EPT London: Tough week but still here

Vijayan Nagarayan has survived his first close call in a monster pot that saw him back to his earlier stack weight of around 100k.

After suffering some losses – folding to big bets on a table that features Ben Grundy, Erik Friberg and Thomas Fougeron, Vijayan pushed in with 50k only for Tony Phillips to chase him to the middle, pushing his entire stack forward in the old fashioned way - a mess, but nothing like it for dramatic effect.

The flop had already been dealt J-3-4 and both players had a piece of it. For Tony 4-4, for Vijayan A-5c - a draw to a straight or a flush. Either would do on the turn or river.

The 9 on the turn did Tony no harm. The river 2 though was a different story. Filling the straight it sent Vijarayan to 100k and Tony out of his chair to an audible “ooooh” from the table.

“It’s been a tough week." said Vijayan. "I was up to 100k but I’m back down to about 60k now. I’m still comfortable and I’ve had to fold a few. I folded pocket eights when a guy moved in on a flush draw. But I had to fold.”

His new table includes Roland De Wolfe and Chris Moneymaker so the journey into the night won’t be easy, but Vijayan is one of 51 players left and that’s good for the time being.