Almost 400 of the world's top poker pros are expected to shell out the L5,200 entry fee for the EPT London Championship over the next two days, building a prize pool of over $4 Million US. Among the stars hitting the felt on Day 1a were Katja Thater, Jimmy ‘Gobboboy' Fricke, Dave ‘Devilfish' Ulliott and 2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker.
Frenchman Nicolas Levi stood atop the biggest mountain of chips at the end of Day 1a, as the lone possessor of a 100K+ stack. Moneymaker, Daniel Mangas and Dave ‘El Blondie' Colclough were also sitting on healthy stacks as Day 1a drew to a close.
Notable eliminations on Day 1a included Willie Tann, Johnny Loden, Brandon Schaefer and Katja Thater. Thater ran into a cooler when she flopped trip Aces on a board os 
holding 
, and got all her chips in the middle only to run into one of the two hands that had her crushed - 
. No Jack for Thater, and she went home before the dinner break.
Chris Moneymaker rode a roller coaster of chips through Day 1a, starting off with a rush, then doubling up Willie Tann in a three-way pot when Tann out flopped Moneymaker's 
with his 
. Not too long after that, Moneymaker picked up another monster hand, and this time it held up as his 
held up against his opponent's 
, then he busted Dave Ulliott when his Aces held up against the Devilfish's pocket Jacks.
Other notable survivors of Day 1a included Jeff Lisandro, Barny Boatman, Mark Vos, and Pascal Perrault. Day 1b will commence at 1PM tomorrow at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London. Expected to play in Day 1b are stars like Hevad Khan, Daniel Negreanu and many more.