Svetlin Ivanov Wins 888Poker London Live Opening Event for ￡16,440!
After a grueling final day with over 14 hours of incredible poker, Svetlin Ivanov has endured a tough field to triumph and win the 888live London Poker Festival ￡100,000 Guaranteed Opening Event here at Aspers Casino in Stratford, London.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Svetlin Ivanov | ￡16,440* |
| 2 | James Mitchell | ￡14,295* |
| 3 | Longbo Mi | ￡13,860* |
| 4 | Neil Barron | ￡15,405* |
| 5 | Artan Dedusha | ￡6,000 |
| 6 | Jose Luis Lopez | ￡4,780 |
| 7 | Michael Harb | ￡4,000 |
| 8 | Vitalli Seman | ￡3,000 |
| 9 | Michael Benson | ￡2,000 |
* Following a four-way deal
The final day began with 109 in seats, but a flurry of early bust-outs began, with the money bubble not reached until 72 players. Such names as Gholamreza Mozaffari-Torshizi, Danito Salvatore Carlucci and Thissa De Silva all failed to cash. Arron Fletcher had dominated his Day 1a flight and he burst the bubble in record time, hardly a pause between hand-for-hand being announced and Ronnie Blank becoming the unlucky ‘Bubble Boy’.
Fletcher opened to 18,000 from the hijack position, and Blank elected to call and leave himself 50,000 chips behind from the big blind. The flop of 
saw both men check, but on the 
turn, Blank moved all-in.
"I'm sorry." said Fletcher, tabling 
. Blank wasn't drawing dead, having flopped a set with pocket threes. The river 
ended Blank's chances, however, and put the field in the money.
Yimin Yang took over the mantle that seemed to exist silently among the players all day – as soon as one player started dominating the play, another hero stepped forward to push for the lead. He busted three players when his flush draw on the flop ousted pocket aces and Farhan Khan’s 
.
Chaz Chattha missed out on the latter stages when his short-stack shove with 
ran into Thomas Pedersen’s 
and his friend and fellow professional Steve Watts followed him out of the door shortly after losing a 1.3m chip pot with 
losing to 
having been all-in pre-flop.
A four-way all-in brought about our final table when Arron Fletcher shoved his eight big blind stack into the middle with 
and was called by Artan Dedusha in the cut-off before Paul Whyman called all-in for four big blinds with 
. But Graham Hawkes sensationally moved all-in for 1.6m with 
before Dedusha called all of them with 
which held.
The final table started with Dedusha marginally ahead of the field:
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| Seat 1 | James Mitchell | 1,545,000 |
| Seat 2 | Artan Dedusha | 4,950,000 |
| Seat 3 | Vitalli Seman | 1,230,000 |
| Seat 4 | Svetlin Ivanov | 4,450,000 |
| Seat 5 | Longbo Mi | 575,000 |
| Seat 6 | Neil Barron | 2,040,000 |
| Seat 7 | Michael Benson | 770,000 |
| Seat 8 | Jose Luis Lopez | 1,060,000 |
| Seat 9 | Michael Harb | 1,195,000 |
Michael Benson was first to leave the party at the final table when he moved all-in for 770,000 with 
and was called by Michael Harb in the next seat with . Harb couldn’t catch up, and Vitalli Seman followed him out of the door soon after when his lost out to Jose Luis Lopez’s 
on a dramatic 
board.
Michael Harb would depart in 7th when his last 920,000 went into the middle pre-flop with 
, but Harb was dominated by James Mitchell’s 
and departed after a 
board. Jose Luis Lopez then made final all-in move with and Longbo Mi called it off with 
in the big blind. The run-out of 
saw Lopez out in sixth place.
Artan Dedusha departed in 5th place when his doubled up an all-in and at risk Neil Barron, before Dedusha, down to just eight big blinds, called two big blinds off to a raise against two players in Longbo Mi and Svetlin Ivanov and on , got his stack of 1.12m into the middle with 
. He was called by Ivanov alone with 
and that held through the turn and river to send Dedusha home.
After some discussion between the remaining four players, the following ICM deal was agreed:
| Player | Amount |
|---|---|
| Neil Barron | ￡15,405 |
| Svetlin Ivanov | ￡14,440 |
| Longbo Mi | ￡13,860 |
| James Mitchell | ￡13,295 |
An additional ￡2,000 would be awarded to the winner and ￡1,000 to the runner-up.
Neil Barron was first to bust post-deal when his all-in move with 
four-handed ran into James Mitchell’s 
and the board of saw Barron crash out. Longbo Mi moved all-in from the big blind when Svetlin Ivanov made a large raise pre-flop from the small blind, and Ivanov called it off quickly with . He was behind Mi’s , but overtook him on the 
board.
We were heads-up, and the duel was over almost as it began when James Mitchell moved all-in over the top of Ivanov's opening 400,000 bet and Ivanov called it off.
James Mitchell:
Svetlin Ivanov:
The board of 
saw Ivanov's ten kicker play, and the Bulgarian had the best tournament result of his career to date!
All the final nine received a ￡880 ticket to the London Live Main Event ticket and we can’t wait to see how they get on. Coverage starts on Tuesday afternoon right here on Pokernews!