button in SafariMarius Conan Bags the Chip Lead Heading to the Final Table of the 888LIVE London Main Event
It took until the last hand of the night before Marius Conan brought the field down to the final table and snagged the chip lead on Day 2 of the 888LIVE London £1,250 Main Event.
Conan made a flush holding two aces and called Sooraj Sairam’s river shove to bust Sairam in 10th and move up to 2,225,000 heading into tomorrow’s final table. Conan also held two aces to begin the day on his way to busting 888 ambassador Ian Simpson. The Frenchman is following in the footsteps of his brother Arthur, who made the final table of the High Roller here a few days ago.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marius Conan | France | 2,225,000 | 45 |
| 2 | Guang Yang | United Kingdom | 1,800,000 | 36 |
| 3 | Robert Buky | United Kingdom | 1,480,000 | 30 |
| 4 | Michael Hewes | United Kingdom | 1,465,000 | 29 |
| 5 | Nikolay Ponomarev | United Kingdom | 1,250,000 | 25 |
| 6 | Pascal Pflock | Germany | 1,140,000 | 23 |
| 7 | Nicu Toderascu | United Kingdom | 790,000 | 16 |
| 8 | Nathan Cohen | Ireland | 685,000 | 14 |
| 9 | Alexios Zervos | Greece | 565,000 | 11 |
Pursuing Conan tomorrow when the final table gets underway at 1 p.m. local time inside the Grosvenor Victoria Casino is Guang Yang. Yang made a big call on the turn to double up off Robert Buky on his way to 1,800,000. Buky seemed to be running away from the field earlier, moving up past 3,000,000 after busting Daniel Samson in 11th place holding two aces before suffering three hits in a row. After losing the hand to Yang, Pascal Pflock turned a straight against him to double up. Buky finally lost a race with ace-king to Nikolay Ponomarev’s threes as he fell down to 1,480,000, still good for third place at the final table.
Michael Hewes (1,465,000), Ponomarev (1,250,000), and Pflock (1,140,000) are also part of the million-chip club among the final table lineup. Further down the leaderboard are Nicu Toderascu (790,000), Nathan Cohen (685,000), and Alexios Zervos (565,000).
Day 2 began with the 77 survivors from the three opening flights being joined by 15 new arrivals to create a total field of 379 entries. Only the top 50 would make the money, and Vivian Saliba, High Roller champion Bryan Taylor, defending champion Gang Wang, last year’s runner-up Calogero Morreale, Cedric Schwaederle, and Antoine Saout were among those to miss out. Bandar Alireza busted in cruel fashion on the bubble when his top set was cracked by Sairam’s running straight.
The first round of post-bubble bustouts included Martins Adeniya (49th), Brandon Sheils (48th), Philippe Souki (43th), Julien Sitbon (40th), Ricardo Mateus (39th), and Yiannis Liperis (37th). Lucia Navarro was sitting among the chip leaders before she ran a flush into Cohen’s rivered full house in a massive pot to fall in 35th. She was soon joined by Joe Hindry (32nd), Conor O’Driscoll (30th), Hector Berry (23rd), and Kuljinder Sidhu (12th).
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | £91,170 |
| 2 | £60,550 |
| 3 | £39,730 |
| 4 | £26,220 |
| 5 | £17,860 |
| 6 | £12,870 |
| 7 | £9,900 |
| 8 | £7,960 |
| 9 | £6,580 |
The action at the final table picks up on Level 27 with blinds of 25,000/50,000 and a 50,000 big blind ante. Levels remain 40 minutes at the final table. The nine finalists have locked up £6,580 out of the £396,050 prize pool, while the champion will take home £91,170.
All the action will be streamed on 888LIVE’s official YouTube channel. PokerNews will be following along and providing live updates until a new 888LIVE London champion is crowned.