Sunil Mistri Leads Final 16 of £888 Main Event
Saturday saw a flurry of action at 888poker LIVE Coventry, as the final turbo flight attracted a massive field to help smash the £500,000 guarantee in the £888 Main Event.
The last of six opening flights began this morning, registering 217 entries looking to bag up chips for their next challenge later in the afternoon. The 44 survivors then joined the 86 players who had previously qualified for the second day of play, along with 23 new entries before late registration closed at the start of Day 2 at Coventry Building Society Arena.
That brought the total to 812 entries, creating a prize pool of £617,120 - the largest for an 888poker LIVE Main Event since 2020. That field was trimmed down to the final 16 players, led by Sunil Mistri with an even 3,000,000 chips in his bag.
Mistri has recorded tournament earnings dating back to 2008, and a deep run in this event could mark a new career-best score. The poker veteran can look ahead to Day 3 on Sunday, October 20, with everyone eyeing the £125,000 first-place prize.
Close behind is another seasoned player in Chris Da-Silva, who sits in second place with 2,650,000 chips. Da Silva has three previous final table appearances at 888poker LIVE events, plus a pair of final tables here in Coventry.
Among the other notables to earn a spot in the final day is Alex Todd, who took down the £150 GUKPT Goliath in Coventry just over a year ago for £176,860. Todd sits among the shorter stacks with 775,000, looking to make a run on Sunday.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunil Mistri | United Kingdom | 3,000,000 | 60 |
| 2 | Chris Da-Silva | United Kingdom | 2,650,000 | 53 |
| 3 | Conor Odriscoll | Ireland | 2,275,000 | 46 |
| 4 | Muhamed Mia | United Kingdom | 2,200,000 | 44 |
| 5 | Jiang Pu | United Kingdom | 2,015,000 | 40 |
| 6 | Lei Wang | China | 1,800,000 | 36 |
| 7 | Mindaugas Kurlenskas | United Kingdom | 1,730,000 | 35 |
| 8 | Matthew Bonham | United Kingdom | 1,600,000 | 32 |
| 9 | Brandon Harris | United Kingdom | 1,550,000 | 31 |
| 10 | Jack Jaeger | United Kingdom | 1,105,000 | 22 |
The first order of business as play began with 153 returnees was the looming money bubble, where only the top 101 would earn at least a minimum of £1,700.
After a short hand-for-hand session that saw several short stacks double up, Zhicheng Miao was forced all in from the big blind and was unable to connect against three opponents.
Among the names to come up shy of the money were 888poker Ambassadors Vivian Saliba and Ian Simpson. Saliba joined the field for Day 2 and doubled up quickly, but was unable to build any momentum from there. Simpson had also chipped up early, but got caught bluffing just a few spots before the bubble.
Ricardo Mateus and Lucia Navarro both found their way into the money, but a deep run was not in the cards as both finished outside the top 50.
£888 Main Event Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £125,000 | 8 | £11,970 |
| 2 | £91,900 | 9 | £9,810 |
| 3 | £60,720 | 10 | £7,710 |
| 4 | £37,770 | 11 | £5,860 |
| 5 | £23,760 | 12-13 | £4,570 |
| 6 | £16,290 | 14-15 | £4,130 |
| 7 | £14,140 | 16 | £3,890 |
The final day of action in Coventry will begin at 1:00 p.m. local time, where the final 16 will return with just 39 seconds remaining in Level 24. From there, the blinds will jump to 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante.
It should be an exciting finish, and the PokerNews team will be on the scene as a new 888poker LIVE champion is crowned on Sunday.