£1,100 Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2019 888poker LIVE Festival London
£1,100 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1a
2019 888poker LIVE Festival London
Buy-in
£1,100
Prize Pool
£512,820
Entries
518
Level
32
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
200,000
Entries
58
Players Left
13
Kfir Ivgi Tops 13 Survivors on Day 1a; Chris Moorman Wins High Roller
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
Day 1a of the 2019 888poker LIVE Festival London £1,100 Main Event has wrapped up and out of a field of 58 entries including six re-entries, 13 players made it through the 11 levels of 40 minutes each at the Aspers Casino in Westfield Stratford London.
Kfir Ivgi is the dominating chip leader and he was among those to fire a second entry as his first attempt ended within 15 minutes and he steamrolled through the tables after to turn his 30,000 into an impressive 419,000. A trio of players ended up over 200k including Iaron Lightbourne (256,000), Gary Miller (231,500) and Lukas Gloor (221,500).
What follows is a big gap as Neil van der Merwe finished the first of five starting days fifth in chips with 92,000. Other notables that advanced to Day 2 already were Irena Macesovic (85,500), Alexander Zeligman (80,000), 888poker ambassador Martin Jacobson (60,000), and Manh The Nguyen (54,500).
Miller and Lightbourne spent the late stages of Day 1a on Ivgi's table and both were almost dying in laughter from the incredible table action and banter of Ivgi as he made his way to the top of the leader board.
“This table should be on TV, they still wouldn't believe it,” Miller exclaimed in the final level of the night and wished to have the same line-up for the stream table on Day 2. Whether or not that wish comes true remains to be seen as players from another four flights will advance in the next two days.
Among those to bust on Day 1a were Dillan Patel, Keith Hoang, Matthew Eardley, Ion Mican, Francois Pirault, Leon Louis and Ramlal Basdeo to name just a few. The 2017 champion Tom Hall as well as last year's runner-up Derek Lawless also took a shot at the action but ran out of chips early on.
Miller sent Lawless to the rail once when he flopped a jack-high straight and dodged a king-high flush draw. Right after coming back from the break, Miller then felted Serkan Ersoy when he called the big jam with ace-ten for flopped top pair and second pair on the turn. Ersoy only had ten-seven suited for the same pair and inferior kicker.
After that it was Ivgi that assumed control of the table chat and eliminations. Ho Shom Kian was one of the casualties when he came up short with ace-king versus kings, and Ivgi also rivered trips nines with ten-nine suited against the ace-king of Jurij Kolesnikov and the queen-jack for flopped top pair of Ion Mican.
Iaron Lightbourne knocked out several shorter stacks towards the end to become the second-biggest stack as just 13 players bagged and tagged for the night. The following two days will feature two flights each as the event will grow bigger and attracted poker enthusiasts from near and far.
888poker ambassador Chris Moorman Wins £2,200 High Roller
Besides Day 1a of the Main Event, the £2,200 High Roller also came to a conclusion. The 888poker ambassadors Martin Jacobson, Ana Marquez and Chris Moorman were among the Day 1 survivors and Moorman was the only one to cash. Among others, the 2019 WSOP Main Event finalist Nick Marchington, Ivan Deyra and Christopher Yong bowed out before the money.
Jose Planells ended up as the bubble-boy in a field of 39 entries and the top six spots were guaranteed a portion of the £77,220 prize pool. Fellow Spaniard Raul Martinez had to settle for the min-cash and Antoine Saout, as well as Nicholas Lee, headed to the payout desk next.
Benjamin Winsor pulled into a 2-1 lead in heads-up but Moorman doubled once to claim the lead. Ultimately, Winsor was down to around seven big blinds when he jammed with ace-trey suited and Moorman looked him up with ace-nine. The kicker played on a ten-high board and Moorman posed for the winner shots shortly after.
Final Result £2,200 High Roller
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (in GBP) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Moorman | United Kingdom | £27,000 | $34,865 |
| 2 | Benjamin Winsor | United Kingdom | £17,000 | $21,952 |
| 3 | Nicholas Lee | Australia | £12,000 | $15,496 |
| 4 | Antoine Saout | France | £9,000 | $11,622 |
| 5 | Damian Bell | United Kingdom | £7,000 | $9,039 |
| 6 | Raul Martinez | Spain | £5,220 | $6,741 |
The Main Event will continue with Day 1b as of 1 p.m. local time followed by Day 1c at 6 p.m. local time. Both flights play 11 levels of 40 minutes each and the PokerNews team will provide all the action from the tables.
