Harry Lodge open-shoved from under the gun to claim the blinds and antes.
One hand later, Joe Johnson opened to 50,000 from the cutoff and Lodge called in the big blind. On the flop, Lodge check-called a bet worth 55,000 and the duo then checked the turn and river.
Lodge showed and Johnson mucked his cards, flashing a three. "I had pocket threes, not a three," Johnson added.
The hand after, Yuriy Boyko raised to 50,000 from the button and Lodge's shove in the small blind claimed the pot without showdown.
A battle of the blinds versus Yuriy Boyko and Harry Lodge escalated. The duo both invested 80,000 on a flop of before Boyko checked again the turn. Lodge bet 70,000 and Boyko called before checking the river.
Lodge cut out a bet of 135,000 and Boyko gave it just over a minute of consideration before check-raising all in. Lodge counted his remaining stack and started some table talk after spending two minutes in the think tank. As much time passed after before Lodge sent his cards into the muck.
This tournament has now played in it's fourth room over the course of three days, as the Jimmy's Room behind the Heliot Steak House is hosting today's final. "A double up early on would be nice," was one of the comments by Yuriy Boyko and the Irishman got his wish granted in hand number two.
Enzo Del Piero had won the first hand and raised it up from the cutoff right after. Boyko jammed for 476,000 in the big blind and Del Piero called.
Yuriy Boyko:
Enzo Del Piero:
The board ran out and the jacks held up to let Boyko double to more than a million.
In two hours from now as of 1.30 p.m. local time, the last five hopefuls out of a 178-entry strong field in the 2017 PokerStars Festival London ￡2,200 High Roller will return once again to the iconic Hippodrome London in the English capital. Due to the big field, an extra day was added to the schedule in order to avoid a finish time when most people would head for breakfast, and the final five bagged up at around 2 in the morning last night.
Leading the survivors is Joe Johnson with 2,200,000, and the Brit was running pretty hot yesterday to establish a 2-1 lead over his nearest rivals Nicolas Beker (1,123,000) and Enzo Del Piero (1,100,000). The other two finalists are Harry Lodge (626,000) and Day 1 chip leader Yuriy Boyko (484,000). Johnson is playing this event courtesy of his triumph in the latest PokerStars LIVE at The Hippodrome Casino Loyalty Race, which saw him take top prize of ￡4,000 in buy-ins for this week’s Festival.
With 20 big blinds left at blinds of 12,000-24,000 and a running ante of 4,000, there is plenty of room left and all trophy hunters have ￡19,410 locked up for their efforts already. However, all eyes are set on the first-place payout of ￡67,290 and the chance to become the first ever PokerStars Festival High Roller champion on European soil.
Seat Assignments for the Final Day
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Yuriy Boyko
Ireland
484,000
20
2
Harry Lodge
UK
626,000
26
3
Enzo Del Piero
UK
1,100,000
45
4
Joe Johnson
UK
2,200,000
91
5
Nicolas Beker
Switzerland
1,123,000
46
The PokerNews live reporting team will be there to cover all the action until a winner is crowned, and you can also check out the updates of the ￡990 Main Event Day 1b that kicks off in half an hour as well.
flop, Lodge check-called a bet worth 55,000 and the duo then checked the 
turn and 
river.
and Johnson mucked his cards, flashing a three. "I had pocket threes, not a three," Johnson added.
before Boyko checked again the 
turn. Lodge bet 70,000 and Boyko called before checking the 
river.
