Anatoly Filatov Bags the Chip Lead in EPT London Main Event

The Day 1A of the EPT London Main Event concluded last night, with Anatoly Filatov bagging the chip lead. The Russian pro ended the day with the stack of 173,900, which gives him a significant advantage over the second place PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden (125,800) and Alexander Trevallion (125,500). Lodden returned from the dinner break a chip leader but Filatov made the leap in the last couple of levels.

The Day 1A gathered a crowd of 224 players, all putting up a buy-in of £4,250 for their chance to battle it out for the prestigious title and what is bound to be a big first place cash. A hundred players have already fallen on this path and only 123 of them will return tomorrow to continue with the Day 2.

Other recognizable names who will make their return to the tables include James Dempsey, Tudor Purice, Dominik Panka, Eugene Katchalov, Ike Haxton, David Vamplew, two more members of the PokerStars Pro Team Leo Margets and Jake Cody and more. On the other hand, those who were not in favor of the Lady Luck include the American Steve O’Dwyer, Sorel Mizzi, Daniel Smith and Martins Adeniya.

Although every EPT stop is primarily about one thing, that thing being poker, every stop also has something that differentiates it from the others. For London, the distinction is not a pleasant one if you make your living from playing, as the London stop has been long known to attract great number of big time professionals. You will not find too many amateurs in the field, as clear from the list of survivors. On the other hand, if you are looking for a challenge, London is the place to be!

The things will kick off once again today at noon (UK time), and we will, no doubt, see a bigger turnout, as later flights always attract more players. The field size will probably be somewhat influenced by the currently running WSOP APAC, but it will still certainly attract a great number of players.

As players are slowly getting physically and mentally ready to take their seats and start the race, our team in the field will be looking to snatch some more of them and bring you exclusive interviews, all in an effort to bring you at least a little piece of the experience that is the European Poker Tour. Not the same like being there for sure, but it is the next best thing!