End-of-Day 1a Chip Counts (full)
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
419,000 | -1,000 |
|
256,000 | |
|
231,500 | 16,500 |
|
221,500 | 31,500 |
|
92,000 | -8,000 |
|
85,500 | 35,500 |
|
|
85,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
82,500 | 2,500 |
|
80,000 | 10,000 |
|
60,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
59,000 | -4,000 |
|
54,500 | 4,500 |
|
|
49,500 | 4,500 |
Lightbourne Doubles Adeel; Busts Him After
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
Sharjeel Adeel lost a bigger pot to Richard Watts when the latter made trips aces with 
and was then moved over to the other table to balance the field with 14 players remaining. Adeel was right between the two big stacks Kfir Ivgi and Gary Miller, and he moved all in blind the first hand.
Iaron Lightbourne called and the rest of the table got out of the way.
Sharjeel Adeel: 
Iaron Lightbourne: 
The board came 
and Adeel doubled.
He still got it in the middle the last hand and again i was Lightbourne that called, Joseph Bodner said in table chat he folded an ace and Miller folded the 
.
Sharjeel Adeel: 
Iaron Lightbourne: 
This time the board ran out 
and Lightbourne turned top pair, then rivered a flush to reduce the field to the final 13.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
256,000 | 66,000 |
|
|
80,000 | 25,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Campero Nunez Felted Again
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
Andres Campero Nunez has been eliminated a second time by Kfir Ivgi and the last three hands of the night were announced.
The Mexican was all in with 
and initial raiser Kfir Ivgi called with the . The board came 
and Ivgi paired his jack.
Just prior to that, he had three-bet folded against a push by Joseph Bodner and came out on par for those two hands, still by far the run-away chip leader for Day 1a.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
420,000 | 15,000 |
|
|
75,000 | 13,000 |
|
Busted |
Lightbourne Boosts Stack Late On
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
Iaron Lightbourne raised to 3,500 and was called by Kfir Ivgi in the small blind and Andres Campero Nunez in the big blind. Ivgi announced a check in the dark and Campero Nunez also checked the flop.
Lightbourne bet "one blue", 5,000 in chips, and Ivgi folded while Campero Nunez called. The fell on the turn and Campero Nunez check-folded to a bet of 60,000 by Lightbourne.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
405,000 | -5,000 |
|
|
190,000 | 5,000 |
|
|
35,000 |
Patel Runs Queens Into Kings
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
Dillan Patel raised to 5,000 from under the gun and was called by Gary Miller and Kfir Ivgi. Patel jammed the 
flop and both opponents mucked, Ivgi showed the .
One hand later, Kasim Oz raised the button and Iaron Lightbourne in the small blind three-bet. Patel four-bet jammed for around 70,000 and Oz folded, Lightbourne snap-called.
Dillan Patel:
Iaron Lightbourne: 
"I folded ace queen of hearts," Oz said and the board came 
to leave Patel drawing dead on the turn.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
410,000 | -20,000 |
|
|
215,000 | -10,000 |
|
|
185,000 | 45,000 |
|
|
63,000 | -14,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Gloor Forces Out Adeel
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
On a three-way flop of , the action checked to Lukas Gloor and he made it 17,500 to go from the button. Jean Chan Pang Cheong folded and Sharjeel Adeel called. The followed on the turn and Adeel checked aain, Gloor bet enough to give his opponent the option to fold or call and Adeel sent his cards into the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
190,000 | 55,000 |
|
|
75,000 | -30,000 |
Ivgi and Miller Meet Twice
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 1,600 ante
Gary Miller and Kfir Ivgi verbally agreed to check the flop and turn, Miller bet the river for 1,600 and Ivgi called. The dealer then ran the board 
and Miller turned over his 
for top pair.
Ivgi first showed the 
for the draw and flipped over the after, which caused another outburst of emotions on the table. Ivgi had not looked at his cards ... .
Right after, Miller bet the 
river for 1,600 and Ivgi raised to 5,000, Miller called and mucked when he was shown the 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
430,000 | 40,000 |
|
|
225,000 | -55,000 |
Level: 11
Blinds: 800/1,600
Ante: 1,600