Shakerchi Leads Final Table
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On Friday, Season 9 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour continued with Day 2 of the ￡10,000 High Roller. Leading the final nine players is Talal Shakerchi, who bagged 1,706,000 chips. Joining him on Day 3 will be Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren, 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Main Event winner Dimitar Danchev, EPT Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller runner-up JC Alvarado, EPT Prague €10,000 High Roller runner-up Fabian Quoss, and Paul Volpe, who is coming off of back-to-back World Poker Tour final tables.
Shakerchi abused the bubble, more than doubling his stack at a short-handed table full of professionals, and will enter Day 3 looking for his second-career High Roller victory - he took down the €10,000 Turbo High Roller (€223,000) at the Season 8 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo? Casino EPT Grand Final.
EPT London High Roller Final Table
| Position | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| Seat 1 | Gautam Sabharwal | 1,113,000 |
| Seat 2 | JC Alvarado | 750,000 |
| Seat 3 | Talal Shakerchi | 1,706,000 |
| Seat 4 | Dimitar Danchev | 246,000 |
| Seat 5 | Vicky Coren | 262,000 |
| Seat 6 | Faraz Jaka | 957,000 |
| Seat 7 | Fabian Quoss | 804,000 |
| Seat 8 | Eric Sfez | 565,000 |
| Seat 9 | Paul Volpe | 448,000 |
Day 2 began with 75 players, but there were 10 re-entries/late registrants, bringing the total field size to 137. Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu was one of the late entrants, but he only lasted two hands. On the second hand he played, Negreanu lost a flop with ace-ten against an opponent’s pocket eights, and that was all she wrote for Kid Poker.
Fellow Team Pro Jason Mercier exited quickly on Day 2 as well. Mercier found himself all in on the turn of a queen-high board holding pocket kings, but was dominated by Danchev’s pocket aces. The river was no help to Mercier and he hit the rail.
Other players who busted before the money include Ike Haxton, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Bryn Kenney, Andrey Gulyy, and Marvin Rettenmaier. Rettenmaier four-bet shoved over a three-bet from Danchev with ace-king, and Danchev called with ace-jack. There was a jack on the flop, and Rettenmaier couldn’t improve. While Rettenmaier busted short of the money, Danchev saw his stack grow above 400,000 chips.
Roberto Romanello and Anaras Alekberovas played the sickest hand of the day in Level 13. Romanello opened to 8,100 from middle position with the blinds at 1,500/3,000/400. Alekberovas called in position, Coren called from the big blind, and the flop fell 
. Coren checked, Romanello checked, and Alekberovas fired 21,000. Coren folded, Romanello check-raised to 65,000, and Alekberovas called. The turn was the 
, Romanello checked again, and Alekberovas bet just 35,000. Romanello check-raised all in, and Alekberovas snapped it off.
Romanello: 
Alekberovas: 
Romanello had flopped a full house, but was drawing dead against Alekberovas’ flopped quads. Romanello hit the rail short of the money, while Alekberovas’ stack ballooned to nearly 600,000 chips.
Coren won a massive hand at the end of Level 15, eliminating Robert Haigh and Steven Silverman. The money all went in preflop, with Coren holding jacks, Haigh holding kings, and Silverman ace-king. There was a jack on the flop, giving Coren a leading set, and the turn and river were both fives. Suddenly, the Team Pro was among the chip leaders, while her two opponents left The Vic with empty pockets.
The bubble finally came in Level 17, and Faraz Jaka made a hero call against Alekberovas to stay alive in the tournament. Over at the other table, it was Philipp Gruissem, winner of this event in Season 8, who would bubble. Gruissem four-bet shoved over a three-bet from Alvarado, and Alvarado snapped it off with two kings. Gruissem was well behind holding two threes, and was eliminated when he couldn’t catch up.
Shortly after Gruissem bowed out on the bubble, Scott Seiver exited in 14th place and Alekberovas was bounced in 13th place. Besides being hero-called by Jaka, Alekberovas lost a massive pot to Gautam Sabharwal, while Seiver was unlucky to have his kings cracked by Alvarado’s ace-ten.
Albert Draher was next to go when he three-bet jammed from the small blind with king-queen. Danchev, the original raiser, called with ace-nine and held, eliminating Draher in 12th place. Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein was eliminated in 11th place when he three-bet jammed with ace-six. Sabharwal, the original raiser, called with ace-ten, and held.
There were two minutes left on the clock in Level 20 when Johan van Til bubbled the official final table of nine. He got the remainder of his chips in preflop as a favorite with ace-king, and was ahead of Shakerchi’s ace-queen, but a queen on the turn sent the Dutchman to the rail in 10th place.
EPT London High Roller Payouts
| Position | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ￡436,330 | |
| 2nd | ￡241,670 | |
| 3rd | ￡147,690 | |
| 4th | ￡107,410 | |
| 5th | ￡87,270 | |
| 6th | ￡67,130 | |
| 7th | ￡53,700 | |
| 8th | ￡40,280 | |
| 9th | ￡29,540 | |
| 10th | Johan van Til | ￡29,540 |
| 11th | Barry Greenstein | ￡26,850 |
| 12th | Albert Draher | ￡26,850 |
| 13th | Anaras Alekberovas | ￡24,170 |
| 14th | Scott Seiver | ￡24,170 |
Play will resume on Saturday at 13:00 GMT at The Vic, where the remaining nine players will play for ￡436,330 and the Shamballa bracelet. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team as we bring all of your live, up-to-the-minute updates to you directly from the tournament floor.