£5,300 EPT Main Event Returns to London Today With Day 1a
The PokerStars European Poker Tour London is back for the first time since 2014 and will see the £5,300 EPT Main Event kicking off today at noon local time.
Held at the beautiful Hilton Park Lane in London, the six-day Main Event should, like other EPT events this year, draw a huge field and plenty of big names, including many of the Team PokerStars Pros who have been firing events throughout the series.
The £5,300 No-Limit Hold'em event will feature two starting flights, the second of which will play out on Sunday, Oct. 23. The single re-entry event will see players starting with a stack of 30,000 chips and blinds of 100/100/100.
Levels will last for a lengthy 60 minutes with a 20-minute break every two levels and a 75-minute dinner break scheduled to take place after Level 6 around approximately 7 p.m, with both starting flights playing for ten levels. Approximately 15% of the field will be paid and a shot clock will be implemented during Day 3 on Oct. 25.
It's been eight long years since the last EPT London where Sebastian Pauli bested a field of 675 runners to win the trophy and £499,700 in the £4,250 buy-in Main Event. Other previous champions include Ruben Visser, David Vamplew and Michael Martin, who won the biggest EPT London Main Event prize to date, a cool £1,000,000, when he took down the 2008 offering.
Previous EPT London Main Event Champions
| Year | Buy-in | Entries | Winner | First-Place Prize (GBP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | £3,000 | 175 | John Shipley | £200,000 |
| 2005 | £3,050 | 242 | Mark Teltscher | £280,000 |
| 2006 | £3,550 | 398 | Victoria Coren Mitchell | £500,000 |
| 2007 | £5,400 | 392 | Joseph Mouawad | £611,520 |
| 2008 | £5,400 | 596 | Michael Martin | £1,000,000 |
| 2009 | £5,250 | 730 | Aaron Gustavson | £850,000 |
| 2010 | £5,250 | 848 | David Vamplew | £900,000 |
| 2011 | £5,250 | 691 | Benny Spindler | £750,000 |
| 2012 | £5,300 | 604 | Robin Ylitalo | £560,980 |
| 2013 | £5,250 | 647 | Ruben Visser | £595,000 |
| 2014 | £4,250 | 675 | Sebastian Pauli | £499,700 |
The PokerNews live reporting is on-site here at Hilton Park Lane and will be providing updates ahead of a winner being crowned on Oct. 28. Be sure to check out the team's coverage of other EPT London events in the meantime.