March 09 2013, by Eric Danis
EPT London Festival Kicks Off, UKIPT FT Sunday
The PokerStars EPT London Poker Festival started earlier this week with the £700+£70 United Kingdom Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) Main Event. The event drew the largest crowd ever for a poker tournament in London’s history. Over 1,000 players (in fact, one player shy of 1,100) made their way to London starting last Tuesday and after days of playing long hours, the event is down to its final table of eight.
Belgian’s Wim Neys, who finished 41st at WPT National Series Brussels a few weeks back, will have the chip lead once final table play starts on Sunday. The UK duo of Thomas Ward and Philippe Souki hold a virtual share of second and third place.
Meanwhile, former WPT National Series Barcelona winner Sergio Aido, Guy Goossens – who finished 8th in the Master Classics Main Event last November in Amsterdam – and EPT Prague 31st place finisher Cesar Garcia are a few other notables who will also be in competition on Sunday.
PokerStars Team Pro Juan Manuel Pastor (pictured, left) (who finished fourth at EPT London in 2012) was the final table bubble boy when a river 7 gave his opponent a pair, besting his all-in pre-flop AJ hand. American pro Olivier Busquet finished 21st in the event while Richard Trigg, Ismael Bojang, Daniel Rudd, Jamie Burland, William Beauchamp and Jason Duval all collected Top 40 prize money.
The final eight players will be fighting for the following stakes:
1st. £156,800
2nd. £104,600
3rd. £63,560
4th. £44,870
5th. £33,680
6th. £22,490
7th. £15,050
8th. £12,691
Final Table coverage of the event will be available over on the PokerStars Blog.
UKIPT LONDON MAIN EVENT SEAT ASSIGNMENTS/CHIP COUNTS:
[table id=95 /]
UKIPT HIGH ROLLER, LADIES
The £2k UKIPT High Roller and £500 EPT Ladies events both started on Saturday at the Victoria Grosvenor Casino (The Vic). The High Roller event drew a stunning 219 runners with a £422,920 prize pool awaiting those who cash in the event.
Amongst the all-stars who registered for the High Rollers event were Liv Boeree (pictured, right), Marvin Rettenmaier, Victoria Cohen, Joni Jouhkimainen, Jamie Burland, Kevin MacPhee, Jude Ainsworth, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Will Beauchamp, Steve O’Dwyer, Michael Tureniec, Anton Wigg, J.P. Kelly, Jon Spinks, Marcin Horecki, Michel Abecassis, Ludovic Lacay, David Vamplew, John Duthie, Mickey Petersen, Lucilly Cailly, George Danzer, Timothy Reilly and Fabrice Soulier.
Also in the event were a few players that were playing the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event in San Jose, California just a few short days ago: Jonathan Duhamel, Shannon Shorr, Chris Moorman, Toby Lewis, Mohsin Charania and Bryn Kenney.
EPT LONDON MAIN EVENT HOURS AWAY
But of course, everyone is here for one reason – the EPT London Main Event, which is set to kickoff on Sunday. A huge amount of runners are expected for what is one of the premier tour stops on the live tournament circuit. German pro Benjamin Spindler returns to defend his EPT London title with American Steve O’Dwyer looking to avenge his defeat and go one better this time around at the Vic.
The £5,000 + £250 Main Event final table is set for next Saturday, March 16th with so much action awaiting between now and next Saturday. For those who are unable to make it deep they will be able to rub shoulders with businessmen and fellow poker players alike in the £10,000 + £300 High Rollers event slated to begin on Thursday. A bunch of other tournaments will also be offered throughout the week including a £10,000 8-Game Championship starting mid-week and a £5,000 NL Turbo event next weekend.
Just like they did at EPT Deauville, James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton will cover the Main Event from end-to-end over at PokerStars.TV starting at 17:00 CET on Sunday. Also, look for an interview with Stapleton on Fantasy Poker in the next few days, right here on GlobalPokerIndex.com.
2013 EPT LONDON EVENT INFORMATION
| Dates: | March 10-16, 2013 | |
| Buy-In: | £5,250 GBP | |
| EPT FT: | SAT MAR 16 2013 | Noon GMT |
| 2012: | Benjamin Spindler | |
| Prize pool: | £3,351,350 | 691 Players |
CURRENT LIST OF EXPECTED PLAYERS
[table id=96 /]
2012 EPT LONDON FINAL TABLE RESULTS (USD)
| 1st | Benjamin Spindler | £750,000 |
| 2nd | Steve O’Dwyer | £465,000 |
| 3rd | Andre Klebanov | £265,000 |
| 4th | Juan Manuel Pastor | £200,000 |
| 5th | Mattias Bergstrom | £155,000 |
| 6th | Kevin Iacofano | £120,000 |
| 7th | Martins Adeniya | £86,350 |
| 8th | Miroslav Benes | £64,000 |
PAST EPT LONDON CHAMPIONS
| 2011 | Benjamin Spindler | £750,000 |
| 2010 | David Vamplew | £900,000 |
| 2009 | Aaron Gustavson | £850,000 |
| 2008 | Michael Martin | £1,000,000 |
| 2007 | Joseph Mouawad | £611,250 |
| 2006 | Victoria Coren | £500,000 |
| 2005 | Mark Teltscher | £280,000 |
| 2004 | John Shipley | £200,000 |
More news and updates on our facebook page. You can also follow us on Twitter!
Related articles
GPI GLOBAL POKER RANKINGS RANK PLAYER NATION GPI SCORE LAST CHANGE #1 Stephen Chidwick (4th week) UK 3,803.02 1 = ...
GPI GLOBAL POKER RANKINGS RANK PLAYER NATION GPI SCORE LAST CHANGE #1 William Alex Foxen (2 weeks) USA 3,850.35 1 = ...
Massive buy-in events at EPT Monte Carlo and at Triton Series Montenegro were no match for Canadian Daniel Dvoress, who ...
About the author
Eric Danis’ passion for poker came at a very early age but it’s when writing about and covering the game he loves that Danis is most in his element. Danis is better known for creating www.PTPRpoker.com where he spent a few years covering poker events. Danis is also known for having worked on the poker shows Poker Eh! and The Pulse on the Quad Jacks Network.
