Day 2 of UKIPT London Main Event was full of excitement as the remaining 323 players were shrunk down to 51 over the course of eight one-hour levels. Former heavyweights fell by the wayside, new players moved up the pecking order and a tour favourite became the bubble girl.
Vladimir Troyanovskiy has been showing off his guns at the top of the EPT bill for a few years now. His focus, patience and ability to get inside opponents' minds have seen him amass more than $2.6 million in tournament earnings. He used all his skill -mixed in with a little luck - to surge to the top of the counts today with 1,399,000, far beyond anyone else.
He used his patience to get into the money and then he took off. He won a big race soon after the bubble burst, made a huge call with ace-high to bust an opponent and then was lucky to bust another when he made a set with jacks to crack the kings of a neighbour. From then on it was power poker all the way.
Other players through to Day 3 are: Antonio Gonzalez (930,000), Alessandro Piekazewicz (886,000), Lukas Peleckis (725,000), Pablo Fernandez (695,000), Nikolas Davies (635,000), David Lichentin (565,000), Lucas Blanco (560,000), Nick Crozer (562,000), Thomas Dunwoodie (549,000), Eric Theissen (489,000), Chris Sly (391,000), Ludovic Geilich (372,000), Gabriel Tuna (361,000), Jason Barton (309,000), Caicai Huang (292,000), Brett Angell (256,000), Gino Levrini (200,000) and Keith Hawkins (183,000).
PokerStars Team SportStar Fatima Moreira De Melo played her fourth ever UKIPT here in London and banked her fourth cash. Her day came to an end in 59th place after her pocket jacks failed to stay ahead of Dunwoodie's big-slick, all in pre flop. Her Benelux teammate, Matthias De Meulder also cashed (111th) but two all in showdowns in succession did for him, even though he was ahead both times.
Hand for hand play was avoided on the bubble during the second level of the day after Deborah Worley-Roberts - one of the life and souls of the tour - called all in with two pair on the river only for her opponent to open a full house and send her on her way. "That's poker!" said the UKIPT Cork finalist before she headed off into the bright lights and noises of this great city.
Many notable names came back but also failed to cash. They included: Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Ben Jenkins; Team PokerStars Pro ElkY; former PCA champ Dimitar Danchev; Team PokerStars Online Vicente Delgado; former UKIPT champions Joeri Zandvliet, Max Silver and Jamie Burland; top pro Shannon Shorr and former November Niner Sylvain Loosli.
The remaining players will also be happy that the following players made the money but won't be in their way tomorrow: Katja Spillum Svendsen (152nd), Pratyush Buddiga (123rd), , Roberto Romanello (119th), Chris Brammer (117th), Dominik Panka (96th) and David Peters (67th). Click here for the full list of payouts.
For anyone planning on playing any events over the next few days are in for a treat at the EPT London Poker Festival: two of the hippest mobile food trucks in the capital will be offering their delicious fodder to players immediately outside the Grand Connaught Rooms. The first to arrive in Great Queen Street is Yu Kyu. This Japanese tonkatsu mobile food kitchen, which has been winning fans all over the country this summer, will be at EPT London on Saturday and Sunday. Deep fried pork is a signature staple! On Monday and Tuesday, South African street food sensation Bunny Chow will be making an appearance. Bunny Chow is fast food dish consisting of a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with curry and originated in the Durban Indian community back in the 1940s.
To catch up on all the day's action and see tomorrow's seat draw, please click on the links below:
Levels 11-14.
Levels 15-18.
Day 3 seat draw.
Tomorrow will last as long as it takes for the field to be whittled down to an official final table of eight players. As ever, play will resume at midday BST in The Grand Connaught Rooms.
Photos of this event are copyright of Danny "Cold Pimp" Maxwell. He's got his own firm now and his "boys" will pay a visit for any infringements.