It was another thrilling day of action at Aspers Casino. Wednesday was jam-packed with action as it started with a turbo flight of the Mini Main in the form of Day 1f. Alongside the tournaments ran a group of themed poker panels featuring special guests from all walks of the industry.
Among them was poker.pro CEO Jason Glatzer (with a little help from Alek Gillies) with a live interactive panel about mixed games. Audience members joined and were dealt a hand of various games to learn the rules and joys that often come with playing mixed game events. As well, Asif Warris and Maureen Blochinger shared their experience in “Adventures in Poker Tourism.”
With the final flight of the Mini Main finishing, The prize pool of the tournament totaled £109,200 with the lion share going to first place. The eventual winner will receive £18,475, and the top two finishers will cash for over £10,000. A total of 220 players made it to Day 2 with only 130 of those making the money.
Day 1F is a Star Studded Field
One final turbo flight ran today, giving players a last shot at securing a bag for Day 2. Media mogul Glenn Brown did just that, closing out Day 1d with a healthy 195,000 in chips. Poker.pro’s own Maureen Blochlinger also found a bag in the final flight, though her exact stack is still under wraps for now.
Also bagging up chips in the final flight was local legend Karim Louis. He punched his ticket to Day 2 after a short break, and is perhaps most recognized for his role as a PartyPoker Ambassador—and his eco-minded mission through the Poker Against Plastic Pollution foundation. (Click the link to learn more, and stay tuned for our exclusive interview with Karim.)
Day 2 Finds an Explosive Start
A massive cooler occurred early in the day. John Kelly soared to the chip lead as he picked up pocket kings against his two players pocket queens. Neither could improve to cement Kelly as the first player past the 1,000,000 threshold. Grace Smith (920,000), Peter Flynn (890,000), and John Kelly (800,000) filled out the podium at the first break.
Louis Cowen joined the high society after he flopped a set and was behind. Luck was on his side, as he found a board pair on the river to take the hand. The bubble was brutal as repeated upsets occurred to bring into the money just one player away.
Alexander Mistlin woke up with pocket kings, and was all in against ace-king. An ace on the river spelled his demise, but he found a welcome surprise as the bubble had burst to give him a min-cash.
Staples Bags Decent
PartyPoker Team Pro, Jaime Staples, had successfully moved on from a Day 1 flight and was one of the 866 players battling it out in Day 2. Staples displayed excellent skills in doing two things simultaneously; during the later hours of the flight, his eyes were glued to an iPad, watching the ice hockey game between Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens.
His Canadian team may have lost the battle, but he managed to play great poker while railing his team. At the end of the day, he bagged 1,185,000 – i.e., 40 Big Blinds – and will enter Day 3 in position 15 of the chip count.
The James Bond of Poker’s Media Scene, Glenn Brown, also featured in the action-packed Day 2. His early day consisted mostly of folding, and scooping the occasional pot. However, he found a double with pocket jacks in a flip against king-queen.
Brown went from cheering for a jack to dreading it, as the jack would complete a gut shot straight draw for his opponent. He faded danger to double to 570,000. However, jacks have an unfortunate connotation in the poker world and Brown would learn why.
A little while later, he moved all in with pocket jacks and was called off by an opponent’s ace-nine of hearts. The flop gave Brown top set, but was dicey as his opponent had a flush draw. The turn gave his opponent more outs, and the river completed the flush without pairing the board. For his effort, Brown made a few ladder jumps to cash for £425.
A crazy three way all in occurred between pocket fives, pocket eights, and ace-queen. An ace from space gave Muctar Jalloh triple up, while Jobin George hit the rail. Shortly before the end of the day, the biggest pot occurred and was recalled to poker.pro by a dealer. This pot would set up Dost Ghrabie to be the chip leader as the day came to a close.
Day 3 Tomorrow – Here’s What to Expect
Day 2 concluded with 36 players. These will return at 18:00 tomorrow to continue the battle for the trophy and the £18,475 first-place payout. The standings going into Day 3 look like this:
| Place | Playter | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dost Ghrabie | 3,330,000 | 111 |
| 2 | Louis Cowen | 3,210,000 | 107 |
| 3 | David-Adrian Barbu | 2,900,000 | 97 |
| 4 | Vitor Jose Maia Teixeira | 2,355,000 | 79 |
| 5 | Grace Smith | 2,105,000 | 70 |
| 6 | Kanchan Rai | 2,050,000 | 68 |
| 7 | Daniel Schofield | 1,820,000 | 61 |
| 8 | Tim Wong | 1,770,000 | 59 |
| 9 | Sam Salar | 1,625,000 | 54 |
| 10 | Jeferson Bonfim Dias Miranda Leite | 1,595,000 | 53 |
| 11 | Rovshan Gasimov | 1,415,000 | 47 |
| 12 | Robert Ayton | 1,375,000 | 46 |
| 13 | Vitalii Seman | 1,360,000 | 45 |
| 14 | Sandeep Chaduvula | 1,235,000 | 41 |
| 15 | James Staples | 1,185,000 | 40 |
| 16 | Liam Trimmer | 1,085,000 | 36 |
| 17 | Jorge Palomino Rebolleda | 1,045,000 | 35 |
| 18 | Stavros Tsourou | 1,000,000 | 33 |
| 19 | Boris Otel | 975,000 | 33 |
| 20 | Martin Hellmuth | 910,000 | 30 |
| 21 | Safak Senyuksel | 880,000 | 29 |
| 22 | Gang Wang | 805,000 | 27 |
| 23 | Peter Flynn | 775,000 | 26 |
| 24 | Rebecca Hardisty | 765,000 | 26 |
| 25 | Adrian Ming | 710,000 | 24 |
| 26 | Danas Gerdziunas | 670,000 | 22 |
| 27 | Goonjan Mall | 635,500 | 21 |
| 28 | Muctarr Jalloh | 560,000 | 19 |
| 29 | Luke Hammatt | 555,000 | 19 |
| 30 | George Alexander | 535,000 | 18 |
| 31 | Mingxin Li | 535,000 | 18 |
| 32 | Michael Kossov | 510,000 | 17 |
| 33 | Wei-Chian Hsu | 495,000 | 17 |
| 34 | Mohammed Ullah | 355,000 | 12 |
| 35 | John Friel | 210,000 | 7 |
| 36 | Krzysztof Michalik | 195,000 | 7 |
The remaining 36 players are all guaranteed a minimum of £605. Here are all the payouts remaining:
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | £18,475 |
| 2 | £12,695 |
| 3 | £8,740 |
| 4 | £5,725 |
| 5 | £3,940 |
| 6 | £3,050 |
| 7 | £2,415 |
| 8 | £1,920 |
| 9 | £1,525 |
| 10-11 | £1,160 |
| 12-15 | £930 |
| 16-23 | £760 |
| 24-39 | £605 |
Players will be returning to Blinds 15,000/30,000, with a 30,000 Ante, with 10 minutes of the level having already been played.
