Level: 8
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 75
2010 PokerStars.com EPT London
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
2010 PokerStars.com EPT London
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Buy-in
£5,000
Prize Pool
£4,112,800
Entries
848
Level
33
Blinds
150,000 / 300,000
Ante
0
Players Left 1 / 848
Filter
(1)
"Do you have any idea what happened to Max Heinzelmann?" we asked a member of the German media upon noticing that the unhappy Mr. Heinzelmann was down to just 7,000 or so.
But imagine our surprise when instead of a brief rundown of the hand, we got to witness it on video! The wonders of modern technology. German poker press, we salute you.
The short version, though, is that Benny Spindler got his whole stack in on the turn of a 
board with 
for a straight, Heinzelmann holding 
for a flush draw and gutshot outs to a chop. The river though was a non-diamond 
, and Spindler doubled to 125,000, leaving Heinzelmann near the felt.
The TV cameras were running past us faster than that high-speed freight train and probably with as much expensive equipment across to the Greg Raymer/Arnaud Mattern table where the former was involved in a pot with 
against 
but the board had already come out 
.
"The queens aren't mine," admitted Raymer to the TV crew as he paid off 20,000 to his opponent. The Team PokerStars Pro still has 45,000 remaining though.
First in from the button, Max Heinzelmann open-shipped his last 4,600 into the pot, and the player in the small blind tanked and called after some time to put Heinzelmann at risk.
It was Max's 
a small favorite over the of his opponent, and the 60-40 was on! Things were all rosy for Heinzelmann on board as the dealer saved his tournament life: 
.
A pair of fives isn't much, but it's plenty to keep Heinzelmann in the game with just less than 11,000.
We've re-invented the wheel, solved pi to a billion decimal places, and found the edge of the universe. Yes, it's true, we have our Day 1a registration numbers just eight short hours after registration closed.
Officially, 339 players have joined this opening flight, up more than 10% from last year's number. Tomorrow is anticipated to have a huge turnout, and it's quite possible that we'll break the record for largest-ever tournament in the UK. We'll need 392 runners for Day 1b to break last year's record, and all signs point to yes, as the magic eight ball says.
The board tells us that just 197 of the starters remain as the final break of the night approaches.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
123,000
43,000
|
43,000 |
|
82,000
42,000
|
42,000 |
|
||
|
|
70,000
55,000
|
55,000 |
|
65,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
41,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
|
||
|
27,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
|
||
|
25,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
|
||
|
19,000
11,000
|
11,000 |
|
|
17,000
39,000
|
39,000 |
EPT Warsaw winner Joao Barbosa got his last in with 
but couldn't outflip the gentleman holding 
.
Board: 
Arriving on the flop of 
, Benny Spindler checked across to Michel Abecassis who fired out 5,200. Spindler gave the Frenchman a stare before calling, he did similarly on the 
turn to a 13,200 to gain a chance to see the 
river where he checked once more.
This time Abecassis bet 27,200 and this sent Spindler so deep into the tank I thought we'd need to send someone down in a diving suit to rescue him. But he made a call after a good five minutes, Abecassis showed 
for a missed flush draw but turned trips.
Abecassis now has 135,000. Spindler back down to 80,000
Some curiousness on the turn of a 
board as it seemed to have checked around to Arnaud Mattern who bet 2,850. In the small blind, David Steicke shoved for 23,700. Greg Raymer in the big blind folded. Back to Mattern, who thought about it long and hard but eventually folded as well.
Said Raymer: "I couldn't call unless I knew for sure that Arnaud was folding. I mean if he'd folded out of turn I could have called."
Mattern - 140,000
Steicke - 30,000
Raymer - 55,000
Tommy Vedes got it in in bad shape, and failed to improve.
Vedes: 
Vedes' opponent:
Board: 
Vedes didn't look too upset about it though, exiting with a laugh and a cheery good luck to the table.
