WSOPE, Event 3 - £10,000 NLHE, Day 1b: Patrik Antonius Leads Pack

WSOPE, Event 3 - £10,000 NLHE, Day 1b: Patrik Antonius Leads Pack 0001

Day 1b of the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe £10,000 Main Event kicked off today in London with even more big names taking to the felt, including Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Jamie Gold. Including the Day 1a starters, 362 players total bought into the Main Event, creating a £1,000,000 first prize with £56,000 in added money by Betfair.com, the sponsor of the WSOP Europe.

As with Day 1a, three casinos played host to Day 1b action – the Empire Casino, the Sportsman and the Fifty. Tournament director Jack Effel made the announcement today that Day 2 would be broken up into Day 2a and Day 2b to allow for all the remaining players to be housed in the Empire Casino.

Some of poker's biggest names were featured prominently on the leader board as play drew to a close on Day 1b, with Patrik Antonius, Daniel Negreanu, Jamie Gold and Johnny Chan all amassing big stacks over the course of the day. Some equally big names headed to the rail on Day 1b, including Scotty Nguyen, Justin 'ZeeJustin' Bonomo, Phil Gordon and Kirk Morrison.

At the end of the day, it was Antonius leading the pack, with several major names chasing him, including Shaun Deeb, fresh from his performance for the winning US team in the PokerStars World Cup of Poker, Kenny Tran, Jesse Jones, internet superstar Jon 'PearlJammer' Turner and Negreanu. The top ten chip counts as play concluded were as follows:

Patrik Antonius – 76,150

Shaun Deeb – 71,825

Tino Lechich – 71,725

Adam Junglen – 69,275

Kenny Tran – 67,025

Gerry Kance – 66,675

David Lionel – 65,825

Jesse Jones – 64,950

Jon 'PearlJammer' Turner – 60,975

Daniel Negreanu – 60,900

No name in poker is bigger than Doyle Brunson, and no elimination was more notable than Texas Dolly's bustout in the early rounds of Day 1b. Brunson got all his chips in the middle on the turn when the board read 1054A, and Justin 'ZeeJustin' Bonomo was more than happy to call. Brunson tabled 44 for a flopped set, and Bonomo revealed 32 for the turned straight. The 7 on the river didn't pair the board and the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner was one of the first eliminations on Day 1b.

Other early knockouts included Brandon Schaefer, Vanessa Rousso, Joe Sebok and Phil Gordon, but Mike Macdonald has what may be the most unique bustout story of the day. After flopping all rags with his pocket jacks, Macdonald happily called Gold's all-in move. Gold revealed his pocket threes and was well behind, but he caught one of his two outs on the turn to make a set and send Macdonald to the rail. This experience marked Macdonald's first foray into live tournament poker, on this, his 18th birthday.

As players returned from dinner, the pace of eliminations picked up and a new flurry of players headed to the rail. Andy Black and Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier exited shortly after the dinner break, followed soon after by two-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Madsen. The short-stacked Madsen hit a flop of 478 while holding K8 and pushed all in. He was quickly called by Shaun Deeb, who had flopped a straight with 56. No help came on the turn or river for Madsen and he was eliminated.

Kirk Morrison was one of the day's late eliminations. On a flop of 864, Morrison moved all in against Aleksander Vathne, Martin Johnson and Roland de Wolfe. While Vathne thought things through, Johnson folded out of turn behind him. Vathne eventually went all in over the top of Morrison, and de Wolfe got out of the way. "I'm in deep trouble," said Morrison. "I'll show you one card." Morrison, though, revealed both cards, 25, for a gutshot straight draw. Vathne's J8 held up as the turn brought a J and the river the 2, and Morrison was eliminated.

The individual leaders from each of three sites were as follows:

From The Empire:

Adam Junglen — 69,275

Kenny Tran — 67,025

Jon Turner — 60,975

Daniel Negreanu — 60,900

Julain Bertazzon — 60,700

Jamie Gold — 53,400

Aleksander Vathne — 51,175

Daniel Zink — 47,625

Nikolag Losev — 47,550

Johnny Lodden — 46,125

From The Fifty:

Patrik Antonius — 76,150

Tino Lechich — 71,725

David Lionel — 65,825

Jesse Jones — 64,950

Bob Willis — 58,975

Andreas Berggren — 58,975

Theo Jorgensen — 50,825

Johnny Chan — 47,250

Lee Nelson — 46,450

Tony G — 44,750

From The Sportsman:

Shaun Deeb — 71,825

Gerry Kane — 66,675

Matthew McCullough — 57,500

Stephen McNamara — 55,425

Roland Israelashvici — 53,450

Patrick Jouven — 50,975

Matt Larsh — 46,750

Owen Lock — 43,325

Bruce Stubbs — 40,875

Marigliano Marcello — 40,250

Join PokerNews at 2PM local time for all the interviews, hand histories and live updates as the survivors from Day 1a return to the Empire Casino for Day 2a of their quest for WSOP Europe gold.

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