We arrived in time to see Jennifer Shahade and an opponent looking down at a completed board of . With 1,800 already in the middle, Shahade's opponent fired out a river bet of 1,525.
Shahade sat motionless, pondering her action for approximately 30 seconds. When she finally moved, she reached for chips and moved forward a raise to 4,000. This movement immediately made her opponent shift in his seat.
"Ace-four?" he inquired, shrugging.
After a brief moment, he flung out a call. Shahade tabled for a full house of fours full of deuces, prompting a muck from her opponent. With this victory, Shahade is off to a solid start in level 1 with about 37,000 in chips.
Brett Angell's been a busy boy this week as he busted out the UKIPT Champion of Champions, but not before having won the UKIPT Grand Final last night for £115,083. Just now we spotted Angell in the Main Event and he was caught winning a decent pot off Dutchman Govert Metaal.
The board read when Angell checked to Metaal who bet 575 and the UKIPT champ check-raised to 1,925. Metaal gave it some thought before ultimately making the call.
On the river the popped up and Angell bet 3,725, which was quickly called by Metaal who mucked when he was shown .
Angell's off to a great start here early on Day 1b as he's looking to build on his momentum here in London.
With the rain teeming down outside players are shrugging off their wet jackets, enquiring about the free Wi-Fi password and even getting an early massage from “Thee Best Hands.” in preparation for a long and hopefully fruitful tournament. What better way to spend the day than in the elegant Grand Connaught Rooms playing Poker. The gentle clack of poker chips is just audible beneath the comments on the rain and the price of food on London.
Before the end of the first level 300 players have registered, already surpassing yesterday’s 224 entrants.
At the moment, there are 37 tables in the main tournament room. If these tables are all in use then the tournament directors will open up the secondary tournament room which is up a small flight of stairs (and has its' own bar - don't worry folks!) back above the entrance. The tournament staff aren't completely sure if this room will be needed yet as it very much depends on how big the inevitable rush of late arrivals is.
And there's already been an exit. Robert Black all in on the turn of a board with but he ran into another player's . Black contrived to miss his solitary out on the river and was eliminated.
Paul Newey has sat down early and is certainly in a good mood. Before play began he let his followers on Twitter know: “Good 1st day in London, 36k up cash poker & 12k up casino slots.”
Newey has decided to re-invest £4,250 of that hard earned money in this Main Event. We’ll keep an eye on him to see if the run-good continues.