This past weekend, we hosted our 2017 888Live Easter Edition London Main Event at Aspers Casino Stratford. The £440 buy-in tournament attracted 303 entrants, including 37 online qualifiers, and surpassed the £100,000 guarantee by creating a £120,000 prize pool.
After three days of play, which were covered extensively not only on all our social media channels, but also on PokerNews, the UK’s Krzysztof Pregowski emerged victorious. He ended up winning £21,118 after striking a three-way deal with Terry Jordon and Ciprian Panunesco, who took home £21,000 and £15,000 respectively.
Final Table Results
| 1st | Krzysztof Pregowski | (UK) | £21,118 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd | Terry Jordan | (UK) | £21,000 |
| 3rd | Ciprian Panunesco | (Romania) | £15,000 |
| 4th | Robert Lim | (UK) | £8,855 |
| 5th | Mark Harding | (UK) | £6,645 |
| 6th | Amar Al Hossana | (UK) | £5,315 |
| 7th | Jen Yue Chiang | (USA) | £4,415 |
| 8th | Graeme Bester | (South Africa) | £3,535 |
| 9th | Egidijus Alsauskas | (Lithuania) | £2,659 |
*Denote three-handed deal
Qualifiers Joined by Team888’s Lövgren & Moorman
A dozen 888poker qualifiers managed to make it through to Day 2 with Million Yosief advancing as chip leader and Mark Harding, who won his way in via a $12 satellite, sixth in chips. The former would go on to min-cash the tournament in 29th place for £815 while the latter made it all the way to the final table, ultimately finishing in fifth place for £6,645.
Also, making it through to Day 2 were 888poker Ambassadors with the former finishing slightly ahead of the latter in chips.
“If I hadn’t made a bad bluff about five hands before the end of the day, then I would have just finished above her,” Moorman said of the rivalry. “I miscalculated my stack, and it backfired against me but least I ended up having the last laugh by taking her out.”
Qualifier Kanan Farzaliyev exited as the bubble boy in 37th place after his pocket sevens fell to a set of fours, and he was given a pair of headphones as a consolation prize. Shortly after the bubble burst, Lövgren took her leave in 30th place for £815, and she ended up busting to her teammate.
“I’m always kind to my friends, so I decided to give my remaining chips,” Lövgren jokingly tweeted. “GL to him now!”
That helped Moorman make the final day of the tournament, which saw 15 players return to play. Unfortunately, online poker’s most accomplished tournament player didn’t last too long.
His final hand took place in Level 20 with the blinds at 8,000/16,000/2,000. Moorman moved all in for 221,000 holding the Q♥10♥ and Panunesco called with the J♦J♠. The board ran out 8♠6♠4♣K♦8♥ and Moorman hit the rail in 13th place for £1,580.
“It was a really enjoyable relaxed atmosphere, I always had really fun tables, playing quite a lot with chip leader Terry Jordan, he’s a character, he’s a good guy,” Moorman said after his elimination. “When people are having fun at the tables it makes it more fun for me as well. Everyone seemed to be having a good time; it was nice to get some chips and cash as well, it’s always a good feeling going deep in a live tournament, it’s a different kind of buzz, online doesn’t feel as real.”
Great Poker Venue for Moorman
Regarding the venue, Moorman continued: “I think it’s really nice. The first time I played here was the festival in October last year, and I was really impressed with the room, it’s quite spacious. For a start, it’s got really nice chairs, so many poker rooms just have terrible chairs, and you’re sat in them all day. No complaints, I really enjoyed playing here, I’m always excited to come back to London and play.”
As for what’s next for Moorman, he plans to mix it up playing both live and online.
“I haven’t been playing that much online the last few months,” he admits. “I’ve been moving and doing real life stuff and playing a lot more live, but I’m going to be focusing back online before the World Series of Poker. I’ll be playing the Super XL. I’ll be playing in Mexico; it’s one of my favourite places to play. It’s a time zone thing, I get up and start at nine in the morning, it’s nine to five or if it’s going well seven or eight, then you can go out and have dinner and relax. If I was playing in England, I’d start playing at seven at night and finish about seven or eight in the morning. It’s very draining.”
As for the aforementioned Harding, his final hand came in Level 25 (25,000/50,000/5,000) on a Q♥J♥9♠ flop. Pregowski checked, Jordon bet 75,000, and Harding raised. Pregowski folded, and Jordon called to see the 8♦ turn. Jordon led out for 200,000 and then snap-called when Harding moved all-in. Harding had turned a straight with his Q♦10♥, but it was no good as Jordon held a bigger one with the K♥10♦.
Harding had to settle for fifth place after the 3♥ was run out on the river. That gave him a £6,645 pay-out on his $12 investment.
You Haven’t Seen the Last of Dutch Qualifier Julian Hazelhof
Another $12 qualifier to do well was Dutch national Julian Hazelhof, who finished in 11th place for £1,930. On Day 1C, he got off to a rough start only to rebound and bag 70,000. On Day 2, he was among the big stacks before clashing with Jordon, who was the chip leader. Still, he managed to make it to the final day before busting when his pocket tens were cracked after Jordon flopped a set of sevens.
“The money is not the most important thing to me, the most important thing is to prove yourself as a player, that was the only thing I came here to do,” said Hazelhof. “I promise you one thing; I will see you back here. I’m going to be back. It’s tough you know, the tournament. I qualified online where there are 70 players, probably good players, and you have to be number one to get here. It’s tough.”
Hazelhof continued: “It’s been half an hour now since I busted and I feel gutted, you know? Not playing at the final table, it’s the worst feeling in poker, and I’m not in my hometown. I have family and friends who have supported me, amazing, they have followed me on PokerNews, and I hope they are proud. There is only one ambition for me, playing the WSOP Main Event. That’s a big dream I have. I started saving money this month to go when I’m about forty or forty-five to go to the Main Event.”
When informed of 888poker’s “Supersize ME” promotion, he perked up a bit.
“That would be awesome,” he said. “I’m going to do my best.”
Terry Jordon Misses Becoming 1st Two-Time Champ
In January 2015, Jordan topped a field of 609 entries to win the 888Live Local London £220 Main Event for £14,490. By making the final table of the 888poker Easter Edition London Main Event, Jordon had the potential to become the first-ever two-time winner of an 888Live event. However, he would come up one spot shy of making history.
After the three-way deal was struck and Panunesco exited in third place, Jordon and Pregowski entertained the masses by moving all in blind. Over the next three hands, they took turns winning and exchanging the chip lead, and then things came to an end on the fourth hand of heads-up play.
In it, Jordon, who had the shorter stack, was all in blind holding the 10♣4♥ and Pregowski had him at risk with the 5♥2♣. The J♣9♣5♠ flop gave Pregowski the lead, and he held in on the 7♦ turn and J♠ river.
"The whole idea behind it was that every tournament when you come to heads-up, everyone sits there all serious for hours and hours,” Pregowski told PokerNews after the win. “Someone mentioned earlier that a tournament took ten hours heads-up before it finished. So, we thought we'd just give it a spin and see what happens. Let the cards decide, not the players, and that's what we've done!"
Pregowski had just $5,843 in live tournament earnings prior to the win, which included $2,337 for finishing 12th in the March 2016 888Live Local Series London.
The next 888Live will take place May 11-22 at Gran Casino de Barcelona for the 888Live Barcelona Festival. The stop will feature 12 days of poker with over €700,000 in guaranteed prize pools.
