A full eight levels have now been played. We’re now on the last break of the day with the green chips, each worth 25, being raced off. We play just one more one hour level this evening before bagging up. Then we come back here tomorrow to do it all again. Here’s how it stands…
We recently conducted a sweep of the room to see who was in possession of the big stacks. The latest chip count can be found HERE, where we’ll update any major moves as and when they happen.
Of course, in order for there to be this many chips in front of those players, several others will have taken the walk. And there are some huge names and glittering reputations that have been consigned to the rail.
In no particular order, we have lost the following:
Alexandre Gomes, Annette Obrestad, Luca Pagano, Freddy Deeb, Ben Roberts, Shaun Deeb, William Thorson, Patrik Antonius, Barny Boatman, Nik Persaud, Maria Demetriou, Joe Beevers, Ross Boatman, Craig Hopkins, James Akenhead, David Colclough.
Luca Pagano, in happier times
Some of these have joined the ever-growing array of cash tables, where they’re mixing it with the likes of EPT supremo John Duthie. Others have taken the more direct route to overcoming their disappointment. The bar is packed.
One minute you’re up, the next you’re down. So it goes for Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso. Fresh from a hand that crippled Annette Obrestad, Rousso mixed it up with a hand against the player known as Suarez on her immediate right.
The board was already reading Qc-Td-5d-As-2s when Vanessa had her toughest decision to make, facing as she did a bet of 4,000 from Suarez that had everyone watching.
Rousso spent time counting out her chips, with more than 15,000 in the pot. She looked over at Suarez but he was hidden behind shades intent on giving nothing away. Rousso called, but was tapping the table before Suarez even showed his Ah-Jd. It was good. Rousso briefly held her hands up in rage before talking it all over.
A knock to Rousso’s stack. She’s back down to 21,000.
Still, Rousso is in better shape than her other half Chad Brown. He sits with little more than 9,000. He spoke to the video blog team earlier today during more prosperous times…
Watch EPT London 08 Day 1a Chad Brown Interview on PokerStars.tv
First indication that we’d lost a big name was when Vanessa Rousso almost apologetically reached over the table to shake hands with Annette Obrestad. The Norwegian wunderkind had got her chips in, pushing on the flop, chasing away another player in the process. Rousso called, holding 3c-2c to Obrestad’s 6h-3d.
The turn would be decisive, bringing a 2h to rescue the Team PokerStars Pro.
There was a brief pause to double check that Rousso had Obrestad covered, with Obrestad already sitting with her coat zipped up ready to face the six degree temperatures London deals to you when you step outside. But not so fast. She still had a little less than 5,000. Enough for a player of her caliber to still cause some trouble.
Rousso though is among the leaders with more than 40,000. She spoke to the PokerStars video blog team earlier today…
Watch EPT London 08 Day 1a Interview with Vanessa Rousso on PokerStars.tv
Players have just returned from a 45 minute break - not a dinner break, you understand, because that was served in bowls around the tables, but just a chance to grab some fresh air, move an illegally-parked car, call home, or watch 45 minutes of the Champions League match on the TV in the bar.
One player doing that in slightly more comfort than most was Jason Mercier, well known around these parts as the EPT San Remo champion, final-table player in Barcelona last month, and a familiar figure on the tour.
Shortly before the break, Mercier got involved with another immediately-recognisable EPT face, the one belonging to the Finnish player Voitto Rintala.
Voitto Rintala, pictured during last month’s EPT Barcelona
Rintala, who has had some decent results on the EPT, is perhaps best known for taking Greg Raymer’s trademark lizard eyes to a whole new level. Raymer’s reptilian apendages are at least in the form of sunglasses; Rintala has snake-eye contact lenses that pierce any poker face and peer into the deepest confines of ones soul. Rintala looks exceptionally sinister, but it’s all just a front. He is one of the nicest guys on the circuit; always polite and one hell of a player.
This spirit was recently exemplified when Mercier took on Rintala here, when it was the mild-mannered American who came out on top. Mercier had Rintala covered, Rintala was all in, and Mercier won the hand to add all of the Finnish player’s chips to his stack. But that’s not all. The America also insisted that Rintala part with his T-shirt - advertised as being on offer to his vanquisher - which Rintala duly tossed over to Mercier, a moment caught by our video blog team, whose screen-grab proves it.
Rintala had the shirt beneath his chair - he didn’t have to peel it off, so we still don’t know if he has skin covered in scales. But he has shed one layer and slithered out of the tournament area, leaving Mercier siting pretty and looking for another charge on the title.