The wunderkind himself Viktor Blom has taken his seat in the EPT10 London Main Event. The Full Tilt Poker Professional has already chipped up to 37,000 chips, and we'll keep an eye on him as he tries to best his 44th-place finish in the EPT9 London Main Event this past March.
The average cost of a baby in its first year is anything up to £10,000 according to some. Time then for Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody to bank as much as possible before fatherhood next March, as the PokerStars Blog reports.
The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Player of the Year race began Barcelona and continues here in London. Remember, this season a new points formula was implemented in conjunction with the Global Poker Index.
Players will be able to accumulate points in all events throughout Season 10, regardless of the buy-in level. In addition, all of the Festival Events (Estrellas, UKIPT, Eureka, FPS, IPT) that combine with an EPT tour stop will be eligible for Player of the Year points. The winner of this season’s award will walk away with €50,000 in Main Event buy-ins, good for any PokerStars or Full Tilt sponsored event.
The Global Poker Index (GPI) points formula, which will be used to determine the EPT10 POY, is a bit complicated, but you can read about all the details here.
Here are the top ten on the EPT10 POY Leaderboard:
| Place | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Benefield | 261.67 pts |
| 2 | Ole Schemion | 259.32 pts |
| 3 | Joao Barbosa | 220.20 pts |
| 4 | Thomas Muehloecker | 196.87 pts |
| 5 | Jonathan Duhamel | 195.58 pts |
| 6 | Tom Middleton | 181.74 pts |
| 7 | Vitaly Lunkin | 176.97 pts |
| 8 | Steve O'Dwyer | 175.30 pts |
| 9 | Kevin Vandersmissen | 173.42 pts |
| 10 | Oleksii Khoroshenin | 166.89 pts |
David Benefield will be adding to his total thanks to a seventh-place finish in the £50,000 Super High Roller.
We'll be bringing you daily updates on the Player of the Year race, so be sure to keep an eye out for those.
The UK’s John Shipley has been a staple in the poker world for nearly two decades, with his first cash coming back in April of 1994 when he finished ninth in a £500 No Limit Hold’em event at the Irish Poker Open for £500 – that’s right, he broke even. Over the next decade, Shipley notched numerous four and five-figure scores, including a seventh-place finish in the 2002 World Series of Poker Main Event for $125,000.
Shipley, who was a part of the groundbreaking Late Night Poker, then made history as the first-ever EPT London winner in October 2004. That year 175 runners paid the £4,000 buy-in and created a prize pool of £763,379. Notables Marcel Luske and Noah Boeken both made the final table, but finished in seventh and sixth respectively for £14,800 and £16,800. As you know, Shipley prevailed and captured the £200,000 first-place prize.
Since then Shipley has continued to play poker and rack up cashes, most coming at the WSOP in Las Vegas. For instance, in 2008 Shipley finished ninth in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event for $56,782, and three years later he placed third in the 2011 WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship for $369,575 – his biggest career score. Most recently, Shipley finished 472nd in the 2012 WSOP Main Event for $24,808.
Mario Chiang Guanilo and Jonathan Duhamel both checked on a board of 
. The turn was the 
, Guanilo tossed out 3,000, and the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event champion called.
Guanilo showed 
for trip tens, winning the pot.
Team PokerStars Pro's Marcin Horecki confessed to mucking a hand during level one when he was actually due half of a chopped pot. It was a rare lapse in concentration for someone whose previous career had him flying down mountain sides strapped to skis. PokerStars Blog caught up with Horecki to talk about focus in poker (as well as fast cars and £300,000).
We've lost the (relatively) short-stacked Sofia Lovgren, Max Greenwood and Fabrice Soulier. At least the last of these three won't have too far to travel back home.
Meanwhile there's differing Swedish fortunes at the tables, Full Tilt Poker Professional Viktor Blom is down to 15,000 already while former EPT winner Michael Tureniec has shot up to 80,000.
There was an open to 1,125, Dhru Patel called in middle position, and Ben Martin three-bet to 3,400 on his direct left. The action folded back to the original raiser, who folded as well, and Patel called.
The dealer fanned 
, Patel check-called a bet of 3,500, and both players checked when the 
paired the board on the turn. The river was the 
, Patel opted to lead out for 11,200, and Martin tank-called.
Patel mucked his hand, and Martin raked in the pot without showing down his hand.
Kevin Vandersmissen has been eliminated. The Belgian ran jacks into kings when he felt none of his options were great, even though his gut told him to fold.
He shrugged, "Just have to win the side events."
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