£1,100 Main Event
Day 1bc Started
2018 888poker LIVE Festival London
£1,100 Main Event
Day: 1bc
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2018 888poker LIVE Festival London
Buy-in
£1,100
Prize Pool
£649,440
Entries
656
Level
32
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
250,000
Two Chances to Secure a Seat for Day 2 of the 888poker LIVE London £1,100 Main Event
The flagship event of the 2018 888poker LIVE Festival London is off to a decent start thanks to 97 entries on the first starting day and two further chances await for players to secure their seat for Day 2 and have a shot at the six-figure prize pool at the Aspers Casino in the Westfield Stratford City. The £1,100 Main Event comes with a guaranteed prize pool of £400,000 and that number is likely to be surpassed by quite some margin.
Defending champion of this event is UK's Tom Hall, who came close to winning another 888poker LIVE trophy last night and chopped heads-up with Matas Cimbolas in the £2,200 High Roller at 2.30 a.m. local time. Whether or not Hall will already take a shot at defending his title today or joins the action on the last two starting days on Saturday, December 1st, 2018, remains to be seen.
Leading the 23 survivors thus far is 2018 WSOP Main Event 9th place finisher Antoine Labat with 300,500. All those that want to take over chip lead will need to turn their starting stack of 30,000 into more than ten times of that. There are 12 levels of 40 minutes each scheduled for today's flights with a break every three levels.
888poker LIVE London £1,100 Main Event at a Glance
| Day | Date | Time | Entries | Survivors | Further Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | November 29th 2018 | 18:00 | 97 | 23 | Play 12 levels of 40 minutes each, re-entry available |
| 1b | November 30th 2018 | 13:00 | tba | tba | Play 12 levels of 40 minutes each, re-entry available |
| 1c | November 30th 2018 | 18:00 | tba | tba | Play 12 levels of 40 minutes each, re-entry available |
| 1d | December 1st 2018 | 13:00 | tba | tba | Play 12 levels of 40 minutes each, re-entry available |
| 1e | December 1st 2018 | 19:00 | tba | tba | Play 12 levels of 20 minutes each, re-entry available |
| 2 | December 2nd 2018 | 14:00 | tba | tba | Registration closes at start; Level duration 60 minutes |
| 3 | December 2nd 2018 | 14:00 | tba | tba | Play down to a champion; live stream with hole cards |
Day 1b kicks off at 1 p.m. local time and Day 1c gets underway as of 6 p.m. local time, wrapping up close to 3 a.m. the next morning. Re-entries are available throughout each Day 1 and the registration closes at the start of Day 2. The event also features two recent innovations that have become quite popular at poker tournaments all over the world: A 30-second Action Clock and the big blind ante. All players have 30 seconds to act when it is their turn and will receive four 30-second time banks that automatically go into play once the time of consideration is up.
Main Event Day 1b and 1c Blind Level Structure
| Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Big Blind Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 100 | 100 | 0 |
| 2 | 40 | 100 | 200 | 0 |
| 3 | 40 | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| 4 | 40 | 200 | 300 | 300 |
| 5 | 40 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 6 | 40 | 300 | 500 | 500 |
| 7 | 40 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 8 | 40 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 9 | 40 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 10 | 40 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 11 | 40 | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| 12 | 40 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
The winner of the £1,100 Main Event Main Event here in London can not only look forward to the trophy and the bragging rights that come along with it, but a 2019 WSOP Main Event package is also up for grabs on top of it. As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to cover all the action. Today's updates will focus on Day 1b and the chip counts of 1c will be published the next morning.
Level: 1
Blinds: 100/100
Ante: 0
First "Feature" Table in Sight
Level 1
: 100/100, 0 ante
There are some 30 players seated and one in particular stands out, as it features three well-known names on the UK poker scene. First up it is Kevin Allen, who happens to sit right next to John Hesp and Albert Sapiano is also in action. Especially Sapiano is known to get involved in the vast majority of pots and big things can be expected.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
The Opening Event Champion is Here
Level 1
: 100/100, 0 ante
Right from the start, Arvydas Budvytis was in his seat over on table two and and Lithuanian claimed the first trophy of the festival after emerging on top of a 887-entry strong field in the £220 Opening Event to take home £17,000 for his efforts.
Another notable player that showed up soon after the cards were in the air is Ronit Chamani, who can be found one table over.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Sapiano Loses One; Niskanen Enters
Level 1
: 100/100, 0 ante
As expected, Albert Sapiano has been involved in most of the early pots. One of them saw him invest 1,000 on the 
flop and he then checked the 
turn. His opponent then made it 2,000 to go and Sapiano folded.
Tuomo Niskanen has entered half-way through the first level of the day. The Finn, usually found at the online poker tables, has already had a decent score in the current year and re-entered after having busted yesterday's first flight.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
|
28,000 | -2,000 |
Schuman Kicks Off the Fireworks
Level 1
: 100/100, 0 ante
On a four-way flop of 
, Jonathan Schuman bet 500 from middle position and was called by Glen Garaway in the under-the-gun position only. Garaway check-called a bet of 1,000 on the 
turn and check-raised the 
river from 2,000 to 6,000.
Schuman let his Action Clock run down to one second and then reraised to 23,000, which won the pot without showdown.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
38,000 | |
|
|
23,000 | -7,000 |
Radu Takes a Hit
Level 1
: 100/100, 0 ante
A bigger pot was brewing over on table three and the hand included Toni Ojala and Neculai Radu. The board was already completed and showed 
. Both players checked with 7,000 in the middle and Ojala flashed 
for fives and fives. Radu shook his head and mucked.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
34,000 | 34,000 |
|
|
25,000 | -5,000 |
Chamani Runs Queens Into Kings
Level 1
: 100/100, 0 ante
A squeeze to 2,700 was in front of Ronit Chamani in the small blind and Krzysztof Pregowski in the cutoff reraised to 7,600. Chamani moved all in for around 27,000 and Pregowski gave it some thought before making the call.
Ronit Chamani: 
Krzysztof Pregowski: 
The board came 
and Chamani became the first casualty of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
57,000 | 57,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0