Organised by Kerryjane Craigie, the Hippodrome's Head of Poker, and Kelly Saxby, a PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome sponsored player, the 'Ladies that poker at the Hippodrome' group formed back in 2015 with a clear goal in mind: get more women playing poker, regardless of their experience level.
“We meet most months and start off with a chat and catch up over a glass of fizz or a cocktail,” Craigie tells PokerStars Blog. “We discuss successes, near misses, specific hands and general poker gossip.”
Midway through the ninth level of the day, Justin Bateson's stack has moved above 200,000 in chips, more than four times the average which currently stands at 52,000.
A reminder that the overall chip leader currently from yesterday's flights are Savvas Mitsikouridis (498,500) and Dominic Wells (405,000), as well as Day 1a chip leader Simon Green (347,000).
As the players returned from break, tournament officials have broken a table meaning just eight tables remain on Day 1c of Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020.
A reminder that the tournament will play down to 21 players before bagging ahead of Day 2 tomorrow.
Day 2 will start at the revised time of 12 p.m. NOT 11 a.m. as previously advertised.
The Moneymaker Tour, offering players the opportunity to get their hands on a Platinum Pass, might be going from strength to strength in 2019. However, Chris Moneymaker admits his poker performances have been anything but.
"Last year I played at eleven stops and cashed in seven," Moneymaker said. "But the London players are just really good. This stop I've played five bullets and busted. That'll probably be seven by the end of today."
Moneymaker has been a busy man, flitting across the Atlantic handing out Platinum Passes at European Poker Tour Open Sochi and Run It Up Reno.
"Sochi was amazing," he said. "Great turnout. We had almost 1,000 runners for the Moneymaker event there as well as a good turnout for the Open.
"I had a deep run in the deep stack and the Main Event, and I have to say for me I take more pictures there than anywhere else on the planet. It's amazing — the poker is really growing there, got a lot of fans."
Chris Moneymaker
A fixture on the American circuit for the last 15 years, Moneymaker admits that he often gets photographed more overseas than in his home country and that in Sochi, in particular, he was "mobbed".
"I've been around American players enough," he said. "Players oversea just don't get to play with me as much. When I was in Sochi I was mobbed. There were so many pictures.
Moneymaker says that there are "familiar faces" on the hunt for a Platinum Pass during the tour's second season, highlighting the tour's accessibility.
Chris Moneymaker in action in Sochi
"You get to see so many unique players that don't usually play tournaments," he said. "With such an accessible buy-in and the Platinum Pass, people just want to play. I mean, I'm here as well, but the Platinum Pass might have something to do with it as well.
"It's a different clientele or player base that plays these. This is my player base. I love playing with these players. They have fun, it's enjoyable and I would compare it to Run It Up or Lex Live. It's a fun atmosphere at the start. On Day 3 it'll get serious when they're playing for the Pass, but right now everyone's cracking up on Day 1. When you bust someone, they laugh and go rebuy instead of crying."
The Moneymaker Road to PSPC 2020 has only just begun — London is only the third stop — but the veteran PokerStars Ambassador says that there will be events through until June giving players the opportunity to win a Platinum Pass.
"We haven't announced all of the stops yet. We're trying to figure out where and the timing. We're going to be releasing stops on the PokerStars Blog over the next couple of months, but there will be plenty of opportunities for UK players to win Platinum Passes."
Midway through Level 7, the bigger stacks are starting to emerge from the Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020 Day 1c field.
One of them is Asif Warris who informed us of a hand where he won a sizeable pot from Ben Martin.
Warris opened to 1,500 and Martin three-bet to 4,500. Warris called. The flop came [6h7h9] and Warris checked. Martin continued for 3,000 before tank-shoving for around 35,000.
Martin called with and Warris showed for a set. The turn gave him a full house, which meant that the river was irrelevant as he doubled up. He has since increased his stack to just over 100,000 in chips.
Registration and re-entry on flight Day 1c has closed with the tournament clock showing 139 players. If that is confirmed, it would mean that Day 1c would end when we have reached 21 players (15%).
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and Warris showed 
for a set. The turn 
gave him a full house, which meant that the 
river was irrelevant as he doubled up. He has since increased his stack to just over 100,000 in chips.
