Having been told they are playing the last level of the night, Florent Marques is not particularly happy. He would play all night if he was allowed to he told the table.
Sam Trickett opened in early position for 16,000 and was called by Benoit Albiges in the cut-off. Florent Marques decided this would be a good time for a squeeze and moved all in for 109,000 from the small blind.
The big blind got out of the way and Trickett folded pretty quickly, but Albiges looked like he had a genuine decision.
In the end, perhaps regretting the call in the first place, he threw the hand away.
Dan Morgan and Pete Linton have been seated next to each other for a large part of today so a battle of the blinds was inevitable.
Morgan open-limped the small blind, Linton raise only to see Morgan make it 42,000 to go. Linton re-raised to 83,000 and Morgan mucked his hand, giving a wry smile as he restacked his chips into stacks of 20.
Despite the fact we've lost over 300 players today, there are still several big names in the event. One of the most well known is Freddy Deeb who has two WPT titles and two WSOP bracelets to his name.
Deeb has just added to his stack after his held against a short-stack's on a board to put him over the 400,000 mark.
Pete Linton likes to make his presence felt at the table. He plays a lot of hands and you tangle with him at your peril. But it doesn’t always go his way.
Linton raised to 23,000 from the hi-jack and was raised from the button to 77,000. Linton flicked in his cards and addressed the raiser.
“Nice hand sir. Seventy seven gets the job done in these parts. At least until it doesn’t.” He stated, putting the table on a warning.
The next hand he called a raise of 22,000 in position and with the blinds getting out of the way it was heads up to the flop of
The raiser bet 22,000 and Linton called. The turn brought the and again the bet was 22,000 to Linton. Again he called.
The last card was the the bet again was 22,000.
Linton sighed. He didn’t like that call but it looked too cheap not to call so out went the chips.
His opponent showed for top pair and Linton’s cards arched over the pot and into the muck.
The tournament director has just informed us that they are cutting the day by one level, meaning we will complete the remainder of this level and the next before bagging up for the night.
This is due to the astonishing rate at which the players have busted out. We started the day with 421 and at a last count we only have 130 in their seats! Amazing stuff!
At the far end of the tournament area there are two tables that are situated almost next to each other but their players are at complete opposites on the spectrum.
One table is the home to the so-called old school live professionals such as Albert Sapiano, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Mickey Wernick and a handful of other middle-aged players.
The other table is full of "online grinders" such as Mathew Frankland, Marius Pospiech and one Peter Eastgate. It would will be interesting to see which group of players progresses the deepest here in London.
Albert Sapiano is an interesting character. He made his fortune in the honey business and is a regular in the big games in the Victoria Casino on Edgeware road. He's known for a very 'unique' style of play but while openly admitting he is a lifetime loser at poker, he's completely uncaring as to what other people think of his play.
This does, of course, make him very entertaining to watch.
He fired 15,000 on the turn of a board having defended the blinds against a raise. He was called and quickly announced, "I check in the dark," before the came on the river. His opponent checked back and Sapiano showed which was enough to win him the pot. He's got 460,000.
Renee Xie is one of the last remaining women in this tournament and is holding her own. She just lost some ground, namely 17,000 chips, when she opened first in on the button to 17,000 and faced some resistance from a certain Toby Lewis.
Lewis took some time away from watching the England versus Brazil match on his iPad to three-bet to 50,000. Xie gave Lewis a stare down that Lewis' sponsor Phil Ivey would have been proud of, before letting her hand go and giving the pot to Lewis.
![[user252447]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
held against a short-stack's 
on a 
board to put him over the 400,000 mark.
and again the bet was 22,000 to Linton. Again he called.
for top pair and Linton’s cards arched over the pot and into the muck.
board having defended the blinds against a raise. He was called and quickly announced, "I check in the dark," before the 
which was enough to win him the pot. He's got 460,000.