PokerStars.com EPT London Main Event Day 3: Martin Kozlov Leads 45 Hopefuls
The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London Main Event continued on Wednesday with Day 3 action from the Hippodrome Casino. After four levels of play only 45 players remained, and none of them were former winners or Team PokerStars Pros. Martin Kozlov (pictured) will take the chip lead into Day 4 with 1,351,000 in chips after having all the luck on his side on Wednesday. Kozlov cracked aces with a flopped set, and also had set over set in another big pot to set the pace.
Others sitting near the top of the chip counts are Swedish pro Robin Ylitalo (716,000), EPT Live commentator and long-time Supernova Elite [Removed:17] (1,046,000), Day 2 chip leader Tudor Purice (825,000), and Australian super star Jeff Rossiter (601,000).
Day 2 started out with 106 players and just 87 would get paid. That meant there would be some very sad faces exiting the tournament room empty-handed. Former EPT winners Frederik Jensen, Davidi Kitai and Tom Middleton failed to make the money, as did Day 1a chip leader Maximilian Senft, Jackie Glazier, Kyle Julius and Paul Volpe. The eventual bubble boy was Steven Lewzey who missed a flush draw with ace-ten of clubs versus Ziv Vachar’s pocket aces.
Belgian pro Kenny Hallaert had a very impressive showing in London this year as he cashed the UKIPT Main Event and placed third in the UKIPT High Roller won by Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst. Hallaert also cashed the Main Event but busted shortly after the bubble burst in 75th place (£9,080). Other players that min-cashed included Team PokerStars Pros Theo Jorgensen and Henrique Pinho, as well as EPT Grand Final High Roller winner Steven Silverman and Majestic High Roller winner Mike Watson.
It wasn’t all bad news coming from London on Day 3, as there are still a ton of famous faces with good stacks on Day 4. Rossiter notched up a big double knockout with kings versus jacks and eights, which launched him toward the top. Rossiter remained among the leaders throughout the day and will be one to watch on Thursday. Others in contention include Jan Sjavik (361,000), Sebastian Blom (216,000), WCOOP TLB winner Yngve Steen (190,000), Paul Berende (193,000) and EPT London Super High Roller finalist Timothy Adams (271,000).
Kozlov played one of the biggest pots of the day against successful Brit Chris Brammer. Brammer three-bet with aces from the small blind and was called by Kozlov who flopped a set. All the chips went in on the turn and Brammer was knocked out in 63rd place. Kozlov did not look back after that and also knocked out Daniel Reijmer in a set-over-set confrontation.
The last remaining EPT winner was Season 7 London winner David Vaplew. Vamplew had a day filled with swings but eventually fell when he lost a coin flip versus Richard Yong’s son, Wai Kin Yong. Yong still has a good stack heading into Day 4 and he’s on his way to make his first cash in Europe a very big one.
November Niner Mark Newhouse was also in contention but he was knocked out toward the end of Day 3. Ludovic Geilich, who ended the Day second in chips, knocked out Newhouse.
The tournament will resume Thursday at 12:00 noon BST. A field of 16 players, or two tables, will remain at the end of Day 4. PokerNews will be on hand for up-to-the-minute updates straight from the floor, and we look forward to you joining us then.
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