2013 PokerStars.com EPT London

On Thursday, the £10,000+300 High Roller kicked off at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London. The five-figure buy-in, one re-entry event attracted 148 entries – 36 more than the EPT9 London High Roller in March – and registration is still open until the start of play tomorrow.

Leading the 74 survivors is Carla Sabini. The Canadian bagged 269,700 chips, and is looking to add to her $255,690 in career live tournament earnings. Right behind her was Peru’s Antonio Lafosse (257,800). Lafosse climbed up the counts when he cracked German Fabian Quoss’ kings. All of the money went in preflop between the two players, and Lafosse’s pocket queens were trailing, but the Peruvian made a four flush on the river.

Also among the leaders are Shawn Buchanan (211,500), Frederik Jensen (196,100), Talal Shakerchi (187,400), and Jason Mercier (164,400).

Mercier garnered a large stack during the last level of play. Irishman Steve O’Dwyer joined his table, sitting in a seat that had been occupied by four others during the day, and became the fifth to exit. According to the Team Pro, he put in a cold four-bet and O’Dwyer moved all in for around 97,000. Mercier tank-called with , which held up against the Irishman’s .

Team Pro’s joining Mercier on Day 2 will be Luca Pagano, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov, Vicky Coren, Ville Wahlbeck, and Jonathan Duhamel.

Jensen padded his stack in the final level as well, refusing to fold kings to David “Bakes” Baker on an ace-high board. Baker tried to bluff on the turn with five-high, but gave up on the river and Jensen checked behind.

Martin Finger, winner of the £50,000 Super High Roller, also had a nice day, bagging 151,800 chips. Finger won a key pot in Level 6 against Team Pro Angel Guillen, where Guillen flopped top set of queens. Finger held a flush and straight draws, and made the straight on the river. Guillen bet for value, Finger just called, and the German shipped the pot.

While some prospered, others fell – some twice. Richard Yong, Andrew Chen, Sam Greenwood, and Daniel Negreanu all misfired two bullets. On Negreanu’s first bullet he was slow-rolled by Salman Behbehani, who was also eliminated by Shawn Buchanan at the end of the night, and on his second bullet Kid Poker was busted by Max Greenwood. He tried to tell our PokerNews bloggers a tall tale, but Dan Smith and others were around the help uncover the truth.

Also exiting during Day 1 were Ashton Griffin, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Max Altergott, Mike McDonald, Todd Terry, Paul Newey, and Eric Sfez.

Play will resume on Friday at noon local time. Be sure to check back with PokerNews for live updates.

A full listing will follow later tonight.

The remaining players will play six more hands then bag and tag for the evening.

Randal Flowers just explained to us what happened to Ashton Griffin who was knocked out by Robert Haigh. Haigh raised from the button with queens and Griffin called from the big blind with .

The flop brought with one diamond and Griffin check-raised all in. The turn and river did not help Griffin who started the hand with 26,000 and ended up with nothing.

The day is almost done and therefor Griffin can only rebuy tomorrow morning if he wants to.

Sorel Mizzi raised to 3,500 and Kamal Choraria three-bet to 7,500 from his immediate left. The action was folded back around to Mizzi who hesitated and then called.

The flop brought and Mizzi check-called Choraria's all in for around 14,000 chips.

Mizzi:
Choraria:

The board ran out , and Choraria found himself a double up.

Sorel Mizzi opened to 3,500 from the cutoff, Kevin MacPhee defended his big blind, and the flop came . MacPhee check-called a bet of 5,200, then check-called another bet of 8,200 when the turned.

The completed the board, MacPhee checked a third and final time, and Mizzi fired out 15,000. MacPhee opted not to call the final bet, flicking his cards into the muck.

When Steve O'Dwyer sat down at Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier's table he asked who was in his seat before.

"You don't want to know," Mercier said, but O'Dwyer insisted.

"About four people sat in that seat," Mercier said and O'Dwyer indicated that he was going to play tight then.

Just now we noticed that O'Dwyer was gone and Mercier explained to us what happened. Apparently Mercier put in a cold four-bet and O'Dwyer moved all in for around 97,000 total.

"I tank called," Mercier said and his pocket sixes held up against O'Dwyer's ace-queen. Mercier is now one of the chip leaders.

Frederik Jensen was faced with a pot-sized bet of 41,500 from David "Bakes" Baker on a board of . The EPT champion tank-called.

The completed the board, Baker checked, and Jensen quickly checked behind.

"Five-high," Bakes announced.

Jensen tabled for a pair of kings, and a tidal wave of blue T5,000 chips was pushed his way.