In about 90 minutes from now on, the third and final day of the £ 200 No Limit Hold'em partypoker WPT National London Accumulator gets underway at the Aspers Casino in Stratford. There are 24 players remaining and Laurence Essa is leading the field as only contender above one million thus far with 1,069,000 in chips. He is followed by Rahim Tadj-Saadat (921,000) and Christopher Yong (784,000).
Other notables include Kevin Allen (709,000), Jeraint "JJ" Hazan (625,000), 2014 WPT Nottingham winner and EPT 11 Deauville finalist Matas Cimbolas (589,000), day 1a chip leader Lucio Pacifico (537,000) and Darren Mapley (469,000). The event will resume at 2 p.m. UK time with level 21 at blinds 10,000-20,000 and a running ante of 3,000. The level duration increases to 60 minutes and action is guaranteed right from the restart with 10 players at 20 big blinds or less.
The event drew a total of 594 entries to generate a prize pool of £ 106,920. All remaining participants are guaranteed at least £ 895 for their efforts, but everyone has their eyes set on the first-place payout of £ 22,500 and the winner's trophy. As usual the PokerNews live reporting team will provide all crucial hands until the champion is crowned, so make sure to tune back in often and enjoy the show.
Kevin Allen raised to 40,000 and James Manlove moved all in for his last 41,000 chips in the cutoff. Everyone else folded and Alen tossed in the extra chip to head into a showdown.
Allen:
Manlove:
"Oh, look at this," Manlove said when he spotted the flop. The Brit wouldn't improve anymore on turn and river.
Saulius Tumosa open-shoved from late position and was called by Karl Roberts in the big blind. It was the for the Lithuanian and the for Gordon. The board ran out and the field was reduced to its last 22 players.
From the button, Umberan Akhtar moved all in with his short stack and was called by Paul Siliceo from one seat over whereas the player in the big blind got out of the way. Akhtar held the but ended up drawing dead after the turn of a board against the of Siliceo.
Short stack Matthew Buckland moved all in with and was called by Chan Ha with . The flop was a huge sweat for the short stack but he couldn't improve anymore to hit the rail in 20th place.
After a three-way pot to the flop, Darren Mapley pushed all in and forced two opponents to fold. One hand later, Mapley raised to 55,000 and Kevin Allen moved all in from the small blind for 395,000. Mapley gave it some thought before making the call and flipped over . Allen was dominated with and wished everyone good luck after a flop of .
It was definitely over after the fell on the turn and the meaningless on the river completed the board.
After a flop of , Marius Lietuvninkas was all in and at risk with and covered by Paul Siliceo. Even worse news for the Lithuanian was the fact he only had four outs, as Siliceo held the . Neither the turn nor the river changed anything and Lietuvninkas was sent to the rail in 18th place.
The next short stack to fall would be Andrew Bell after committing his last chips with the . Paul Siliceo looked him up with the dominating . Jeraint Hazan was calling for a split pot after the flop and that indeed happened with the on the turn. If it wasn't for the evil river card though, as the dealer burned and turned the to sent Bell to the rail.
Rahim Tadj-Saadat opend the action with a raise to 55,000 and Chan Ha moved all in for 475,000 from the button. It was no snap-call but Tajd-Saadat did make the call with the superior stack.
Ha:
Tadj-Saadat:
The big stack would immediately improve on a flop of and held up with the turn and river as last two community cards.
Lucio Pacifico raised from early position and called the shove of Christopher Gordon for another 197,000 on top with . Gordon was ahead with his but would fall to a runner runner straight on the board.