Ian Simpson has begun his climb back up the mountainous leaderboard here at the MILLIONS Main Event, and has doubled up at just the right time.
"I had Ace-Ten and I three-bet pre-flop, Boris [Becker] called and so did another player, my eventual heads-up opponent. The flop came and we checked. On the turn of a deuce, he bet and I called. On the queen river he went all-in and had ."
Simpson is not the only player bouncing back after an early setback, with former Late Night Poker legend and current Millions commentator Barny Boatman trying to avoid commentating on the final simply by winning £1million instead.
Plenty of big names have already been eliminated and will have to fire a second bullet in order to advance to Day 2.
Among them was also Giulio Mascolo, who just shoved for the last 95,000 with . Table neighbor Nando Theessen called with from one seat over and got there on the board [Kh9s6d4c5sd]. Theessen moved back to around the starting stack for today.
Tony Dunst fired 130,000 into a pot 350,000 chips on the flop, and Jason Wheeler made the call leaving himself only 345,000 behind.
The players checked through the turn, before Wheeler moved in on the river. Dunst considered his option before throwing in a single 25,000 chip to signal the call, and Wheeler instantly turned over . Dunst proceeded to turn over his , and the players got to chop the pot of almost 1,3 million chips.
According to Jussi Nevanlinna, the biggest pot of the Finn came off a three-way flop of when Nevanlinna raised from 65,000 to 190,000 on the button and picked up one caller. His sole remaining opponent then check-called 175,000 on the turn before check-folding the river to a shove.
It was also Nevanlinna who opened to 30,000 in the last hand of the level and Sam Grafton then three-bet to 76,000 in the small blind. Paul Byrne reraised to 205,000 and Nevanlinna folded, Grafton then shoved. Byrne asked for a count and eventually called Grafton's shove for 495,000.
"I am begging you, don't make me pay more money in this comp," Grafton joked when the cards were turned over.
Sam Grafton:
Paul Byrne:
"Black cards please," Grafton added and the flop fell . "That's a good start," the always vocal Brit stated, and his double was confirmed with the turn, making the river a formality.
Felipe Ramos lost a big pot with ace-king versus ace-queen to get rather short while Govert Metaal was down to 700,000 and then more than doubled with pocket aces versus pocket kings. Among the biggest stacks are Steve O'Dwyer and Florian Duta.
Dominik Nitsche raised it up to 35,000, Sebastian Skurzynski made the call and Michal Danka made it 125,000 to go two seats behind him. Back on Nitsche he four-bet to 280,000, Skurzynski folded and soon after Danka's hand found the muck as well.
Nitsche took one last peak at his hand before letting it go, prompting a comment from Phil Mighall.
"Why do you only show yourself? Show one, show all", he said with a grin, but the dealer didn't quite agree on that interpretation of the rule, and Nitsche's hand remained a mystery.
Peter Ryder raised and picked up the call by Lee Egan from one seat over in the cutoff. On the flop, both players checked and Ryder then bet the turn for 42,000. Egan called and then faced a second bet worth 75,000 after the river. That proved to be too much, and the Irishman folded.
Ryder boosted his stack to around 1.1m, while Egan is well above average.
." 
. Table neighbor Nando Theessen called with 
from one seat over and got there on the board [Kh9s6d4c5sd]. Theessen moved back to around the starting stack for today.
flop, and Jason Wheeler made the call leaving himself only 345,000 behind.
turn, before Wheeler moved in on the 
river. Dunst considered his option before throwing in a single 25,000 chip to signal the call, and Wheeler instantly turned over 
. Dunst proceeded to turn over his 
, and the players got to chop the pot of almost 1,3 million chips.
when Nevanlinna raised from 65,000 to 190,000 on the button and picked up one caller. His sole remaining opponent then check-called 175,000 on the 
turn before check-folding the 
river to a shove.
. "That's a good start," the always vocal Brit stated, and his double was confirmed with the 
turn, making the 
river a formality.
flop, both players checked and Ryder then bet the 