The latest 888Live poker festival has started and, once again, the tables in the Aspers Casino in East London are buzzing.
888poker kicked off the festival with a £220 buy-in, £120,000 guaranteed tournament that featured four Day 1s.
Over 650 players registered, making sure that the guarantee was reached.
The tournament ran through the weekend and reached its conclusion on Sunday night with Christopher Kyriacou claiming the title and £20,000.
Incredibly, last year’s Main Event winner came second.
Ka Him Li Thrives Again
The final three players agreed on a deal and Kyriacou was utlimately the one to claim all the chips.
Most astoundingly the man Kyriacou had to beat heads-up was Ka Him Li, the player who came to the inaugural 888poker festival at the Aspers Casino last year and went on to win the main event.
Li also placed 35th in last year's opening event which had an even bigger field with about 700 players.
Quite an achievement for somebody who doesn’t play poker on a regular basis, as the fact he only has one other cash in a live poker event points to. Don’t be surprised if his name pops up again in the Main Event.
888 Opening Event Top 5 Payouts
| Place | Name | Prize Money |
| 1 | Christopher Kyriacou | £20,000* |
| 2 | Ka Him Li | £17,900* |
| 3 | Terry Simpson | £17,675* |
| 4 | Tom Hughes | £8430 |
| 5 | Vinny Anderson | £6210 |
*represents a 3-way deal
High Roller Wednesday, Main Event Thursday
The 888Live London poker festival is now in full swing with side events playing out every day at different buy-in levels.
The £2,200 High Roller Event starts on Wednesday and then on Thursday the £1,100 Main Event kicks off.
There are still live satellites directly in the 888poker room, so hurry up if you’re up for a major poker experience.
Talbot Climbs Half the Hill
While London was preparing for the festival, Pittsburgh was hosting a completely different event.
The second 4-player, heads-up King of the Hill Challenge was on and 8888poker pro Parker 'tonkaaaap' Talbot took on the reigning champion Phil Hellmuth in the first round.
The match was played as a best-of-three and Talbot came back from 1-0 down to knock the champion off his throne.
He wasn’t able to take his seat entirely, however, as Olivier Busquet (who beat Shaun Deeb in his first match) rolled over Talbot for the title.
Busquet said afterwards that he was 'hit by the deck so hard it would have been difficult to lose.' Busquet took the full $200,000 prize money as it was a winner take all event.
The Home Alone Experience
While all this happened in places thousands of miles apart, the player you’d least expect to be at home made it to the final table of 888poker’s last edition of the Baby Whale.
We’re talking about none other than Dominik Nitsche (who by the way is on his way to East London, too, so there’s another reason for you to try to satellite into the main event).
Nitsche spent the weekend online playing a couple of tournaments and, as it happened, made his deepest run in the one with the highest buy-in – the Baby Whale.
The term “Baby” is a little misleading as this tournament has a $320 buy-in and often high six-digit prize pools.
Nitsche finished that tournament in fifth place for $8k. He also won five of the seven $1k Heads-up Turbos he got involved in, so be careful when 888Dominik is waiting for you at a table that only has two seats.
If you’re a beginner and don’t have an account yet, visit our 888poker review page and read more about the second largest poker room on the internet. You’ll also find the links to download the 888poker software there and get started with an $888 sign-up bonus.
