Juan Pardo Takes a Commanding Lead into the Final Day of the ￡50,000 EPT London Super High Roller
Day 2 of the ￡50,000 EPT London Super High Roller at PokerStars European Poker Tour London has come to an end and Spain’s Juan Pardo is the commanding chip leader. The final six players will return on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. for the Day 3 finale of this prestigious high-stakes event.
The Super High Roller drew a total of 39 entries to generate a prize pool of ￡1,891,890, from which the winner will take home ￡652,700. The returning six players are all guaranteed at least ￡132,430.
Pardo bagged 5,500,000, which is more than triple his nearest competitor, Philip Sternheimer, with 1,615,000. Daniel Dvoress finished in the third spot as the only other player with over 1,000,000 chips. Bruno Volkmann, Ben Heath, and Henrik Hecklen round out the final six players.
EPT London ￡50,000 Super High Roller Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chip Count | Day 3 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juan Pardo | Spain | 5,500,000 | 138 |
| 2 | Philip Sternheimer | England | 1,615,000 | 40 |
| 3 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 1,005,000 | 25 |
| 4 | Bruno Volkmann | Brazil | 665,000 | 17 |
| 5 | Ben Heath | England | 585,000 | 15 |
| 6 | Henrik Hecklen | Denmark | 525,000 | 13 |
Day 2 Action
Day 1 sent 16 players and their bags to Day 2 where nine more players jumped in before registration ended at the beginning of the first level.
PokerStars ambassador Sam Grafton was one of Saturday’s early casualties when he went for a double with jacks. Grafton hit the rail when Orpen Kisacikoglu flopped an ace to win with Big Slick.
The tournament was down to two tables after three hours and Kisacikoglu led the way with the midday chip lead. Kisacikoglu was joined by Sam Greenwood, Christoph Vogelsang, and Pardo at the top of the leaderboard throughout the middle of the day.
Tom-Aksel Bedell was also a factor throughout the day, and he found himself in several clashes with Andras Nemeth. Nemeth was finally eliminated when he got it in with pocket tens and ran into Bedell’s jacks. Bedell exited just outside the top ten when Sternheimer spiked a straight on the river to beat his two pair.
Kisacikoglu’s midday dominance gave way to the comeback of Heath, who knocked him out with a pair of sixes on his way up the leaderboard as the night drew on. After a series of doubles, Sternheimer sat in second place with 1,600,000 chips behind Pardo’s 2,000,000 as the top ten players jockeyed for a spot at the final table.
Pablo Brito Silva was next out in 10th place when he couldn’t get past Sternheimers ace-king, and the final nine players broke down into an unofficial final table. It wasn’t long before Adrian Mateos was out in ninth after his pocket tens fell short of Pardo’s pocket queens. The hand brought Pardo over 3,000,000 and he stepped up the aggression over the evening’s final two levels.
Out in seventh was Vogelsang, who had an up-and-down day after sharing the top of the leaderboard at one point. Vogelsang surrendered a double to the pocket jacks of Heath and Greenwood finished the job when his ace-queen held off Vogelsang’s ace-jack.
Play slowed down considerably on the bubble and Pardo kept up the pressure on the short stacks with preflop raises. The big hand of the night came Greenwood called Pardo’s 1,000,000 bet on the river, only to see Pardo turn over a set of sevens to take the big pot and leave the Canadian bracelet winner with just a few big blinds. The night came to an end a few hands later when Greenwood couldn’t find a double with his suited jack-eight.
Sunday’s Finale
Play continues with just under 50 minutes remaining in Level 17 and blinds at 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante. The final six players will return at 12:30 p.m. local time and action will continue until a winner is declared.
EPT London ￡50,000 Super High Roller Final Payouts
| Place | Prize |
| 1 | ￡652,700 |
| 2 | ￡425,680 |
| 3 | ￡293,240 |
| 4 | ￡217,570 |
| 5 | ￡170,270 |
| 6 | ￡132,430 |
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team on Sunday for live updates from the final table of the ￡50,000 EPT London Super High Roller at the Hilton Park Lane.