October 01 2011, Donnie Peters

Day 1b of the 2011 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London Main Event ended on Saturday after the second and final starting flight completed their first eight levels of play. Leading the way at the end of the day was Benny Spindler with 160,800 in chips. Out of the 411 players that came out for Day 1b, 255 will be moving on to Day 2.

Spindler received a lot of his chips from Nicolas Levi. After a raise to 1,350 preflop from an unknown player with the blinds at 300/600 with a 75 ante, Levi reraised to 3,400. Spindler four-bet to 10,000 and the original raiser got out of the way. Levi moved all-in for approximately 40,000 and Spindler immediately called. Spindler tabled and was up against Levi’s . The flop, turn and river ran out and Spindler’s aces were able to fade Levi’s big flop.

Although last year’s record of 848 players wasn’t broken, 691 for this year isn’t a bad number at all. A prize pool of £3,351,350 was created with first place being awarded a whopping £750,000. The top 104 places will be paid out.

Packed into the field on Saturday were plenty of big names including Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier, Joe Hachem, Angel Guillen, Victor Ramdin and David Williams. Negreanu and Selbst were eliminated on the day, while the other players named will be moving on. Mercier wrapped up the day with 99,200 in chips and wrote on his bag “Future EPT London Champion.” Whether or not that means this year is still yet to be determined.

Mercier just saw his stack take a giant leap to over 100,000 in chips after Anrei One gifted him about 45,000 in chips. During the 250/500 with a 50 ante level, One raised to 1,100 and Mercier three-bet to 2,725. One then four-bet to 6,200 and Mercier five-bet to 12,050. One still wasn’t convinced and moved all-in for about 45,000.

“I beat him into the pot,” said Mercier describing his call.

Mercier held offsuit and One held . The flop came down with two clubs and one spade before a was added on the turn and a on the river.

Other notable eliminations that occurred on Day 1b included Ross Boatman, Bill Chen, Eddy Sabat, Jean-Robert Bellande, Daniel Cates, Liv Boeree, Bertrand Grospellier and Leo Fernandez.

Players who are moving on with some heavy chip bags are Raj Vohra (156,600), Steven Warburton (142,300), Martins Adeniya (132,500), Sorel Mizzi (129,100), Justin Bonomo (126,100) and Wade Townsend (119,800).

Day 2 will commence on Sunday at 1200 BST (0400 PDT) where the remaining players from both starting flights will combine. Lukasz Golczyk is the overall chip leader with 211,600 in chips after his performance on Day 1a. The total number of remaining players is 417. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the live coverage starting then.

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September 23 2011, Donnie Peters

Day 2 of the 2011 World Poker Tour Malta took place on Thursday with 154 players returning to action. At the end of the day, 30 of them remained and Cecilia Pescaglini was leading the way with a stack of 976,000. She’s well ahead of the rest of the field, including her closest competitor, Marvin Rettenmaier, who is in second place with 415,000.

The top 27 spots are set to be paid out, which means that the money bubble has yet to break. That will happen on Day 3, but Day 2 still saw plenty of action.

Dragan Galic, David Vamplew, Dominik Nitsche, David Peters, Steve O’Dwyer, William Thorson, Tobias Reinkemeier and Day 1b chip leader Tommy Vedes were all eliminated on the day. Phil Hellmuth was anther notable player to hit the rail, falling in Level 14 according to the WPT Live Update Team.

Hellmuth lost all of his chips in two quick pots. On the first hand, Salvatore Bianco raised to 5,000 with the blinds at 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante and Hellmuth three-bet to 17,000 from the small blind. Bianco called and the flop came down . Hellmuth bet and Bianco called to see the fall on the turn. Again, Hellmuth bet and Bianco called. The river completed the board with the and Hellmuth bet 65,000 into a pot around 70,000. Bianco called holding for a pair of sevens. Hellmuth mucked his hand and Bianco scooped the chips.

Shortly thereafter, Hellmuth, who began the hand with around 20,000, raised to 7,200 in the cutoff seat. Andras Fekete made it 12,000 to go from the button. The two blinds folded and Fekete exposed his hand, revealing the . “Wow buddy, I still have chips left,” said Hellmuth.

“Sorry, I’ll understand if you fold,” responded Fekete.

“Well, I ain’t folding,” said Hellmuth.

Hellmuth then just called the raise and was left with about 8,000 behind. The flop came down and Hellmuth checked. Fekete moved all-in for Hellmuth quickly called. He held the to go against Fekete’s already-exposed . The turn brought the and the river the . Fekete made a spade flush on the river to send Hellmuth to the rail in bizarre fashion.

A few other notables bustouts included Sofia Lovgren, Julian Herold, John Eames and Nicolo Calia.

Of those advancing to Day 3, Giovanni Rizzo is the shortest stack left with 59,500 in chips, as well as Tristan Clemencon, Tony G and Isaac Haxton, who all have below-average stacks. Sitting above the mean is November Niner Matt Giannetti with 370,000 in chips. He has the fourth largest stack that will be returning for Day 3.

Day 3 will take place on Friday starting at 1630 CEST (1530 BST). The plan for the day is to grind it out until the final table of six is set. First place is over $273,000, but no one is guaranteed anything just yet. Be sue to stay tuned to PokerNews for the daily recap of the action after play is through.

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*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour

Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters