It's final table time here in London as our remaining eight players are getting ready to fight tooth and nail in the hopes of becoming the next EPT champion. Jeff Rossiter is the chip leader with 5,205,000 in chips and while Australians have made four final tables previously, there has never actually been an Australian winner of an EPT despite a large number of incredibly talented players.
Two other players have previous EPT final experience, Jan Olav Sjavik came 3rd for £168,600 at EPT London back in Season 3 when Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren caught a lucky river to eliminate the Norwegian. Robin Ylitalo made the final table of EPT Campione in Season 8, finishing 8th for €54,000 but the Swede will be hoping to make it a little further up the ladder this time.
Ludovic Geilich may not have finaled an EPT but the Scottish-German player won the UKIPT event in Marbella earlier this year for €130,000 so this setup will not be totally alien to him. Rounding off the final table are Georgios Karakousis, Stefan Vagner, Leo McClean and Kully Sidhu, all hoping to take down the title.
The final table will start at 1pm but will be shown on a one hour delay on the live feed, for that reason we'll will be reporting updates on the same delay. Therefore full updates will follow from here from 2pm local time.
It was passed to Ludovic Geilich in the small blind who moved all in for 685,000 with and Stefan Vagner made the call with .
Geilich was in massive trouble and the Scottish rail bayed for a four. The flop was and Geilich jumped into the lead. Now Vagner needed a king but the on the turn couldn't help him. “Deuce” shouted the Scots!
The river was the , the rail got their wish and Geilich doubled up to 1.4 million.
Georgios Karakousis opened for 100,000 from early position with the only to have Kully Sidhu three-bet all in for 435,000 from the cutoff holding the . The button and both blinds folded, and Karakousis opted to make the call.
According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Sidhu had a 63.16% of surviving the hand while Karakousis would score the elimination 36.40% of the time. The flop was disaster for Sidhu as Karakousis paired his jack and became a 67.88% favorite. The turn was of no consequence, and that meant Sidhu needed to find one of his nine outs headed to the river, which would happened 20.45% of the time. The dealer burned and put out the .
Sidhu missed and became the first elimination of the day.
Jeff Rossiter limped in the small blind with and Georgios Karakousis made it 180,000 in the big blind with . Rossiter called to see a board.
Rossiter quickly check-called a 200,000 bet and Karakousis pinged a gutshot on the . Rossiter checked and Karakousis bet 450,000 – Rossiter just called to see the river.
Rossiter checked the river and Karakousis fired 500,000. Rossiter quickly called and got the bad news. Karakousis has the chip lead once more
Ludovic Geilich raised to 160,000 preflop with and Stefan Vagner made the call with . Behind them Robin Ylitalo picked up and squeezed to 455,000.
Geilich thought for a moment then folded and we'd expected Vagner to do the same, but instead the latter shoved for about 2 million chips and Ylitalo instantly called.
Vagner was the player at risk and needed to hit but the flop came , the came on the turn and he was drawing dead. Vagner got up to shake everyone's hand as the dealer put out the on the river. We're now five-handed and Robin Ylitalo has a big chip lead.
Jeff Rossiter raised to 160,000 from UTG with and Robin Ylitalo made it 425,000 on the button with . Leo McClean then moved all in from the blinds with .
Rossiter folded saying, "You've probably saved me some money mate," as Ylitalo made the obligatory call.
Shortly after coming back from a break, Jeff Rossiter, who began the day as the chip leader but had fallen to the short stack, moved all in from the button for 1.255 million with the . Georgios Karakousis had been battling the Australian all day, so it was only fitting that he called from the small blind with the . The big blind folded and it was off to the races.
The railbirds were cheering for their respective party, but Karakousis' got a lot louder when the flop delivered their man a pair of queens and the lead. The turn meant Rossiter needed a four on the river to keep his tournament hopes alive, but it was not meant to be as the blanked.
Geilich raised to 200,000 from UTG/CO holding , Ylitalo picked up a dominating and three-bet to 440,000 from the button. Geilich moved all in and Ylitalo instantly called.
The flop came and Geilich had just two eights in the deck to save him, the came on the turn changing nothing and the river was the .
Geilich, whose stack has been up and down like a yo-yo today, is out in fourth place after a great and entertaining run.
Leo McClean, a project manager in the retail industry, won his seat into this tournament for a total investment of just £93 (he played an £11 satellite on PokerStars, didn't get anywhere in that so then he played a £82 satellite which got him into the £530 qualifier where he won one of three packages). No matter where he finished today, he was going capture his biggest ever live cash (crushing his previous best of a third-place finish in a tournament in Luton for £1,900 earlier this year). It was a bit of a fairytale, but one that just came to an end in third place.
McLean, who was the Skrill Last Longer Champion for this tournament, opened for 225,000 with the only to have Georgios Karakousis three-bet all in with the in the small blind. It was a big decision for McClean, and he decided to call off for 3.26 million.
It was and likely will be the biggest flip of McClean's life, and unfortunately for him, it was one that would not come down in his favor as the board ran out .
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Stefan Vagner made the call with 
.
and Geilich jumped into the lead. Now Vagner needed a king but the 
on the turn couldn't help him. “Deuce” shouted the Scots!
, the rail got their wish and Geilich doubled up to 1.4 million.
only to have Kully Sidhu three-bet all in for 435,000 from the cutoff holding the 
flop was disaster for Sidhu as Karakousis paired his jack and became a 67.88% favorite. The 
turn was of no consequence, and that meant Sidhu needed to find one of his nine outs headed to the river, which would happened 20.45% of the time. The dealer burned and put out the 
.
and Georgios Karakousis made it 180,000 in the big blind with 
. Rossiter called to see a 
board.
river.
and Stefan Vagner made the call with 
, the 
on the river. We're now five-handed and Robin Ylitalo has a big chip lead.
and Robin Ylitalo made it 425,000 on the button with 
. Leo McClean then moved all in from the blinds with 
. The big blind folded and it was off to the races.
flop delivered their man a pair of queens and the lead. The 
turn meant Rossiter needed a four on the river to keep his tournament hopes alive, but it was not meant to be as the 
, Ylitalo picked up a dominating 
.
flop before Ylitalo took a stab with a 260,000 bet on the 
