David Gee Leads Final 28 in the Quest for the MPNPT London 2019 Title
The MPN Poker Tour London £480 Main Event at Aspers Casino set a new attendance record for a stand-alone leg of the tour. After late registration closed before the start of yesterday's Day 2, the field ballooned to 649 entrants to beat the previous record of 610 entrants in Tbilisi in 2015.
The £200,000 guarantee was smashed with a final £280,368 prize pool to be awarded to the top 80 finishers and the winner going home with the trophy and the £50,000 top prize. Click here for the full prize pool breakdown.
Yesterday's action played deep into the money after an extended bubble that witnessed four all-in competitors survive before the short-stacked player was finally eliminated in Rouzbeh Faramarzian. The remaining players were guaranteed at least a min-cash of £700 with Faramarzian unexpectedly winning a seat in the MPNPT @ Battle of Malta Main Event courtesy of MPN to ease the blow of elimination.
Once in the money, the field devoured itself until just 28 remain for the final day. Grosvenor Poker qualifier David Gee (lead photo) leads the way with 1,860,000 chips, followed by four other chip millionaires: Nikolay Ponomarev, Andreas Johannessen, Caglar Genc, and Chris Da-Silva. Gee is no stranger to the live United Kingdom tournament circuit and used his experience – and his huge stack – to pick up chips late on Day 2, especially around the tense bubble.
Lying in seventh overall with 950,000 chips is Gary Miller, who has had great success previously at Aspers Casino, winning the WPT500 last year for £114,000. Interestingly, a fellow finalist in that event is still in contention here in Sang Leung (745,000). Click here for full chip counts and seat draw for the final day.
Meanwhile, Oskar Wedde (49th - £1,170) won a free €1.500 package to the MPNPT @ Battle of Malta after winning the Birthday Boy last longer against four others who amused the MPNPT poker community most successfully with short videos.
Wedde will join Paul McTaggart and Heiki Raidlepp, who outlasted their own group of All Roads Lead to London winners, in Malta. A further package that includes buy-in to the €555 buy-in to the €1,000,000 guaranteed MPNPT @ Battle of Malta Main Event, travel, and accommodation (October 17-22) will be awarded in tonight’s €2,500 Live Stream Freebuy online tournament.
The two-day £200 Mosh Pit side event began yesterday, attracting 133 entries, and will pay the top 18 finishers from its £23,940 prize pool. Today 22 returning players will compete for a side event-sized version of the coveted MPNPT trophy and £6,260.
Cards-up broadcasting on twitch.tv/thrillofpoker from the Main Event will continue from 15:45 with commentary flowing from the dynamic duo of Padraig Parkinson and Jesse May. Coverage of the non-featured tables can be found right from the start on the MPN Poker Tour Blog. Galleries, interviews and the live stream can be found on the MPN Poker Tour Facebook page.
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