There may still be one or two mutterings about the overlay but the great thing about the ISPT at Wembley was that the focus eventually fell on the poker. This was always likely to be the case at some point but with even the final hours before the tournament commenced showing more of an interest in cash than chips, there was a concern that there was going to be an overshadowing of the poker play. Once the action got underway on that Wembley turf, like so many times before, everything that was discussed and concerned about in the build-up was forgotten as the excitement and passion of play took over.
There is no doubt that many of the poker players involved would have been honoured to grace the Wembley turf. There is no doubt that the famous old stadium holds a special place in the heart of English football fans but plenty of other great historical events have taken place in Wembley Stadium. The Live Aid concert in the 1980s was a perfect example of people coming together to raise funds, raise awareness and to have a brilliant time. The ISPT event wasn’t along the lines of Live Aid but there was no doubt that plenty of people had a brilliant time on the Wembley turf.
Sunday the 2nd of June was the final day that poker players were getting to play on the Wembley turf. On the Monday, the play was moving indoors to the Bobby Moore suite. Moore was of course the famous captain when England won the World Cup in 1966 but if you are Scottish or Mexican, you will always have doubts about the jewellery that was found in Moore’s belongings at the 1970 World Cup. Regardless of that, Bobby Moore is someone who is loved all over the footballing world and the mere mention of his name will see some English football fans stand to attention.
Poker players were wilting quickly at Wembley
At the start of Sunday’s play, there were 421 players involved but at the end of the day, the tournament was down to 99 players. The leading player at the end of the Sunday and the pitch sessions was Ole Schemion. At this point he had managed to build up a stack of 1,534,000 chips. There were four players in total to break into the million level for chips but Ole was the clear leader and this would have been no surprise to anyone. By the age of 20, Ole has already managed to clock up more than $3m in live tournament earnings so this is a player that knows his way around the poker table.
Every player that made it past the Sunday stage into the Monday knew that they were making some money from the tournament, which is always a relief. Some of the big name players that survived the Sunday session were Sam Trickett, Tony G, Toby Lewis, Neil Bernadout, Marcel Luske and Boris Becker. There were some concerns that Boris would be another German to triumph at the home of English football but with so many other great players left in the event, this wasn’t the biggest concern at this point.
Monday turned out to be a quick day at the ISPT with only 20 players remaining at the end of the day. The chip leader at the end of Day 4 of the event, as he had been at the end of Day 1 and Day 2 was Alban Juen. Alban came to the event as a qualifier but by the end of Monday’s play, he held over 5 million chips.
One of the early players to bust out was Sam Trickett. Upon his exit, he immediately donated his $3,000 to the dealers and made his way to the airport to take part in the WSOP! That was quite a classy move and hopefully Sam can bag some big cash at the big WSOP event on Las Vegas.
Other players that made the top 10 were Dave Ulliott, Jean Miguel Lacerda, Florian Hoeller, Leigh Wiltshire, Gwendoline Jant, Xavier el fassy, Jakub Michalak, Pete Linton and Nick Hicks, all of whom were hoping to overtake Alban Juen.