While the hustle and bustle of the London Live Main Event was reaching its peak, three separate tables were being prepped for some highflying action. This was, of course, the London Live High Roller event, a £1,000 buy-in No Limit Holdem tournament.
The field was tough, consisting of WSOP, WPT, Irish Open, UKIPT, IPT, GUKPT and CBMPT winners. That’s a lot of intimidating abbreviations.
Whilst an experienced poker journalist, live blogging is not something I’d ever done before. I’d gotten a feel for it the previous two days covering the London Live main event, but I received help from experienced bloggers including our very own Snoopy. I was quite anxious when tasked with covering this event myself. With a 10,000 starting stack and 30-minute levels, the action was thick and fast. My pen never left the paper.
I started watching the tables only a few minutes into the event and already several players had been eliminated. Chip leader came in the shape of our very own Neil Channing who was sat nicely with around 40,000.
The first big tangle I viewed was Michael Dwyer’s A-A holding up against CBMPT winner David Harris’ Ad-9d on the 4-7-9 board. This left Harris crippled and, after a quick double with K-Q off-suit, he was soon busted by David Barnes.
Tables were then balanced down to two and blinds raised to 200/400 with a 25 running ante. The next elimination happened fast, with Antonio Teixeiramota leaving the game.
A late comer to the event, IPT winner Matt Perrins sat down and looked at every short stack’s dream: bullets. He was able to move in preflop and was called by Giovanni Pennetta with Ks-Js. A board of 8s-9s-5d gave Pennetta some outs, but Perrins faded them all to double up and get back into contention.
Black Belt Poker player Kevin Williams was crippled soon after when fellow Black Belter Owen Robinson’s K-K took him down to just 1,500 in chips. A few timely shoves, however, got him back into contention, until a monster hand came down. Williams moved in with Ac-Jc preflop and was called by Owen Robinson’s Ad-Jd and Jehangir Ahmad’s As-Qd. Admad’s A-Q high was good enough for the win and sent the two Black Belt Poker players to the rail.
Blinds then shifted to 300/600(50), but the level was fairly quiet with most the players fairly deep stacked after the early action. When the blinds increased to 400/800(75), however, an explosion of action occurred.
Rumit Somaiya was the first casualty of the level, shoving with 5-5 and getting called by DTD Deepstack winner Alex Torrance’s 6d-7d, who flopped a 6. It was then Michael Dwyer’s turn when his Ad-7s was eliminated by Mykola Vysotskyi’s Ah-Jh.
The next casualty was UK poker legend Surindar Sunar, whose Jd-9d hit a lucky 9 on the turn against A-J, but the river ace sent him to the cash tables. The action then really heated up, with all-ins being declared every single hand, inclduing Matt Perrins who was off to the rail when his Ad-10d didn’t improve against David Barnes’ 9-9.
This left 11 players with an average of 22,700 in chips.
Simon Mairs was the next exit, his J-8 getting called by WSOP Bracelet winner James Vogl’s 4-4 and not improving. The blinds then moved up to 600/1200(100).
Unfortunately, early chip leader Neil Channing’s more recent cold run of cards continued and an ill-timed shoved with J-4 off-suit wasn’t able to improve against the A-10 of Mykola Vysotskyi. This was the final table bubble and seats were reshuffled.
Seat 1: Ahmad Jehangir
Seat 2: Robin Keston
Seat 3: Giovanni Pennetta
Seat 4: David Barnes
Seat 5: Mike Ellis
Seat 6: Alex Torrance
Seat 7: Mykola Vysotski
Seat 8: James Vogl
Seat 9: Mike Donn
Before a couple had taken their new seats, Giovanni Pennetta was busted by Robin Keston, a Vic regular with over $1.2 in tournament cashes. This put Keston into the chip lead with about 70,000.
Bracelet winner James Vogl was next out when he failed to hit the miracle two outer with his 4-4 against Keston’s 8-8. Torrance soon followed and this left us with six players at the new level of 800/1600(200).
Another bracelet winner then hit the rail as Mike Ellis’ 8-8 lost a ‘flip against the A-K of Ahmad Jehangir. This left the remaining players all with a similar stack apart from the big-stacked Keston and the short-stacked Mike Donn, who’d quietly sneaked one away from the money.
Sensing he needed some chips, two consecutive all-ins bought Donn back into contention. A third all-in with 8-8 getting called by the big stack of Keston - showing A- Qc - then put it all on the line. A heart breaking Q came out as the window card, but a miracle 8 completed the flop and this put all players roughly on 50,000 chips.
Players then discussed a deal, with some more keen than others, but it was soon decided that the remaining five players would walk away with £5,000 each - not bad for a few hours work. One final hand was played out face-up to determine the standings, which finished:
1 Winner: Mike Donn
2 Mykola Vysotski
3 David Barnes
4 Robin Keston
5 Ahmad Jehangir
And so my weekend of live reporting was over and I was suitably exhausted. I wished the rest in the London Live Main Event good luck before visiting the valet parking and heading back down the M4.
Press Release: Peter Wigglesworth Wins London Live II
Live Coverage/Updates
The Hendon Mob Results
Interview - Peter Wigglesworth
Interview - Paul Pham
Photos from the Event
Video Report
Day 1A Chip Counts
Day 1B Chip Counts
Mike Ellis & Neil Channing
Mike Ellis & Neil Channing... again
Michael Dwyer, Mykola Vysotski & Giovanni Pennetta
Surinder Sunar, Ahmad Jehangir & Kevin Williams
Dave Barnes
Alex Torrance
Neil Channing
Ahmad Jehangir
Giovanni Pennetta
Dave Barnes & Matt Perrins
Chris Edwards