Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2017 PokerStars Festival London
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 PokerStars Festival London
Buy-in
£990
Prize Pool
£824,112
Entries
944
Level
32
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
25,000
![[user252447]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
The first of four starting days for the PokerStars Festival London Main Event got underway at 2 p.m. at the Hippodrome Casino in the West End of London. A new chapter started for PokerStars as the era of the 'UK and Ireland Poker Tour' was ushered out and a new series of events rostered in.
Online qualifier Mihaita Croitoru (photo) leads after 12 levels of play in the inaugural London edition of PokerStars Festivals. The Romanian bagged up 340,000 while Lam Van Trinh sits second with 291,300. Third is Lucian Tartan on 216,500.
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mihaita Croitoru | Romania | 340,000 |
| 2 | Lam Van Trinh | United Kingdom | 291,300 |
| 3 | Lucian Tartan | United Kingdom | 216,500 |
| 4 | David Johnson | United Kingdom | 201,300 |
| 5 | Bappie De Haas | Netherlands | 184,600 |
The event attracted plenty of big names, some of whom played the record-breaking High Roller yesterday. They included PokerStars Team Pro Felipe Ramos, Niall Farrell, Adrian Mateos, Chris Moorman and Philipp Gruissem.
Other familiar faces included the ever popular Barny Boatman and Chaz Chattha and a few of the younger faces on the scene in Ben Winsor, William Davies and Steven Game.
There were a total of 26 online qualifiers in the field with; all got in cheaply and had the plan to make away with a bumper payday. One of them, Mihaita Croitoru from Romania, qualified for just $66 at PokerStars and ended up as the Day 1a chip leader.
The £990 freezeout attracted 169 players in total, all of whom set out with high hopes and 30,000 chips continuing the successful start of the eight-day series.
It was a fiercely fought poker game all day with very few easy tables. Gruissem was one of the chip leaders towards the end of the day and at various stages in the last two levels, it looked as if Lucian Tartan, Brett Kennedy or Sander Sol could grab the lead. In one of the last five hands, though, Lam Van Trinh flopped a full house against his opponent's set and won a huge pot to propel him to the top. Another late twist saw him lose a pot to end up in second place and it was Croitoru who was end-of-day leader.
At the close of play, 45 players had made it through to Day 2 from the 169 entrants. Some of the notables to bag include William Davies (175,0000), David Docherty (127,000), Slaven Popov (95,700), Philipp Gruissem (70,800) and James Dempsey (40,500)
Day 1b is set to take place at the earlier start time of 11 a.m. tomorrow and will follow the same format as today; 12 levels of 45 minutes each with a 75-minute dinner break after level 6. Anyone who played and busted today will not be eligible to enter as the turbo on Friday is the only chance of re-entry.
Check in with the PokerNews Live Reporting team throughout the day for more action from the inaugural PokerStars Festival at the Hippodrome Casino.
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
340,000
340,000
|
340,000 |
|
291,300
291,300
|
291,300 |
|
|
216,500
103,500
|
103,500 |
|
201,300
201,300
|
201,300 |
|
184,600
184,600
|
184,600 |
|
176,700
6,700
|
6,700 |
|
175,000
87,000
|
87,000 |
|
|
161,400
3,600
|
3,600 |
|
161,000
161,000
|
161,000 |
|
155,700
155,700
|
155,700 |
|
|
153,000
153,000
|
153,000 |
|
138,600
138,600
|
138,600 |
|
136,400
136,400
|
136,400 |
|
|
134,000
66,000
|
66,000 |
|
|
131,600
131,600
|
131,600 |
|
127,000
33,000
|
33,000 |
|
121,200
121,200
|
121,200 |
|
117,000
117,000
|
117,000 |
|
96,000
96,000
|
96,000 |
|
95,700
46,300
|
46,300 |
|
93,400
93,400
|
93,400 |
|
92,200
92,200
|
92,200 |
|
|
91,600
91,600
|
91,600 |
|
85,800
47,800
|
47,800 |
|
||
|
82,900
52,900
|
52,900 |
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
There will be five more hands played tonight before it is time to bag and tag for those lucky enough to survive the 12 levels of poker.
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
There are a few players hovering around the 120,000 mark but a couple have stretched ahead and one has a clear lead. Lucian Tartan has a whopping 320,000 and barring a series of unfortunate events looks set to be the chip leader at the end of Day 1a.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
320,000 | |
|
|
170,000 | |
|
|
165,000 |
Level: 12
Blinds: 1,000/2,000
Ante: 300
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
The flop was 
and James Dempsey led out from the big blind for 5,400. Constantin Erhan on the button raised to 11,000 and Dempsey had a decision to make. Neither player had a huge pile of chips behind them so there was little to no wriggle room.
Dempsey opted to call and saw the turn come the 
. Dempsey checked and a bet of 7,500 from Erhan saw a shove from Dempsey and a quick call.
Dempsey tabled 
for top pair but Erhan had a set with his 
.
The river was the 
and a double up for Erhan saw Dempsey down to fumes.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
60,000 | |
|
7,000
19,500
|
19,500 |
|
||
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
Paulo Alexandre Lopes, Chris Da Silva and William Davies were involved in some preflop action when Davies moved all in for 43,500 and Lopes shoved behind for 89,700.
Da Silva said he had flatted preflop to call a shove but hadn’t reckoned on Lopes getting so heavily involved. He agonised about it for a while but let his hand go.
Davies had 
and Lopes 
. Da Silva said he folded Jacks.
The board ran out 
.
“Will Davies ladies and gentleman.” Da Silva said of the ace on the flop for his friend.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
88,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
|
45,000 |
Level: 11
Blinds: 800/1,600
Ante: 200
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
120,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
120,000
24,000
|
24,000 |
|
|
||
|
110,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
|
80,000
36,000
|
36,000 |
|
|
38,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
|
||
|
32,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
27,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
16,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
10,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
||
