The first-ever Eurasian Poker Tour Main Event in the United Kingdom has got off to a flying start with Jonathan Hanley locking up a humongous chip lead.
The local hero bagged an impressive 3,180,000 chips, which equates to 159 big blinds when the players reconvene on May 26.
Hanley has secured a number of cashes at the Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club, with his biggest-ever recorded score of ￡7,000 at the WSOPC event held here earlier in the year. He will be looking to add handsomely to that come Sunday.
Second in the standings is the experienced Jack Allen who banked 1,680,000 chips. Allen has recorded an impressive $570,000 in prize money over the years, including a six-figure run at the 2022 WSOP Main Event where he finished 69th for $121,500. In third place is Ben Fowler who will come back with a stack of 1,555,000.
EAPT UK Main Event Day 1a Top Ten Chip Stacks
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Hanley | United Kingdom | 3,180,000 | 159 |
| 2 | Jack Allen | United Kingdom | 1,680,000 | 84 |
| 3 | Ben Fowler | United Kingdom | 1,555,000 | 78 |
| 4 | David Langsdale | United Kingdom | 1,465,000 | 73 |
| 5 | Song Hoi Sun | South Korea | 1,275,000 | 64 |
| 6 | Lewis Nuttall | United Kingdom | 1,180,000 | 59 |
| 7 | James Clarke | United Kingdom | 1,075,000 | 54 |
| 8 | Richard Shepherd | United Kingdom | 1,075,000 | 54 |
| 9 | Pavel Dobrita | Romania | 1,070,000 | 54 |
| 10 | Manikandan Radhakrishnan | United Kingdom | 1,055,000 | 53 |
Best of Day 1a Action
There can only be one choice for hand of the day which came in level five of the tournament which produced an incredible five-way all in scenario. Four of the players had pocket pairs while Timothy Slater had ace-queen.
Preflop, Hok Lai was the favorite to take down the pot with pocket kings, but it was the worst hand preflop which ended up taking a significant chunk of the pot. Richard Shepherd’s pocket sixes managed to connect on a low board to make a seven-high straight to drag in a pot of 684,000.
Despite calling himself a fish after the hand, he managed to build a handsome stack and will return on Sunday with 1,075,000. Lai managed to recover and will come back with 565,000.
But the star of the day has to be the overwhelming chip leader Hanley, who collected almost 20 percent of the chips in play. The catalyst for his success was making a huge call against Darren Jarvis who moved all in for 285,000 on a paired board.
Hanley used all of his four allotted time bank cards and made the call with ace-jack for two pair, while Jarvis tabled ace-ten of spades for a busted flush draw.
From there Hanley was a chip magnet and was not afraid to clash with other monster stacks, especially when he held pocket kings. He slayed Gajanthan Kamalanathan after making kings full of aces for a seven-figure pot and dispatched Adrian Cazacu after the Romanian shoved over 50 big blinds preflop and ran into Hanley’s cowboys.
At time of writing Day 1b is on the verge of conclusion and as soon as the information is available the chip counts will be published on PokerNews.
The action continues tomorrow with Day 1c starting at midday local time, followed by Day 1d at 5 p.m. local time. PokerNews will be concentrating on Day 1c, with end-of-night chip counts for Day 1d. Coverage will continue until May 27 when a winner will be crowned.
