minutes into the first level, Terry Jordon had missclicked and became the first casualty of the day, however, the Brit re-entered and advanced with a stack of 116,000. In the second level of the day, Martin Donoghue had sent Harry Lodge and Labat to the rail, Lodge bought back in but didn't find a bag at the end of level nine either.
The 2018 WSOP Main Event final table revival kicked off in the second level when John Cynn sat down at the same table as Tony Miles, and Antoine Labat was eliminated only a few meters away one table over. Miles claimed the stack of Cynn, but also ran out of chips before bagging and tagging.
Team 888poker was represented by Ana Marquez, Vivian Saliba, Parker Talbot, Chris Moorman and 2014 WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson. Moorman was two-outed by Terry Jordon in the final level of the night when he failed to hold up with pocket tens versus pocket treys. Talbot, Saliba and Marquez also fell, the latter saw her ace-king end up second-best to the ace-queen of Francis Foord-Brown.
The late registration for the event remains open until the start of Day 2 at 5 p.m. local time and Dominik Nitsche is among those expected to enter the £2,200 High Roller before the cards go back in the air. All new entries will receive 100,000 in chips, 20 big blinds for the restart at blinds of 2,500/5,000 with a big blind ante of 5,000. The tournament is scheduled to play down to a champion and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action.
£2,200 High Roller Day 2 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Vadim Cojocaru | United Kingdom | 334,500 | 67 |
| 1 | 2 | Christopher Kyriacou | United Kingdom | 220,500 | 44 |
| 1 | 3 | Ryan Mandara | United Kingdom | 101,500 | 20 |
| 1 | 4 | Jonathan Clark | United Kingdom | 178,500 | 36 |
| 1 | 5 | Ian Hunter | United Kingdom | 195,500 | 39 |
| 1 | 6 | Matas Cimbolas | Lithuania | 226,000 | 45 |
| 2 | 1 | Chris Da-Silva | United Kingdom | 274,000 | 55 |
| 2 | 2 | Zhen Shao | China | 77,000 | 15 |
| 2 | 3 | Paul Hizer | United Kingdom | 101,000 | 20 |
| 2 | 4 | Chris Moorman | United Kingdom | 31,000 | 6 |
| 2 | 5 | Michael Mizrachi | United States | 148,000 | 30 |
| 2 | 6 | Francis Foord-Brown | United Kingdom | 97,000 | 19 |
| 3 | 1 | Duco Ten Haven | Netherlands | 53,000 | 11 |
| 3 | 2 | Tom Hall | United Kingdom | 56,000 | 11 |
| 3 | 3 | Terry Jordon | United Kingdom | 116,000 | 23 |
| 3 | 4 | Martin Jacobson | Sweden | 203,000 | 41 |
| 3 | 5 | Pascal Pflock | Germany | 200,500 | 40 |
| 4 | 1 | Jeremy Saderne | France | 162,500 | 33 |
| 4 | 2 | Ajay Kejriwal | United Kingdom | 407,500 | 82 |
| 4 | 3 | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | 114,500 | 23 |
| 4 | 4 | Vinod Fernandez | United Kingdom | 130,000 | 26 |
| 4 | 5 | Cheng Rui Wong | Singapore | 226,500 | 45 |
| 5 | 1 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | 89,000 | 18 |
| 5 | 2 | Morten Christensen | Denmark | 200,500 | 40 |
| 5 | 3 | Martin Donoghue | United Kingdom | 365,000 | 73 |
| 5 | 4 | Robert Heidorn | Germany | 113,000 | 23 |
| 5 | 5 | Gerald Ringe | United Kingdom | 396,500 | 79 |
| 6 | 1 | Yiqian Song | United Kingdom | 433,500 | 87 |
| 6 | 2 | Maurizio Melara | Italy | 242,000 | 48 |
| 6 | 3 | Carlos Sanchez Diaz | Spain | 216,500 | 43 |
| 6 | 4 | Florence Allera | France | 177,500 | 36 |
| 6 | 5 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | 157,500 | 32 |
Photos courtesy of Tomas Stacha/888poker
End-Of-Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 9
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
433,500 | 103,500 |
|
407,500 | 407,500 |
|
396,500 | 111,500 |
|
365,000 | |
|
334,500 | 104,500 |
|
274,000 | 94,000 |
|
242,000 | 92,000 |
|
242,000 | 112,000 |
|
226,500 | -23,500 |
|
226,000 | 46,000 |
|
220,500 | 20,500 |
|
216,500 | -3,500 |
|
203,000 | 83,000 |
|
200,500 | 95,500 |
|
200,500 | 100,500 |
|
195,500 | 195,500 |
|
178,500 | 8,500 |
|
177,500 | -2,500 |
|
162,500 | 122,500 |
|
157,500 | -22,500 |
|
|
130,000 | 130,000 |
|
116,000 | |
|
114,500 | 14,500 |
|
113,000 | 28,000 |
|
101,500 | 16,500 |
Wong Ecapes From Elimination
Level 9
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The three-way flop showed 
and Cheng Rui Wong checked to Martin Donoghue, who bet 12,000. Terry Jordon called and Wong then check-raised all in for 68,000. Donoghue reluctantly called, but got out of the way when Jordon moved all in over the top.
Cheng Rui Wong: 
Terry Jordon: 
"I had jack ten of hearts," Donoghue said in table chat and saw the board complete with the 
turn and 
river. Wong essentially more than tripled up, while Jordon continued his roller coaster ride throughout the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
365,000 | 155,000 |
|
|
250,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
116,000 | -144,000 |
Three More Hands
Level 9
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The clocks have been stopped with five minutes remaining and another three hands will be played. Just prior to that, Christopher Yong has been eliminated.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Double Knockout for Clark
Level 9
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Manuel Bardon O'Shea ended up all in and at risk for 45,000 and Benny Glaser also had his chips in, having the Spaniard barely covered. Last but not least, Jonathan Clark was also part of the showdown and had two opponents at risk.
Manuel Bardon O'Shea: 
Benny Glaser: 
Jonathan Clark: 
The board came 
and ace-queen high was good enough to win the pot for Clark.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
170,000 | 70,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Moorman Gets Two-Outed
Level 9
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Harry Lodge ended up all in and at risk with a suited ace-king and Florence Allera called with the 
. The board came 
and Lodge was eliminated once more.
At the same time, Terry Jordon ended up all in for 138,500 with 
and needed a lof of help, as Chris Moorman had him dominated with 
. On a 
board, Jordon got there on the river to leave Moorman with crumbs.
Moorman quadrupled in the next hand after he flopped a straight with 
, but may need another double or triple up to get back into contention.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
260,000 | -15,000 |
|
|
180,000 | -30,000 |
|
|
180,000 | 5,000 |
|
25,000 | -140,000 |
|
Busted |
2018 WSOP Main Event Final Table Reunion Tour
Level 9
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Ilyukhin Eliminated by Ten Haven
Level 9
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
A very short-stacked Victor Ilyukhin was all in with the 
and Duco Ten Haven had a flip with the 
. Ilyukhin had two overcards and also turned a flushdraw, but ultimately the board of 
provided no help for the Russian.
New chipleader on the same table is Yiqian Song, who has boosted his stack significantly as of lately.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
330,000 | 230,000 |
|
65,000 | -35,000 |
|
Busted |
Last Level of the Night
Level 9
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
According to the screens, there are just 39 players out of 61 entries remaining and they have entered the final level of the night. Unfortunately, 888poker ambassador Vivian Saliba is not among them as she has been eliminated and headed over to rail Pascal Pflock for now.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |