2018 888poker LIVE Festival London

£1,100 Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info

2018 888poker LIVE Festival London

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k4
Prize
£121,000
Event Info
Buy-in
£1,100
Prize Pool
£649,440
Entries
656
Level Info
Level
32
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
250,000

£1,100 Main Event

Day 2 Completed

Antoine Labat Leads the Last 21 After Day 2; Fernando Pons in Contention

Level 22 : 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
Antoine Labat
Antoine Labat

Day 2 of the 2018 888poker LIVE Festival London £1,100 Main Event is in the books and the field of 656 entries has been whittled down to the final 21 hopefuls after 10 levels of one hour each at the Aspers Casino at Westfield Stratford City. The lion's share of the £649,440 prize pool is still up for grabs and all remaining finalists already have £6,100 locked up for their efforts.

Leading the field by quite some margin is Antoine Labat with 2,825,000, well ahead of Christos Xanthopoulos (1,680,000) and Hak-Hyun Lee (1,555,000). Another four players bagged up more than a million in chips including James Williams (1,365,000) and 888poker.es ambassador Fernando Pons (1,050,000). Both Labat and Pons have another seven-figure story in common, as they finished in 9th place at the WSOP Main Event for $1,000,000 in 2018 and 2016 respectively.

Other notables still in contention include Lam Van Trinh (910,000), Philippe Souki (890,000), Antonios Onoufriou (795,000), Christopher Kyriacou (500,000) and Kelly Saxby (365,000). 888poker ambassador Ana Marquez was eliminated in one of the final hands of the night by Labat, 2018 WSOP Main Event champion John Cynn departed in 36th place.

888poker LIVE London £1,100 Main Event Schedule

DayDateTimeEntriesSurvivorsFurther Information
1aNovember 29th 201818:009723Play 12 levels of 40 minutes each, re-entry available
1bNovember 30th 201813:0012839Play 12 levels of 40 minutes each, re-entry available
1cNovember 30th 201818:0014041Play 12 levels of 40 minutes each, re-entry available
1dDecember 1st 201813:0020864Play 12 levels of 40 minutes each, re-entry available
1eDecember 1st 201819:006627Play 12 levels of 20 minutes each, re-entry available
2December 2nd 201814:00639194Registration closes at start; 10 levels of 60 minutes each scheduled
3December 2nd 201814:0065621Play down to a champion; live stream with hole cards

Action of the Day

The registration for the Main Event remained open until the first card was dealt and another 17 players entered with 12 big blinds and the hope of early run good. Among them were also Charlie Carrel, who had not stepped into a casino for half a year, as well as David Peters and Terry Jordon. There was no happy end for Carrel, but Jordon and Peters both cashed.

Notables that had to leave empty-handed much earlier than they'd hoped for included Fraser MacIntyre, Conor Beresford, Oliver Price, defending champion Tom Hall, Tamer Kamel, Kalidou Sow, Kevin Allen, Chris Da-Silva and Ludovic Geilich. For Da-Silva, there would be a happy end in the early morning hours as he topped a field of 145 entries in the £150 The Whale Side Event. The guaranteed prize pool was more than doubled and the top 18 spots shared £19,575 with Da-Silva taking home the trophy and £5,070 for his efforts.

For team 888poker, the day started disastrously as Vivian Saliba and Sofia Lovgren both exited in the first level of the day. Saliba lost a flip with pocket queens against ace-king and Lovgren ran with ace-jack suited into pocket aces. Fellow ambassadors Chris Moorman, Dominik Nitsche and Parker Talbot also busted well before the money spots.

Florence Allera
Florence Allera bubbled the 2018 888poker LIVE Festival London £1,100 Main Event

Ultimately, it was Florence Allera that wound up as the bubble. There were two all in and call on separate tables and Mark Yi doubled with aces against the queens of Orpen Kisacikoglu. Allera had flopped a set of fours but Fuad Serhan turned a set of queens, the remaining chips only went in after a blank river.

From there on out, the eliminations came at a quick pace and included such notables as Michael Mizrachi (61st place, £2,300), Benny Glaser (56th place, £2,300), Romain Lewis (50th place, £2,600), Eoghan O'Dea (46th place, £2,600) and David Peters (41st place, £3,000). Peters, who came fresh off a trip from the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam, had his return flights to the United States booked for Tuesday via London and heard about the event, late registered and that decision paid off. Peters' run came to an end in a three-way all in with king-queen over on the feature table. Ramon Miquel Munoz won the side pot with ace-queen and online qualifier Martyn Duell flopped quads with pocket sixes to triple up.

In the final break of the night, 36 players remained and six of them bowed out in quick succession. Among them was also John Cynn, who was left short after paying off the two pair of Christos Xanthopoulos, and Cynn then got it in with seven-trey out of the big blind only for Iaron Lightbourne to deal the final blow holding ace-four.

John Cynn
John Cynn

Among the big names left, Thomas Muehloecker ran up his stack in the early stages of the day, but fell short of the final three tables. By then, Antoine Labat had seized control over the outer tables and was seemingly involved in every bigger pot. Despite doubling several short stacks, Labat stayed near the top of the leaderboard and two late eliminations cemented the status of chip leader for the Frenchman.

In a key hand, Labat turned a wheel with ace-trey suited and check-shoved into Iaron Lightbourne, who called all in with queens only to find himself drawing dead on a seven-high turn. Last but not least, Labat also claimed the stack of 888poker ambassador Ana Marquez when his ace-queen suited flopped best against the ace-king suited of Marquez.

Ana Marquez
No day 3 for 888poker ambassador Ana Marquez

All remaining 21 players will return on Monday, December 3rd, 2018, to the poker tables at the Aspers Casino as of 2 p.m. local time to play down to a champion. The blinds recommence at 15,000/25,000 with a big blind ante of 25,000 and the live stream of the feature table kicks off after the first break at approximately 4.15 p.m. local time. The PokerNews live reporting team will be right there until a champion is crowned here in London.

Main Event Day 3 Seat Assignments

TableSeatPlayerCountryChip CountBig Blinds
11Mark YiSingapore875,00035
12Fernando PonsSpain1,050,00042
13Hak-Hyun LeeSweden1,555,00062
14Martyn DuellUnited Kingdom525,00021
15Kelly SaxbyUnited States365,00015
16Christos XanthopoulosGreece1,680,00067
17Derek LawlessUnited Kingdom1,410,00056
      
21Daniel HopkinsUnited Kingdom865,00035
22Antoine LabatFrance2,825,000113
23Antonios OnoufriouCyprus795,00032
24Philippe SoukiUnited Kingdom890,00036
25Christopher KyriacouUnited Kingdom575,00023
26Dinh LeUnited Kingdom315,00013
27[Removed:208]Serbia410,00016
      
31James WilliamsUnited Kingdom1,365,00055
32Helmut HauserGermany470,00019
33Lam Van TrinhUnited Kingdom910,00036
34Craig SwedenUnited Kingdom540,00022
35Arkadi KilmanRussia465,00019
36Fuad SerhanJordan415,00017
37Aleem KanjiUnited Kingdom1,290,00052

Tags: Ana MarquezAntoine LabatAntonios OnoufriouBenny GlaserCharlie CarrelChris Da SilvaChris MoormanChristopher KyriacouChristos XanthopoulosDavid PetersDominik NitscheEoghan O'DeaFernando PonsFlorence AlleraFraser MacIntyreIaron LightbourneJohn CynnKalidou SowKelly SaxbyMartyn DuellMichael MizrachiParker TalbotPhilippe SoukiRamon Miquel MunozRomain LewisSofia LovgrenTamer KamelTerry JordonThomas MuehloeckerTom HallVivian Saliba

End-Of-Day Chip Counts (full)

Level 22 : 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
Player Chips Progress
Antoine Labat fr
Antoine Labat
Day 2 Chip Leader
2,825,000 25,000
Christos Xanthopoulos gr
Christos Xanthopoulos
1,680,000 -220,000
Hak-Hyun Lee se
Hak-Hyun Lee
1,555,000 55,000
Derek Lawless gb
Derek Lawless
1,410,000 260,000
James Williams gb
James Williams
1,365,000 -135,000
Aleem Kanji gb
Aleem Kanji
1,290,000 15,000
Fernando Pons es
Fernando Pons
1,050,000 -50,000
Lam Van Trinh gb
Lam Van Trinh
910,000 460,000
Philippe Souki gb
Philippe Souki
890,000 -60,000
Mark Yi sg
Mark Yi
875,000 133,000
Daniel Hopkins gb
Daniel Hopkins
865,000 65,000
Antonios Onoufriou cy
Antonios Onoufriou
Day 1D Chip Leader
795,000 -5,000
Christopher Kyriacou gb
Christopher Kyriacou
575,000 440,000
Craig Sweden gb
Craig Sweden
540,000 -60,000
Martyn Duell gb
Martyn Duell
525,000 14,000
Helmut Hauser de
Helmut Hauser
Day 1E Chip Leader
470,000 -130,000
Arkadi Kilman gb
Arkadi Kilman
465,000 115,000
Fuad Serhan jo
Fuad Serhan
415,000 213,000
[Removed:208] rs
[Removed:208]
410,000 49,000
Kelly Saxby us
Kelly Saxby
365,000 -135,000
Dinh Le vn
Dinh Le
315,000 315,000

Ana Marquez Eliminated in 22nd Place (£5,200)

Level 22 : 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
Ana Marquez
Ana Marquez

In the penultimate hand over on the outer tables, Antoine Labat raised to 50,000 on the button and Ana Marquez jammed out of the big blind for around 20 big blinds, Labat called. Both had previously clashed with suited aces and did so again, this time Labat had the inferior hand in the showdown.

Ana Marquez: {A-Hearts}{K-Hearts}
Antoine Labat: {A-Diamonds}{Q-Diamonds}

The board came {Q-Hearts}{10-Clubs}{10-Hearts}{2-Spades}{7-Clubs} and Marquez became the last casualty of the day.

Player Chips Progress
Antoine Labat fr
Antoine Labat
Day 2 Chip Leader
2,800,000 500,000
Ana Marquez es
Ana Marquez
Busted

Tags: Ana MarquezAntoine Labat

Williams Jams Into Hopkins

Level 22 : 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante

Over on the outer tables, Daniel Hopkins raised to 50,000 first to act and James Williams in the cutoff three-bet to 160,000. Hopkins quickly announced a reraise to 400,000 and wasn't done yet with pushing in the chips when Williams had already moved all in. Hopkins asked for a count and it was for 1,040,000 total.

After using two time banks, Hopkins folded and tapped the table.

Antonios Onoufriou won a pot off Philippe Souki with {Q-Clubs}{J-Clubs} for second pair on the board and claimed the pot.

Player Chips Progress
James Williams gb
James Williams
1,500,000 720,000
Philippe Souki gb
Philippe Souki
950,000 -380,000
Daniel Hopkins gb
Daniel Hopkins
800,000 -100,000
Antonios Onoufriou cy
Antonios Onoufriou
Day 1D Chip Leader
800,000 -40,000

Tags: Antonios OnoufriouDaniel HopkinsJames WilliamsPhilippe Souki

Attila Havacs Eliminated in 23rd Place (£5,200)

Level 22 : 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
Attila Havacs
Attila Havacs

Aleem Kanji raised in the hijack and was called by Helmut Hauser on the button. It was Hauser that ended up betting the {K-Hearts}{9-Spades}{8-Hearts}{3-Diamonds} turn for 75,000 and the {7-Clubs} river for 100,000. Kanji check-called both times and Hauser showed {A-Clubs}{Q-Clubs}, Kanji held pocket kings for top set.

Soon after, Kanji raised to 50,000 and was called by Daniel Hopkins on the button and Attila Havacs in the big blind. Havacs bet the {9-Diamonds}{8-Diamonds}{2-Hearts} flop for around 200,000 and Kanji called, Hopkins folded.

Attila Havacs: {9-Clubs}{7-Clubs}
Aleem Kanji: {10-Spades}{10-Clubs}

The {5-Diamonds} turn and {K-Clubs} river bricked off for Havacs and he was eliminated in 23rd place for £5,200.

Player Chips Progress
Aleem Kanji gb
Aleem Kanji
1,275,000 325,000
Helmut Hauser de
Helmut Hauser
Day 1E Chip Leader
600,000 -200,000
Attila Havacs gb
Attila Havacs
Busted

Tags: Aleem KanjiAttila HavacsDaniel HopkinsHelmut Hauser

Neil Mahamdi Eliminated in 24th Place (£4,300)

Level 22 : 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
Neil Mahamdi
Neil Mahamdi

Fernando Pons raised to 45,000 first to act and Neil Mahamdi jammed for around 220,000 in the big blind, Pons called instantly.

Neil Mahamdi: {A-Spades}{7-Diamonds}
Fernando Pons: {K-Clubs}{K-Hearts}

On a board of {Q-Hearts}{8-Hearts}{4-Hearts}{Q-Spades}{8-Spades}, Mahamdi found no help and was eliminated in 24th place for £4,300.

Player Chips Progress
Fernando Pons es
Fernando Pons
1,100,000 370,000
Neil Mahamdi gb
Neil Mahamdi
Busted

Tags: Fernando PonsNeil Mahamdi