We headed to Aspers Casino in Stratford, London for the Kickoff live event of the year! With a £120,000 guarantee and £440buy-in, players were undoubtedly getting value for money. Not only was there a lot of cash on the table, but the winner would also receive a 2019 WSOP Main Event package, courtesy of 888poker.
But with 745 entries more than doubling the prize pool and boosting it to £295,020, players got even more than they may have initially bargained for.
888ShotClock Takes Centre Stage
The 888poker LIVE London Kickoff got underway on 7/2/2019 with the following three Day 1 flights:
Day 1A – 7/2/2019 at 6pm
Day 1B – 8/2/2019 at 1pm
Day 1C – 9/2/2019 at 6pm
In action at the event was the #888ShotClock, which proved to be a prominent feature and player-pleaser – as was the Big Blind Ante.
Bros Vs Pros Return
The Bros Vs Pros contest made its second appearance at one of our live events. As previously, it was open to UK players only, and players could qualify online for just $1.
The lucky winner this time around was Adam Conroy from Bury, UK who nominated two of his best Bros to share in the winnings. The prize consisted of an 888poker LIVE London Kickoff package, £1,000 to play in a cash game with Pros and tickets to a Premier League match.
Action from Day 1’s
Day 1A started out with a high number of registration - which was a sign of things to come. However, we could never have imagined how massive this event was going to be.
Of the 209 entries on Day 1A, 63 players made it through. Unfortunately, 2018 WSOP Main Event 9th place finisher, Antoine Labat, was not one of them. Although, he managed to school PokerNews’ Sarah Herring on how to bag a cool million dollars while singing the praises of 888poker’s live event structures.
Also, in action on Day 1A was Tiffany Michelle – though not at the poker tables. She took over the Instagram.com/888poker_Official page for the day. She managed to get the scoop from 888poker ambassadors, Martin Jacobson on their poker and life successes.
Day 1B managed to one-up Day 1A with 200 runners and 44 re-buys. The action kicked off earlier than Day 1A at 1pm. The lines were out the door at one point as players scrambled to register before the end of Level 11. Those who were unable to play Day 1B had the opportunity of signing up for Day 1C.
Action in that flight started at 6pm. This sitting attracted the highest number of players at 215 with 46 re-buys. A hefty 91 runners survived into Day 2, creating a total of 240 players coming back to vie for a huge prize pool.
Action from Day 2
Day 2 was always going to be long and challenging with 240 players making it through. In addition to the returning runners, 31 players decided to throw their hats into the ring. Unfortunately, Sofia busted out early as did fellow 888poker ambassador,.
However, Martin Jacobson, 2014 WSOP Main Event Champ and Team888 ambassador, went a little deeper. He managed to min-cash in 82nd place for £640.
With the £120K GTD well and truly smashed, the prize pool ended up at £295,020 consisting of 745 entries with £53,950 going to the winner. In addition, the top-place finisher would be walking away with a 2019 WSOP Main Event package.
Here are the payouts as they stood on Day 2:
Here are the entry numbers per day:
Final DayDespite the huge number of players entering Day 2, we managed to play down to 18 players.
The final day kicked off at 1pm with 18 players ready and raring to go. One player, in particular, was down to less than 1BB on Day 2. A Zhou parlayed that minuscule chipstack up to a 6th place finish of £10,790.
In no time at all, we were down to the final 9:
However, it was another hour of heads-up action with the chip lead going back and forth between the two. Event commentators David Tuchman and Nick Weathall were joined for a short time by Tiffany Michelle.
In a bit of a slow-developing hand, Ganev 3-bets with Ac-9c and gets flat called by Runnacles’ pocket fours. The board runs out Qs-Qd-9d-6c-5d and Ganev triple barrels every street, gets called and becomes overwhelming chip leader – 17M to Runnacles’ 6.3M.
Tom Runnacles made a little bit of a comeback, but it was not to be. Thirty minutes later, they played the final hand of the tournament.
Ganev woke up on the button with Ac-Kh. Unlucky for Tom, he has a hand – Ah-7d. After a raise, a re-raise, an all-in and a call, we had the last hand of the event, and a champion was crowned.
Ganev had won his ticket to this sophomore Kickoff event at in a satellite at Aspers Casino for just £120.00 and walked away with over £37K, including the $5,000 from the ICM deal and the trophy. He also gets a 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event package. Runnacles, who benefited from that deal, bagged a tidy £39,855.00.
Final 9 Payouts *after ICM deal 4-handed with £5,000 and trophy going to winner
