Stephen Ayres pictured taking a selfie before the £10,300 High Roller
Stephen Ayres qualified for this £10,300 High Roller for just £220 via two satellites in-house here at the world-famous Dusk Till Dawn Casino in Nottingham. Ayres is sat on a predictably tough table, with WSOP Main Event finalist Kenny Hallaert, Ben Heath and Charlie Carrel for company among others. He's got off to the best start he can though, winning the first hand he's got involved in.
Opening to 1,200 from early position, Ayres was called by Andreas Olympios in middle position and Bryan Vanrijsbergen in the big blind. The flop of saw all three players check, but on the turn, play was checked to Ayres and he led out 3,500 chips. That garnered two quick folds and he raked in his first pot.
While the players over on table one joked about a "home game" with mostly Brits around including Max Silver, Alex Goulder and Steven Warburton, the rest of the field got an injection of more international names as well that can be found below.
In a battle of the blinds, the turn showed and Paul Newey led for 2,300 out of the small blind. Niall Farrell called from one seat over and the duo headed to the river. Newey checked and Farrell claimed an early pot with a bet worth 7,500.
Just when the hand was finished, partypoker Pro Anatoly Filatov took his seat at the same table as well.
Daniel Harwood was the unfortunate player to miss out on that final £10,300 High Roller seat, and in dramatic fashion.
Having dropped to just 43,000 (with blinds at 10,000/20,000/2,000), Harwood was in the big blind and called Phil Mighall's shove from the small blind when play was folded round to the duo.
Phil Mighall:
Daniel Harwood:
The flop of kept Mighall ahead, but the landed on the turn. With Mighall short too, that may have led to a complete change in dynamics, making Harwood favourite to make the final five and bridge the gap between nothing and a seat worth £10,300. He was out in sixth, however, when the ended the satellite tournament. A gasp, shouts from the rail and relief all round surrounded the table and Harwood walked directly away from the celebrations so fast his hoody billowed behind him.
We'll keep you up to date with any entry in the event proper from him. There are currently 17 entries including the five players who progressed from the satellite.
The £10,300 High Roller was supposed to kick off at 18.00pm CET, but the cards are not in the air yet at Dusk Till Dawn. They will be soon, however, as players have just been called to the tournament area. So far 12 players have bought into the tournament, and another five will join from the satellite, that finished just a few moments ago.
Daniel Harwood in action as he bids to join the High Rollers from 6pm
There are six players still involved in the £1,100 satellite into the £10,300 High Roller, with five seats up for grabs. With 50 entries (including single re-entries) , the tournament has exactly fulfilled its £51,500 guarantee. The half dozen fighting over the five seats have very similar chipstacks, and here they are:
Phil Mighall
Danut-Florin Chisu
Anthony Kennedy
Filippo Lazzaretto
Kuljinder Sidhu
Daniel Harwood (pictured)
The current average is 166,000, which equates to just over 16 big blinds with the level at 5,000/10,000/1,000.
One will miss out, while the others will advance to the High Roller itself, which kicks off at 6pm local time. It's down to the wire.
In two hours from now as of 6 p.m. local time, the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS festival at the Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham will see Day 1 of the £10,300 High Roller get underway at the home of poker in the United Kingdom, and one of the biggest card rooms in Europe. The High Roller is one of three tournaments during the festival with a seven-figure guarantee and at least £1m will be up for grabs during the next two days.
On Day 1, a total of eight levels of 45 minutes each will be played and all participants receive a starting stack of 100,000 with stunning 200 big blinds available during the first level of play. Furthermore, the registration will remain open until the first break of Day 2, and the first blinds for tomorrow revert back to level seven as well to give all late entrants 50 big blinds to begin with on their mission to High Roller glory. During the registration period, a single re-entry is permitted for those who run out of chips and wish to take another shot at the guaranteed prize pool.
High Roller Day 1 level structure
Level
Clock
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
45
250
500
50
2
45
300
600
50
3
45
400
800
75
4
45
500
1,000
100
5
45
600
1,200
100
6
45
800
1,600
150
7
45
1,000
2,000
200
8
45
1,200
2,400
250
The best of Britain as well as plenty of international poker pros are expected to join the action, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to provide all the action from the poker floor. For a quick preview of what you can expect at the tables and away from it this week in Nottingham, check out the following video:
saw all three players check, but on the 
turn, play was checked to Ayres and he led out 3,500 chips. That garnered two quick folds and he raked in his first pot.
![[user38873]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Paul Newey led for 2,300 out of the small blind. Niall Farrell called from one seat over and the duo headed to the 
river. Newey checked and Farrell claimed an early pot with a bet worth 7,500.
landed on the turn. With Mighall short too, that may have led to a complete change in dynamics, making Harwood favourite to make the final five and bridge the gap between nothing and a seat worth £10,300. He was out in sixth, however, when the 
ended the satellite tournament. A gasp, shouts from the rail and relief all round surrounded the table and Harwood walked directly away from the celebrations so fast his hoody billowed behind him. 
