The Top Five Hands from PokerStars Festival London
The inaugural PokerStars Festival London provided the kind of dramatic action associated with one of the theatrical capital cities of the world.
London is known to some as the "Big Smoke," and plenty of players were on fire at the felt in claiming career-high victories.
Thousands of hands were played out, and while many were on the rail or watching in the wings, you may have missed some of the greatest live performances. We're here to provide a curtain call for the drama as it happened.
Gonzalez One Outed On Day 1a
Brexo Pena Gonzalez had the worst bad beat to tell of the tournament, and he was ousted from the action after less than two levels of play at the Hippodrome Casino. On a flop of 10♥7♥2♠, Gonzalez and Clement Tripodi got all the chips in, with Gonzalez a massive favorite to double-up, holding 7♠7♦ against Tripodi's 2♣2♦.
The turn was terrible for Gonzalez, however, as it came the 2♦ to give a gobsmacked Tripodi quad deuces. The inconsequential A♠ river saw Gonzalez rise from the table to stagger free of the room in need of air. Tripodi found himself with practically double the average chips having not been in his seat an hour.
Sucked Out of the Door
Day 1b saw 164 players pitch up, but none of them probably felt as green with envy at the players bagging chips at the end of the day as David Urban. He was back on the streets after being given the cruelest thing in poker - false hope.
Urban three-bet to 6,800 at blinds of 500/1,000/100 in Level 9 after June Jenkins opened to 2,700. Jenkins jammed the lot into the middle and Urban called, but he was way behind and at risk.
Jenkins: K♦K♠
Urban:A♣K♥.
The flop came A♦4♣8♠ , putting Urban into the lead. But no sooner had the odds swung his way like like a saloon door had it slammed back into his face, as the turn came K♣ and the river fell 2♥. It was last orders for Urban, while Jenkins leapt to 110,000 chips at a vital stage of the day.
Mateos the Matador as Three Busted
An incredible four-way all-in on Day 1d saw Spanish pro Adrian Mateos knock out three players after moving all his chips into the middle with A♠J♠.
He was called by A♦K♥, A♥5♥ and K♣10♥, with the latter two calls belonging to short-stacked players, but the board of 8♠7♠3♣7♦5♠ gave Mateos a rivered flush to cull three tablemates in one fell swoop. Ole!
Ludo Lays Waste to the Field
Scottish poker professional Ludovic Geilich ran all the way to sixth place, and his heater was on Day 2, when he delivered knockout blows to two of them, chipping up considerably in the process.
First, Geilich called a raise from Masafumi Saito, who held pocket aces. Geilich's hole cards were {9-}{7-} and he flopped top two pair to eliminate the unfortunate Saito.
Eldad Bentov was next to feel the gale force of Geilich blow his chances away, when he moved all in when short with A♣8♣ but Geilich called with A♦J♦ in the small blind and managed to flop two pair again, even filling up on the river to rub salt into the wound.
Kassam Gifted the Chip Lead
Although both heads-up players held a ten in the final hand and got it in on the ten-high flop, with Rehman Kassam's king kicker winning the pot and the tournament, the heads-up battle went in Kassam's direction with a hand just a few deals earlier.
Daniel Harwood tried to end the event but only succeeded in doubling Rehman Kassam up, when he shoved with Q♥6♠ and Kassam called for his tournament life with A♠J♦.
The board of J♥9♥3♠J♣A♣ gave Kassam a 2:1 chip lead which he would never relinquish and led to him being crowned the victor, taking home £89,320 for the victory.
Harwood, who had been ahead when the two players made a deal, may not have lifted the trophy, but banked an even bigger payday of £95,000. Both players took down the biggest live results of their poker careers to date.
