2017 Cash Game Festival London
Day 2 Started
2017 Cash Game Festival London (Winter)
2017 Cash Game Festival London
Day: 2
Welcome to Day 2 of the 2017 London Cash Game Festival at Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City
Welcome to PokerNews' live coverage of Day 2 of the 2017 Cash Game Festival London at Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City.
The festival kicked off yesterday with welcome drinks, however, many players couldn't wait to play as there were already nine tables running before the official action began. As the day and night progressed, the room was full of action with almost 20 tables running for a few hours. Festival organizers and casino staff are expecting the poker room to be even more full for Day 2.
The first televised feature table today will be £2/£5 no-limit hold'em at 5:30 p.m. (BST) on a 20 minute delay before the table switches up to higher stakes to £5/£10 no-limit hold'em at 8:30 p.m. Many players will be taking part in a televised poker table for the first time, along with a mix of players that have played on the feature table during prior festivals.
Brandon Allen will once again be leading the commentary with a variety of guests joining him throughout the day. You will be able to check out the action here on PokerNews as well as on the Cash Game Festival website and on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel.
Many players got an early start to the day with already six cash game tables of action. Some players are still playing from the night before, while others came in fresh off some rest.
At 4:45 p.m., players with the hospitality package will head over to the 114.5 meter tall ArcelorMittal Orbit structure in Queen Olympic Park to enjoy an aerial view of the British capital. Festival organizers have promised a twist on the way down the tower.
Yesterday, VIP players were treated to drinks and betting tickets at the Sky Bar while watching Bayern Munich defeat Arsenal in Champions League play.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be providing updates with some 2016 Cash Game Festival London throughout the day with coverage beginning at around 5:00 p.m.
The Slide Down the Tower
While many players are playing cash games in the casino, others went approximately 100 meters into the air at the Arcelormittal Orbit.
The big surprise was that there was a twisting slide to bring players down the tower. A few in the tower decided to enjoy the view and to "safely" take the elevator back down. Other braver players took the plunge and were screaming down the slide.
Feature Table Begins
The first feature table of Day 2 just kicked off. Players are playing no-limit hold'em with blinds at £2/£5. You can watch the action commentated by Brandon Allen on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel or here on PokerNews.
Feature Table Bios
Today's early feature table features a mix of experienced and recreational players.
Buying in for £1,000 In Seat 1 is United Kingdom's Michael Fitzmaurice, who shared that yesterday was his first time playing poker. Although he had a straight face when telling us this, he looks more than experienced on the table. Poker players need to occasionally bluff and this was most likely his first attempted bluff of the day.
United Kingdom's Manoj Mohindra in Seat 2 shared one of the reasons he loves poker is that it is a great way to meet people. The Brit has been playing poker for four years and bought in for £1,000.
Dutch poker player Joost Schippers is in Seat 3 and bought in for £2,000. He joked his biggest achievement was not going broke while playing poker.
Turkey's Unal Altioglu in Seat 4 typically grinds it out away from the poker felt as a stock broker. Although he has only been playing for a few years, he shared he is not nervous on the feature table after buying in for £1,000.
United Kingdom's Jean-Luc Weller in Seat 5 also recently began playing poker and also bought in for £1,000. The 22-year old student shared his favorite hand is quad aces.
In Seat 6 is one of the table's most experienced players in United Kingdom's Paul Woods. Woods, who bought in for £1,000, has been playing poker for more than three decades and shared he is not nervous despite never playing on a televised table in the past.
On seat over in Seat 7 is Germany's Alex O’Brien. She bought in for the smallest amount among the players on the table for £700 and shared that her favorite hand is ten-nine suited.
Rounding out the table in Seat 8 is United Kingdom's Simon Renoldi. He shared his biggest achievement in poker was "not going skint." Renoldi bought in for £1,000 and shared he is not nervous about playing on the televised table.
14 Tables
There are currently 14 tables running with more about to open. There is talk among some of the players including Cash Game Festival regulars Jack Fenton and Peter La Terra about starting a Sviten Special game, which incorporates both five-card Omaha and five-card draw, later in the night.
Players have enjoyed this game at every Cash Game Festival thus far and whether the game breaks out today or tomorrow remains to be seen.
Betsafe Qualifier Daniel Wartak Shared, "The Cash Game Festival is Great!"
Six players qualified to the Cash Game Festival London through Betsafe including Poland's Daniel Wartak.
While he waited a few minutes to get into a game, Wartak shared that he has been having a good time, perhaps because of his success thus far on the poker felt. Early yesterday evening, Wartak began playing on a £1/£1 no-limit hold'em table with £100. He was on the grind until 4 a.m. before the table broke, and walked away winning more than £200.
