October 06 2011, Donnie Peters

Day 2 of the 2011 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London Poker Festival £20,000 High Roller wrapped up on Thursday. The event is down to the final eight players who are all in the money. Leading the way is Igor Kurganov with 854,000 in chips. He has a sizable lead over Robert Akery, who sits in second place with 622,000.

To start the day, 30 players remained from the original starting field of 75. Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem, Jonathan Duhamel and Eugene Katahclov all made it to Day 2 but failed to advance to the final.

According to the PokerStars Blog, Hachem was sent to the rail by Michael Tureniec. Hachem’s pocket twos failed to win the flip against Tureniec’s . Duhamel was sent off by Adrian Bussman and Katchalov was dished to the sidelines by Andrey Bondar.

On Katchalov’s final hand, Bondar bet 20,000 with the board reading . Katchalov moved all-in and Bondar made the call holding for a turned two pair. Katchalov held but the river didn’t help and he was eliminated.

Sam Stein held the lead when Day 2 began. He took a hit early on after doubling up Byron Kaverman. The money went in on a flop with Kaverman holding to Stein’s . The turn brought the and the river the to give Kaverman the winning flush.

On his final hand, Stein moved all-in against Olivier Busquet on an flop. Busquet made the call with for second pair against Stein who was holding . The turn and river allowed Busquet to win the hand and send Stein out the door.

Other notable eliminations during Day 2 included Isaac Haxton, Anton Ionel, Mike Watson, McLean Karr, Mike McDonald, Phil Collins and James Bord. Collins was bounced in 11th place by Kurganov and then Kaverman went out in 10th. From there, there was a save made for the player finishing in ninth position. The payouts were adjusted so that ninth place could collect £25,000, making Kaverman (10th) the official bubble boy. Bord fell in ninth place to officially set the final table.

Final Table Chip Counts

If you recognize the names of a few of these high rollers from previous events, it’s because many have had plenty of success in big buy-in events on the EPT. The chip leader, Kurganov, placed second in last season’s EPT Grand Final “10,000 High Roller Turbo and third in this season’s EPT Tallinn “10,000 High Roller. Akery placed 13th in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller. Bussman came eighth in the EPT Deauville “10,000 High Roller last season. Busquet was second in the EPT Grand Final “25,000 High Roller in 2010. Philipp Gruissem won the EPT Barcelona “10,000 High Roller at the last stop on tour and Tureniec won last season’s EPT Copenhagen Main Event.

The third and final day of play kicks off at 1200 BST (0400 PDT) on Thursday. Because of the ninth-place save, first place has been adjusted to £511,300. That’s still a heck of a lot of money and PokerNews will have the recap after play is complete.

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October 04 2011, Donnie Peters

Day 4 concluded on Tuesday at the 2011 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London Poker Festival Main Event with 24 players remaining. Leading the way is Mattias Bergstrom with 1.838 million in chips.

Neil Pearce was the last player eliminated before action came to a halt for the day. He finished in 25th place and went out at the hands of Jeremy Kottler. Pearce was all-in preflop holding pocket sevens, up against Kottler who was holding queens. No help came on the flop, turn or river and Pearce was off to the payout desk, while Kottler raked in the pot. He bagged 1.693 million for the night, putting him in fourth place overall heading into Day 5.

Pearce wasn’t the only player to go on Day 4. When play began, 62 players remained. Some of those to fall on the day included Barny Boatman (57th), Jamie Rosen (49th), Daniel Neilson (45th), Marvin Rettenmaier (41st), Steven Kelly (39th) and Roberto Romanello (37th).

A few Team PokerStars Pros also hit the rail: Ana Marquez (42nd), Humberto Brenes (32nd) and Salvatore Bonavena (29th).

Bonavena was the last Team Pro to hit the rail and was eliminated by Basile Yaiche. Bonavena was all-in preflop with against Yaiche’s two fours. Although he flopped a king, Bonavena couldn’t stave elimination as a four fell on the river to give Yaiche a winning set. There is still one Team Pro remaining in the field – Juan Manuel Pastor from Spain. He’ll go into Day 5 with just under one million in chips at 960,000.

Joao Barbosa, winner of EPT Warsaw in 2008, Benny Spindler, James Mitchell, 2010 Irish Open champion, Kevin Iacofono, Martins Adeniya and Steve O’Dwyer[/b] have also made it to Day 5. Sebastian Blom, brother of Viktor Blom, will be the shortest stack returning with 59,000 in chips.

Day 5 Table and Seat Draw

The final 24 players will return Wednesday at 1200 BST (0400 PDT) for another day of play as the tournament moves towards the final table. Once the final eight are set, play will end for the day. Be sure to return to PokerNews for all of the live coverage.

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Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters