The World Poker Tour came to London for the 1st time and all the big names showed up to play. Present were the likes of Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Huck Seed, Luke Schwartz, Freddy Deeb, Andrew Robl and many more.
The event has a £5,300 buy-in and is being held at Mayfair’s Palm Beach Casino. With a total of 171 entries, the total prize pool comes to £820,800 or roughly $1,250,000 Million. The tournament will pay the top 18 finishers with 1st place taking home almost £275,000!
In addition, after the Main Event, there will be a High Roller event with an entry fee of £15,000 that is bound to attract the biggest names in the game.
Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey Start Strong
Day 1 saw the likes of Erik Seidel and Phil Ivey get off to a very strong start wrapping up the day in 1st and 4th positions respectively. After Day 1, British bad boy Luke Schwartz and World Series of Poker Champion Huck Seed would also be lurking near the top looking for their opportunity to make a move.
Day 2 of the action would see a made-for-TV table with Ivey, Seidel and Schwartz all seated together and all wielding considerable stacks.
Britain’s loud mouth would finish this round ahead of his rivals from across the pond and as not to disappoint, he did so without much class!
Luke Schwartz was able to double up through 8 time bracelet holder Erik Seidel. All in on the river, Schwartz held TT for the top full house on the T-9-3-8-8 board and managed to double up through Seidel. Never gracious in victory (or defeat), the following exchange would follow:
“What did you have?” asked Schwartz.
To this, Ivey laughed and shook his hand.
“What are you laughing at?” Schwartz shot.
“You’ve just won a huge pot off the guy and you’re asking him what he has,” Ivey replied
“What does he care, he’s a multi-millionaire!” said Schwartz.
“That’s not the point, you don’t do that” replied Ivey.
“I just wanted to find out how big a cooler it was. It’s nothing to do with you anyway,” retorted Schwartz.
“Well you asked me what I was laughing at…so I told you,” Ivey said. Ivey has been around long enough to know how to handle all types at the poker table.
Schwartz Gets the Last Laugh
In the end however, it was the British home boy and poker brat that got the last laugh against his American counterparts.
The Ivey-Schwartz table would also have Huck Seed and Giovanni Safina who would comment on just how tough the table is by saying “Ivey is raising all the time. If not, him, then Schwartz.”
Seed would come out ahead of Ivey when Seed’s QQ took out Ivey’s 66 and crippled his stack. In the end, Ivey would have to push all in with his remaining short stack and Schwartz called and flopped the nut flush. He would obnoxiously proclaim “Ivey’s out, nut flush”. Always a cool customer, Phil walked away from the table with a simple “OK”.
Stayed tuned to see if the British brat can take down the inaugural WPT London Event on his home turf!