After Wartak explained his success yesterday, he said, "The Cash Game Festival is great! I hope I win another package to attend another festival in the future."
New Feature Table Setting Up
The £2/£5 no-limit hold'em feature table just ended. A new slate of players are getting prepared for bigger action with a £5/£10 table to start in about 15 minutes on a 20 minute delay. You can watch the action commentated by Brandon Allen on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel or here on PokerNews.
Elsewhere around the room there are 14 tables running with stakes ranging up to £2/£5.
Feature Table Bios
Some of the players at the earlier £2/£5 no-limit hold'em feature table decided to stay on the table after the stakes were raised to £5/£10. Joining them, are a few new players as well. Here is a look at who is on the current feature table which you can watch on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel or here on PokerNews.
Michael Fitzmaurice was on Seat 1 during the last feature table and took the same seat for the new feature table. He previously tried to bluff us by sharing that he only began playing poker yesterday. However, it is easy to see that he has been playing for much longer than that.
Alexis Savvides was on yesterday's £2/£5 pot-limit Omaha feature table and is back in action in Seat 2 today for some no-limit hold'em. He shared that his day job is in Finance and he is not nervous to be on the feature table.
Joost Schippers was in Seat 3 during the first feature table of the day and decided to keep his seat for the next one.
Sitting next to Schippers in Seat 4 is Turkey's Unal Altioglu, who was also on the day's earlier feature table.
United Kingdom's Jean-Luc Weller also headed back to the feature table after playing earlier today and sits in Seat 5.
Eric Le Goff, in Seat 5, is a newcomer to the feature table, and shared his favorite hand is 
while playing from the cutoff. He shared he has been playing for seven years and is not nervous about being on the lights and camera.
James Simms sits in Seat 7 and shared that he bets on sports for a living. Simms shared that he is not nervous about being on the feature table. This might be due to him appearing on a feature table in the past against great competition during EPT 10 London, including Philipp Gruissem, Victoria Coren and Ole Schemion. He also reluctantly shared that ten-eight suited was his favorite hand.
Paul Woods rounds off the table in Seat 8. He was also on the earlier feature table and shared he is not nervous about playing under the spotlight. This might be due to him playing poker since 1985.
Wojtek Hanus Won a Trip to Cash Game Festival London After a Break From Poker
Poland's Wojtek Hanus has been playing poker for a few years. He won a package through a promotion on Betsafe and came to London with his girlfriend Lisa Nord, who yesterday won a bottle of champagne after guessing the first player to score a goal in one of the Champions League football matches.
Hanus met Nord while she was an Erasmus student in Poland. Last year, he moved with Nord to her home country of Sweden.
The couple decided to head to London early since Hanus has never been to the British capital before. Nord, who previously lived in the city, has been showing Hanus around. Although there are many sites unique to London, Hanus is thus far most impressed with something else.
"London is nice," explained Hanus. "The city is very clean. I don't know why but it is really important for a city to be clean. I enjoyed my visit to Tallinn because the city is extremely clean. Where I live in Stockholm is also very clean."
Hanus has played a bit both online and live while in Sweden before taking a break in October to study Swedish and work as a swimming instructor.
He shared that learning Swedish has been a challenge. He has shown to some of the Swedish players in attendance he can understand them, however, this didn't come without ongoing commitment which included four hours per day of class study and homework.
He got back into playing poker in January. Shortly afterward, his close friend at PokerBreak.pl told him about the rake race competition at Betsafe. Hanus shared his path to the top 10 on the leaderboard was through pot-limit Omaha ring game tables. After this, he went on to ship a package to London to attend the Cash Game Festival.
So far Hanus shared he is having a great time.
"The festival is nice," shared Hanus. "The activities so far have been great."
Hanus is also used to long waiting lists when playing live ring games and has been pleased that he has been able to get a quick seat both of the first two days of the festival.
"There hasn't been a long line and the wait for a seat has been quite fast" Hanus explained.
Hanus left yesterday's action as a winner but was in for a surprise after he sat down at the table. He is experienced in playing pot-limit Omaha, but only has previously played the four-card variety. At Aspers, the typical pot-limit Omaha table allows the player on the button to choose between four, five or six cards.
"It was a bit confusing playing in the beginning for me as I was unused to playing with more than four cards," Hanus said. "I was playing quite safe, and was looking to only get it in with the nuts."
Since the strategy worked for him yesterday, Hanus shared he planned to play the same way today.
Despite being successful on the felt, he wants to do big things off the felts. He studied robotics while attending University in Poland, and shared he feels now that he has been learning Swedish, he should be able to get a good job in a field he enjoys.