£20,000 High Roller Event | PokerStars.com EPT London £1m Showdown

10-06-2008 14:55 UTC+2

Super Intense

[user4144]

With the EPT in the bag and the casino barely open, it's as quiet as a mouse nunnery down there and super intense as hardly a word is spoken. But with £516,000 up for grabs and an inevitable stream of publicity, it's with good reason that they are focused, especially considering the mammoth obstacles standing in the way.

It's been a long month with so many festivals on offer, and consequently there are a few tired faces out there. This one could be a case of endurance more than anything and a test of mental stamina.

10-06-2008 14:44 UTC+2

Early Action A Little Slow

[user46392]

Since the rather predictable early exit of Jani Sointula, play has been a little cagey, with virtually no flops seen and the chunky blinds and antes going to whoever raises first.

At one point Alexander Roumeliotis raised to 10,500 under the gun and it folded around to John Juanda on the big blind, who turned to Scotty Nguyen. "He got you out of trouble, Scotty," he said. "If he doesn't raise, then you raise, and then I would have moved all in." He folded.

Indeed the most action we have seen so far is a button raise to 10,000 from Roumeliotis, only for him to fold to a reraise to 29,000 from big blind Masaaki Kagawa. Kagawa was spotted out in the smoking section this morning doing windmill exercises apparently to warm up his raising arm, though, so perhaps this was to be expected.

Tags: Masaaki Kagawa

10-06-2008 14:32 UTC+2

Jani Sointula Eliminated

[user46392]

As expected, with less than two big blinds, Jani Sointula wasted no time and got his unfortunate microstack in first hand. Perhaps he though he was in with a chance -- he found {A-Diamonds}

in the cutoff -- but Andrew Feldman found {A-Hearts}

in the big blind and called him.

Board: {7-Diamonds}

and we have lost our first player of the day. Down to 13...

Tags: Andrew Feldman Jani Sointula

Level: 12

Blinds: 2,000/4,000

Ante: 400

10-06-2008 13:54 UTC+2

Play Due to Restart at 1pm Local Time

[user46392]

Welcome back to the Grosvenor Victoria Casino, or "Vic" in the parlance, where we will shortly be resuming the high-rolling action. We have 14 players remaining and just nine places pay out, so expect the fighting to be furious.

Our remaining contenders:

David Benyamine - 295,900
Alexander Roumeliotis - 229,400
Jason Mercier - 161,200
Scotty Nguyen - 159,100
Masaaki Kagawa - 159,000
John Juanda - 138,900
Michael Watson - 118,000
Peter Jetten - 105,100
Isabelle Mercier - 99,200
Isaac Haxton - 83,200
Dennis Phillips - 73,200
Ghassan Bitar - 58,700
Andrew Feldman - 33,000
Jani Sointula - 6,500

And what they're playing for:

1 £516,000
2 £327,000
3 £241,000
4 £189,000
5 £137,000
6 £103,000
7 £86,000
8 £69,000
9 £51,000