Main Event
Day 1a Started
2010 PokerStars.com EPT London
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2010 PokerStars.com EPT London
Buy-in
£5,000
Prize Pool
£4,112,800
Entries
848
Level
33
Blinds
150,000 / 300,000
Ante
0
Welcome to the 2010 PokerStars.com EPT London!
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
There is no rest for the wicked, or for poker players it seems. One festival (the WSOPE) finishes across town just as another, the 2010 EPT London, begins.
In the old fairy tale, Dick Whittingon moved to London when he heard that the streets were paved with gold, but were he to win EPT London, then maybe he would not be able to pave every street with gold but certainly he would be able to make sure his bathroom isn't too shabby. He would be following in the footsteps too of Aaron Gustavson who last year took home the title and £850,000 first place prize ahead of Team Pokerstars Pro Peter Eastgate.
The Danish former world champion may have since retired from PokerStars, but Liv Boeree was announced yesterday as their newest Team Pro and will be making her debut here at her hometown event.
Last year's event got a massive 730 runners and judging by the size of the fields for the smaller events, we're expecting a huge turnout once more. The general feel within the Hilton hotel makes it feel more like the Rio for the WSOP than anything else as poker chatter is all you can hear, but it is possible that this year's field could be even bigger. In fact, the staff is optimistic of breaking all records for the largest tournament ever held in the UK.
Play starts at 12:00 p.m. local time -- roughly a half hour from now -- and we'll be bringing your all the news from the first riffle to the last river card.
A Great Crowd
As another reminder that we're not at the WSOPE anymore, final preparations are still being made to the tournament area about 15 minutes after our scheduled starting time. Part of the problem is that there are about 350 players in the room looking for their chairs. It's a big field here on Day 1a.
Tournament Director Thomas Kremser has called the players to their seats, but there are still a few administrative things to take care of, and a few forms to be filled out in triplicate.
This shouldn't take too much longer; we just wanted to make sure you know we haven't forgotten about you out there. Sit tight... we'll be back with the shuffle up and deal at some point soon.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Go, Fight, Win!
After the long-winded introductions from TK, the dealers have been called to action, and the cards are in the air on Day 1a!
Tables As Far As the Eye Can See
Well, they're off - and it's a tight squeeze out there.
PokerStars are running the mother of all poker festivals here this week. In total, there are 37 - yes, 37 - events running with something to suit every pocket. The tournaments on offer range from a £100+£10-for-charity tournament with an incredible £100,000 guarantee, all the way up to the £20,000 High Roller event.
All this means that poker tables have been squeezed into every available space in the Hilton ballroom, leaving a small cluster of bloggers and photographers in one corner of the room, wondering how they're going to squeeze through to the centre tables. And good luck to any players who feel they have to move around outside of break times.
Nevertheless if you've a sum of money to burn on a poker tournament, this is absolutely the best place on earth to be this week.
20k Pot Ends On The Turn
There was an opening raise to 300, called on the button by Greg Mueller, the small blind Manuel Bevand before Jan Ludwig Meinberg reraised to 1,600 from the big blind. All three players called this reraise, meaning the pot was 6,400 before the flop.
Meinberg fired out 4,500 at the 
board and the original raiser flat-called. Mueller and Bevand both folded, giving us the dangerous 
on the turn.
Meinberg quickly checked and his opponent fired out 7,875 which had the German tanking for several minutes before releasing his hand.
Man Down!
A young man we believe to be American Paul McCaffrey has just been eliminated.
McCaffrey raised to 250 before the flop, and he found two callers to his left. On the button, Tom Marchese three-bet to 1,150, and McCaffrey came right back with a four-bet that quickly folded the players in the middle. Marchese five-bet it, though, and McCaffrey finally smooth called to see a flop.
It came 
, and McCaffrey check-called a bet of 5,200 from Marchese. The turn was a blank looking 
, and this time Marchese made it 5,300 to call. McCaffrey obliged him once again, and the 
filled out the board on fifth street.
When McCaffrey checked one final time, Marchese set him all in for his last ~10,000 chips. The call came, and the dealer yelled, and the cards were on their backs. McCaffrey was showing 
for the overpair, but it was no good. Marchese's 
were ahead the whole way, and they've notched the first KO of Day 1a.
Meet your chip leader, Tom Marchese. He's got just shy of 60,000 now.
PokerStars $10,000 Sunday Million Freeroll
Time is running out to play in our exclusive $10,000 Sunday Million Freeroll from PokerStars on October 10. You can win your seat in the biggest regular weekly online tournament in the world for just 75 VPPs - but you only have until September 30th (23:59 GMT) to qualify.
Eric Liu Is A Banana
Eric Liu, who finished 4th to Michael Martin here in 2008 (and also represents Liu best tournament cash) is dressed as a banana. Not any specific type of banana or even a plantain, but just a regular old yellow one.
He looks pretty grumpy about it too.