Both Dempsey and Feldman won their respective first heats in London and have taken a commanding lead in the points race heading into the second heats today and tomorrow.
With 16 points each, both are virtual locks to make the final table and play for the $100,000 first-place prize.
Dempsey Tops Giannetti, Tilly Gets Shut Out in Group A
James "Flushy" Dempsey was part of the six-player Group A that played Heat 1 yesterday along with November Niner Matt Giannetti, Luke “FullFlush_1” Schwartz, Max Pescatori, Tony G. and Jennifer Tilly.
Dempsey and Giannetti made it to the heads-up portion with Dempsey trailing almost two-to-one in chips but getting lucky to double up when his Q♦ 9♦ beat Giannetti’s A♥ Q♠.
A few hands later Dempsey spiked a pair of jacks on the flop with his QJ to top Giannetti's A-T and that was it.
Since Dempsey chose to play his double-up card before the heat started, he turned his 8 points for the win into 16 and will take a commanding advantage heading into Heat 2.
Giannetti sits in second with six points heading into the Pot-Limit Omaha round coming up later tonight but still has his double-up card available to play.
Schwartz and Tony G. also played their double-up cards in Heat 1 but failed to capitalize with early bustouts.
Points after Heat 1 for Group A:
James Dempsey 16 Matt Giannetti 6 Luke Schwartz 4 Max Pescatori 3 Tony G. 2 Jennifer Tilly 0Feldman Busts Frankenberger to End Heat 1 for Group B
Group B hit the felt this morning for its Heat 1 in Texas Holdem.
High-stakes cash game regular and London-native Andrew Feldman headlined the six-player group that includes WPT Season 9 Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger, Sorel Mizzi, Mike Sexton, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and PartyPoker qualifier Ben Carpenter.
Mizzi, Feldman and Carpenter all chose to play their double-up cards today but only Feldman made good use of it, winning the heat to turn his 8 points into 16 and virtually guarantee himself a seat at the final table.
Mizzi went out in fifth and Carpenter in fourth to give them 2 and 4 points respectively.
Frankenberger, despite playing one of the worst hands Luke Schwartz has ever seen, finished runner-up and earned six points.
The play in question, according to the PartyPoker blog:
“Sorel Mizzi looks down and finds 9♠ 9♥ in the hole and he raises to 14,000. To his left is Andy Frankenberger and he three-bets to 28,000 with A♥ 7♥.
"Mizzi calls and the dealer gets busy putting out the 7♠ 6♦ 7♣ flop. Mizzi checks and Frankenberger checks behind, a rather unconventional play.
"The turn brings the K♦ into play and Mizzi checks. Once again Frankenberger checks behind.
"The river is the 8♥ and now Mizzi fires a bet of 22,000 thinking his nines are good and we all know what Frankenberger is going to do, he is going to raise it up.
“He asks Mizzi for a count, which suggests he is going to raise but he ultimately just calls.
“Luke Schwartz is highly critical of Frankenberger’s play, describing it as ‘one of the worst hands he has ever seen.’”
Group B will return tomorrow to play its Pot Limit Omaha heat.
Points after Heat 1 for Group B:
Andrew Feldman 16 Andy Frankenberger 6 Ben Carpenter 4 Mike Sexton 3 Sorel Mizzi 2 Yevgeniy Timoshenko 0 Follow along with the live updates in the Party Poker blog.Visit www.pokerlistings.com