2017 PokerStars Festival London

The PokerStars Festival London got underway at the Hippodrome Casino in the heart of London’s theatreland this week, kicking off eight days of poker. Event #7, the £2,200 single reentry High Roller kicked off today and it was a resounding success with players from all over the world streaming through the doors to join in the action.

After 13 levels of 40-minutes each, there were just 47 hopefuls remaining from a field of 178. Some of the big names who took stacks through include Javier Zarco (207,500), Liv Boeree (209,500), James Akenhead (171,500), Chris Moorman (101,500) and Philipp Gruissem (99,000). Yuriy Boyko on 245,500 is the chip leader with Julien Sitbon leading the chasing pack with 227,500.

By the end of the third level of the day, the tournament had spilled over to The Lounge and still the High Rollers kept arriving. Just before the dinner break at 7:15 p.m. there was no more room at the Hippodrome and several players had to wait a short while before they could be accommodated. In the end, everyone who wanted to play was seated.

When registration closed, it was announced that the tournament had attracted 178 entries, made up of 166 unique players and 12 reentries. This number was significantly up on the 114 entries from the UKIPT High Roller last year which this event replaced.

The 178 entries generated a prize pool of £345,000 with 34 players paid and a min-cash worth £3,110. The winner is set to receive £67,290.

Some of the stellar names in attendance included PokerStars Team Pros Felipe ‘Mojave’ Ramos and Jake Cody, online legend Chris Moorman, Spanish sensation Adrian Mateos and November Niner Pierre Neuville.

It was a day at the felt to forget for Cody though who never really got going after winning a few early pots. He was soon below average when the final blow was dealt. Cody got it in with ace-queen on a queen-high board but found out soon enough his opponent had slowplayed aces.

Cody’s second bullet started much more successfully, buying back in after the dinner break he soon doubled up and peaked at a stack of around 90,000. Alas, for the popular Vlogging Pro, the trend would go into reverse and he was eliminated towards the end of the day.

Boeree was one of the late arrivals who had to wait for a seat. But once she had chips, she put them to good use. Almost immediately she took a 20,000-pot from Morten Mortensen when she flopped top two holding ace-king. Boeree continued to chip up ending the day on 209,500, third in chips.

Some of the notables that failed to make it to the end of Day 1 include the PokerStars Team Pros Aditya Agarwal, Luca Pagano and Felipe Ramos, as well as Ludovic Geilich, Niall Farrell, Igor Kurganov and Adrian Mateos.

Action resumes at 2 p.m. local time when the remaining field will play down to a winner and Day 1a of the main event kicks off as the Festival London continues. The PokerNews live reporting team will be there to keep you up to date on all the action.

All players have bagged up their chips and 47 remain with the top 34 spots being paid. A recap of today's action as well as the chip counts will be available shortly.

In one of the last hands of the night, James Akenhead scored a big double up through Michel Abecassis. Akenhead opened to 5,100 from the cutoff and Abecassis made it 15,400 to go in the big blind, the Brit just called.

On the flop, Abecassis continued for 12,200 and received the call before the on the turn saw the Frenchman check. Akenhead shoved for his last 51,600 and Abecassis called before quickly seeing the bad news.

James Akenhead:
Michel Abecassis:

The river changed nothing anymore and Abecassis lost a big portion of his stack.

Just when the last hands of the night were announced, Mitch Johnson and Aditya Agarwal were eliminated.

Johnson lost a flip with versus on a board of .

As for Agarwal, he fell victim to an unfortunate setup. On the three-way turn reading , Firas Nassar checked in the small blind and Agarwal did so in the big blind. Daniel Wilson bet 9,000 and Nassar check-raised small. Agarwal shoved and Wilson folded, Nassar snap-called with for the nut flush.

Agarwal had for the second nuts and was drawing dead, the river already a formality.

Four more hands tonight then it's bag and tag time.

Benjamin Morrison opened for 5,200 from under the gun. Javier Zarco on the button raised to 14,600 and PokerStars Team Pro Liv Boeree called from the big blind.

Morrison then raised to 39,000 which saw a frustrated Zarco fold. Boeree stuck around though and put in the chips.

After so much preflop action they checked it down to the river of a board reading where Morrison said, “There is no way I’m winning this hand.”

Boeree showed him and said, “Nice check.”

After a raise to 5,100, Makrem Saber moved all in for 26,000 on the button. Joe Johnson four-bet all in out of the small blind and that got the blind blind and initial raiser out of the way.

Saber showed the and was trailing Johnson's . The board ran out and the kicker played to eliminate Saber.

Down to just seven tables, the remaining players are heading into the last level of the night. It seems unlikely that the money will be reached tonight still, but a few hopes of getting as far are going to be crushed before bagging and tagging.