Balakrishna Patur Bags Big After EPT London Main Event Day 1a Field; Coren Mitchell Busts After Aces Cracked
The first PokerStars European Poker Tour London Main Event in over eight years got underway at the Hilton Park Lane today, with 262 players joining the first of two starting flights.
The Day 1a field was whittled down to just 83 players over the course of ten levels, with Luis Pinho ending the day as chip leader with 260,000.
He leads Balakrishna Patur (233,500) and Sergio Coutinho at the top of the counts, with EPT regular Ognyan Dimov also bagging a top-five stack ahead of Day 2.
Patur thought he'd grabbed the overnight chip lead for himself after winning a healthy pot in the last hand of the night, and said that he'd enjoyed himself at the tables.
Other notables who bagged healthy stacks included Roland Rokita (197,500) and Anton Wigg (175,000).
| Rank | Name | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luis Pinho | Poland | 260,000 | 173 |
| 2 | Belakrishna Patur | United States | 233,500 | 156 |
| 3 | Sergio Coutinho | Malta | 205,500 | 137 |
| 4 | Ognyan Dimov | Bulgaria | 200,500 | 134 |
| 5 | Roland Rokita | Austria | 197,500 | 132 |
| 6 | Frederik Brink | Denmark | 197,500 | 132 |
| 7 | Alexandre Vuilleumier | France | 188,000 | 125 |
| 8 | Alan Pham | Australia | 183,500 | 122 |
| 9 | Alexis Laroche | Canada | 182,500 | 122 |
| 10 | Patrick Brooks | England | 182,000 | 121 |
Day 1a Recap
Plenty of familiar faces were in action on Day 1a including British players Jamie Nixon, Guy Taylor, Tom Middleton, Jack Sinclair and Barny Boatman, but there were plenty of international stars joining the field such as Kenny Hallaert, Paulina Loeliger, Joao Vieira and WSOP Main Event champion Espen Jorstad.
Several of these managed to survive through to Day 2, but it wasn't such a good day for former EPT London champion Victoria Coren Mitchell who survived until the eighth level of the day before being eliminated holding pocket aces by Lawrence Brandt, fresh from securing his first cash on English soil in the UKIPT Main Event.
During the latter stages several High Roller regulars joined the field including Ben Heath, Daniel Dvoress and Timothy Adams — all of which secured a place in Day 2 at the first opportunity.
The second starting flight in the EPT London Main Event starts at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 23. Just like today, they will play ten 60-minute levels with 20-minute breaks every two levels. There will be a 75-minute dinner break after Level 6.
Any player who has not played yet, or any player who has busted and is yet to re-enter, can join the field before late registration closes at the start of Day 2.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the action from the EPT London festival.
board Kenny Hallaert checked out of the small blind and Balakrishna Reddy Patur bet 2,000 from the button. Hallaert called.
turn and 
river and Hallaert showed 
and took down the pot.
.
and Sinclair checked back. Both players again checked on the 
turn. 
and Watson led out for 2,500. Sinclair responded with a big raise to 15,000 and his Canadian opponent folded.
but failed to overcome the 
[...] I lost a big one there. Then we had 110,000 pot flip with ace-king against pocket sixes and then brick, brick, brick...
was exposed as a player folded their hand. 
and Brandt checked. Mitchell bet 2,000 and Brandt check-raised to 5,400. 
and Brandt put out a stack of blue 5,000-denomination chips to put Mitchell all in. She quickly called off with around 25,000.
river to eliminate the two-time EPT Main Event champion, who first took down 2006 EPT London Main Event for £500,000 and later 2014 EPT Sanremo Main Event for €476,100. 
runout but Ensan was eliminated.
.
and Armstrong led out for 4,000. Brandt responded with a raise to 11,000 and Brandt called.
and Brandt checked. Armstrong checked back, leading Brandt to reveal 
for a missed nut flush draw that ended up being top pair. That led Armstrong to turn over 
turn. Lukas Zaskodny was the only caller.
for a rivered nut straight. 
. All three players checked on the flop and the same action took place on the 