EPT’s London Bubble Bursts
Thursday, 14 March 2013
An air of uneasy tension consumed the early stages of EPT London’s third day yesterday as the event’s pivotal money bubble loomed large on the horizon.
Poised on 114 players, the surviving players returned from a night of rest to contest the first significant milestone of the £5,000+£250 Main Event.
Indeed, with 96 players getting paid the pressure became too much for the likes of Griffin Benger, Marcel Luske and Teddy Sheringham as they all made early exits without any cash. As more players drifted towards the rail the fateful money bubble lasted for an hour before Michael Ashton finally laid down his sword.
Having battled his way through a large portion of the field, he finally came up short in a three-way pot against Pasi Sormunen and Stephen Lacey. Despite flopping two pair with J-T, Ashton would ultimately relinquish his stack after Lacey made a fortunate straight on the river to scoop the pot.
Ashton’s exit left 96 players all with a minimum cash and a renewed sense of optimism. However, as the blinds increased the likes of David Vamplew (90th - £8,000), Barny Boatman (69th - £9,500), Nick Abou Risk (54th - £11,000) and Viktor Blom (44th - £12,500) all hit the rail.
At the close of play is was Pasi Sormunen who dominated the leaderboard with 1,578,000 chips ahead of Niall Farrell (1,510,000) and Nicolas Chouity (1,143,000).
Other notables names amongst the final 32 are Theo Jorgensen (778,000), Mike McDonald (684,000), John O'Shea (671,000), Jason Mercier (309,000), Chris Moorman (239,000) and Annette Obrestad (170,000).
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