WSOPE, Event 2 - £5,000 Omaha: Persson Tops First-Day Pack

48 players remain after Day One action in the World Series of Poker Europe's £5000 Pot Limit Omaha event. The second event of the series drew 161 starters and like Event #1, represented a tough and elite field. Jon Persson apparently wasn't intimidated by his competition, as the relative unknown will lead the pack going into Day Two. The top ten chip stacks at the end of Day One were:

Jon Persson – 186,500
Dario Alioto – 185,500
Ted Lawson – 160,000
Tony G – 142,500
Erik Friberg – 130,500
Istvan Novak – 125,500
Roland de Wolfe – 124,500
Andy Bloch – 119,500
Magnus Persson – 101,500
Bruno Fitoussi – 95,000

The action was quick out of the gate, claiming internet phenom Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad as the tournament's first victim. Obrestad took it in stride, announcing, "That was fast. Let's go shopping." John Juanda was another early exit when he flopped the nut flush only to watch his opponent turn quads.

Jamie Gold, given a quick Omaha lesson by both Robert Williamson III and Jeffrey Lisandro, built a stack early, but couldn't hang on. Gold's tutors fared no better. Gold was not the only former WSOP Champion railed on Day One as he was eventually joined by Johnny Chan, Greg Raymer, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, and Doyle Brunson. Scotty Nguyen is the only former WSOP Champion alive heading into Day Two.

In Ferguson's defense, he was occupied a good portion of the day with his final-table appearance in the HORSE event, where he finished in fourth place. Ferguson wasn't the only player multi-tabling today as Kirk Morrison tried to salvage his PLO stack during the dinner break of the HORSE final table. Morrison couldn't resuscitate his PLO tournament, but finished in third place in the HORSE.

There's still a lot of WSOP jewelry left in the field as bracelet winners Erik Seidel, Ted Lawson, Eli Elezra, Ted Forrest, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Chris Bjorin, Allen Cunningham, and Rafi Amit will start up again tomorrow.

There was a hope that they could play down to the money today, but twelve hours after the start time, the tournament director called it a day. The event pays 18 players, which means they will need to lose 30 more players before they reach the money. But that will be only the first of their hurdles as they will play all the way down to a winner tomorrow, where first place pays £234,390.