£5,200 EPT London Main Event Day 1a | 2008 PokerStars.com EPT London

10-01-2008 17:58 UTC+1

Players Take a 15-Minute Break

10-01-2008 18:09 UTC+1

John Kabbaj Eliminated

John Kabbaj was recently spotted at the cash tables, and reluctantly shared his tale of woe. "I flopped a flush draw with A-J of clubs and moved all in," he started, "but the guy called me with A-Q for ace high."

Tags: John Kabbaj

10-01-2008 18:11 UTC+1

Lloyd's Bank

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"I think you'd better stay," suggested David Lloyd to the masseuse. "These are lucky rubs, you're a good investment."

I only caught the very end of the hand, but Lloyd was scooping up a nice pot with {A-Spades}

on a

board and now has around 25 to 30,000.

Tags: David Lloyd

Level: 5

Blinds: 150/300

Ante: 0

10-01-2008 18:29 UTC+1

Recent Eliminations

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Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and William Thorson are both out.

10-01-2008 18:37 UTC+1

British Departures

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After a slow opening level, we're witnessing more departures than Heathrow, in particular within the British camp. No longer flying the flag are Dave Colclough, Jeff Duvall and Charalambos 'Bambos' Xanthos all biting the dust in recent times.

10-01-2008 18:42 UTC+1

You're Gavin a Laugh

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A player in middle position opened the action with a raise of 1,000, Gavin Griffin made it 2,800 from the button, and Michael Greco pushed from the big blind. With the initial raiser releasing his hand, the decision was left on Griffin, who, reluctantly so, called the extra 5,000.

Greco = {Q-Diamonds}

Griffin =

Board =

Greco didn't seem to approve of Griffin's call, to which the Team PokerStars pro responded, "You're gonna get a call there 100% of the time."

Either way, Greco does indeed double through, to the tune of 15,000, whilst Griffin drops down to 11,500.

Tags: Gavin Griffin Michael Greco

10-01-2008 18:52 UTC+1

Shaun Deeb Eliminated

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Shaun Deeb (no relation to Freddy Deeb) is also out of today's event. He busted a couple of hours ago.

10-01-2008 18:54 UTC+1

Straight Squared

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David Benyamine, looking cucumber cool as always, defended his blind from a late position raise before reaching a {4-Hearts}

flop. The flop and {3-Hearts}

turn were both checked down, only for Benyamine to lead out for 1,275 on the {J-Spades}

river.

Although his opponent's raise to 3,825 screamed of the nut straight, Benyamine simply couldn't fold and begrudgingly threw in the extra chips. His opponent did indeed have the straight with {A-Hearts}

, the river dealing out a nasty cooler to the Frenchman who revealed {Q-Hearts}

.

On a side note, Benyamine was once at the nose-bleed heights of 20,000, after his raise with kings ran into two raises, the latter of which was making a move with 6-3. Thankfully for the Frenchman, the kings did indeed hold up.

Benyamine is now on 13,500.

Tags: David Benyamine

10-01-2008 19:01 UTC+1

Close Shave for the Raiser

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Ian Frazer is currently wearing a Cheshire cat grin the width of London after seeing his stack shoot up to 30,000 in just two consecutive hands. The first one involved the elimination of Jani Sointula, the formidable Finn finding himself coin-flipping preflop with A-T versus sevens. But a J-J-7-7-3 board was clinical to say the least, and Sointula was gone.

On the very next hand, Frazer showed the rest of the table how to win a 50-50, his pocket jacks surviving against A-Q on a harmless {6-Spades}

board. See, it's easy when you know how.

Tags: Ian Frazer Jani Sointula