Niall Farrell Leads After Day 1 of the 2017 partypokerLIVE Nottingham ￡10,300 High Roller
German pro Dominik Nitsche seemed poised to taske a late lead as the ￡1million guaranteed partypokerLIVE ￡10,300 High Roller reached its overnight hiatus in dramatic circumstances here at Dusk Till Dawn Casino in Nottingham, but ultimately it was Niall Farrell who claimed the top spot over night with 433,700 after playing the last few levels on the feature table.
With 100 players needed to reach the guarantee, there were 92 entries (including 8 re-entries) across the 6 hours of gameplay, with late registration still open for two more 45-minute levels and the first break tomorrow on the final day. That's because the blinds will roll back to Level 7 when play resumes at 1.00pm local time here in the land of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham.
It was Nitsche who plundered in a final hand which was worth 300,000 chips alone, most of his final total of 391,400 that surpassed all but one other this evening. Richard Kellet was the unfortunate casualty, 5-bet shoving with 
only to be 'Dom'inated by Nitsche's 
. A queen on the turn was the cruellest of cards, coming as it did before a king on the river to oust Kellett and give Nitsche the lead.
Elsewhere, partypoker ambassadors Joao Simao (224,400), Sam Trickett (200,000) and Roberto Romanello (119,700) all did the home team proud, finishing strongly and if not above the 160,000 closing chip average then near it in the case of the Welsh Wizard.
Others didn't fare so well with Stephen Chidwick, Tom Hall, Adrian Mateos, [Removed:17], David Peters, Kristen Bicknell, Rainer Kempe, Steven Warburton and Dzmitry Urbanovich among the players to bust late on. Others such as Conor Beresford, Kenny Hallaert, Rainer Kempe, Enzo Del Piero and Callum McCuaig never really got going and will have to re-enter on Day 2 or concentrate on the ￡6 million guaranteed Main Event which is back in live action tomorrow in the same award-winning cardroom.
There are plenty of players in the chasing pack for the lead, with American Jason Wheeler (307,025), Briton Ben Heath (334,450) and Hungarian Laszlo Bujtas (283,350) all within a three-bet and a call from moving into the lead. Ben Heath in particular needed help to get there, but the charismatic crusher called both turn and river cards to find a straight when a 300,000 pot was at risk.
"Visualisations are important these days." he smirked at the close of play.
Heath's best friend in poker, Charlie Carrel, plummeted to 98,650 at the end of the day and will return with less than the starting stack. All other hopefuls that join in the first level tomorrow will receive 50 big blinds, as the action recommences with blinds of 1,000-2,000 and a running ante of 200. We'll be back at it in the ￡10,300 #partypokerLIVE High Roller when the players return at 1.00pm tomorrow afternoon with a delayed live stream for your enjoyment too.