WSOPE, Event 3 - £10,000 NLHE, Day 2b: Patrick Antonius Dominates Action

119 players from Day 1b returned to the Empire Casino in London today to play Day 2b of the World Series of Poker Europe £10,000 Main Event. Leading the pack at the beginning of the day was Patrik Antonius, seeking his first WSOP bracelet. Antonius was joined by a cavalcade of poker stars, including 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan, World Heads Up Champion Jeff Kimber, WSOP Europe PLO Champion Dario Alioto, and many more.

The top five players at the start of Day 2a were:

Patrik Antonius — 76,150
Shaun Deeb — 71,825
Tino Lechich — 71,725
Adam Junglen — 69,275
Kenny Tran — 67,025

Italian Dario Alioto became one of the first casualties of the day when he ran his into Adam Junglen's , and no help showed. His elimination ended the chances for anyone to become a multiple bracelet winner at the 2007 WSOP Europe, as Event #1 winner Thomas Bihl didn't make it past Day 1. Howard Lederer also headed to the rail early, after getting it all in with against Nelson's and finding no help from the board of .

Other notable eliminations in the early rounds included Johnny Lodden, who was bounced by Nicolas Levi when his couldn't hold up against Levi's . All the chips went in the middle on the flop of , and Lodden was in good shape on the turn, when the came. The on the river, however, ended Lodden's tournament. He was joined on the rail by Jeff Kimber, Justin 'ZeeJustin' Bonomo, Allen Cunningham and Neil Channing.

Shaun Deeb started the day with one of the biggest stacks, but ran into the start of a rush by James Keys. Deeb pushed all in with and was called by Keys with . An ace in the door ended Deeb's tournament and gave Keys ammunition to make a move toward the top of the leader board. Keys' momentum was stalled a little later when he ran his K-K into 2006 World Champion Jamie Gold's pocket aces. Gold engaged in some of his familiar table talk to entice the call from Keys, and doubled though Keys as the evening wore on.

Isabelle Mercier rode a roller coaster of chips all day until two big hands with Tony G pushed Tony toward the chip lead and sent Mercier heading for the exit. In the first hand, Mercier re-raised preflop, and Tony G called all in with . Mercier held , and it took the on the river to save Tony G's tournament. A few hands later, Jamie Gold and Tony G were in a hand pre-flop when Mercier shoved all in over the top of them. Tony G re-raised all in, and Gold folded. Mercier held , and Tony G was in great shape with . A flop of left Mercier drawing to runner-runner, and the on the turn left her heading to the rail.

19-year-old wunderkind Adam Junglen busted just before play ended for the evening, getting tangled up in a huge pot with Aleksander Vathne. Vathne raised from late position, and Junglen re-raised. After action folded around to Vathne, he thought for a moment before pushing all in. Junglen called with , and Vathne turned over . When the board finished out , Junglen's kings and threes still fell to Vathne's aces and threes. That hand propelled Vathne to near the top of the board, but he finished the day second in chips behind Patrik Antonius, who played all day to finish up right where he started – at the head of the field.

The top ten chip stacks at the end of Day 2b looked like this:

Patrik Antonius — 283,200
Aleksander Vathne — 231,200
Theo Jørgensen — 174,100
Magnus Persson — 165,600
Dominic Kay — 163,700
Marigliano Marcello — 151,200
Karl Mahrenholz — 144,600
Jacob Paulsen — 129,200
Johnny Chan — 118,300
Oyvind Riisem — 116,500

Other notable players who finished Day 2b still in the hunt included Jamie Gold, Tony G, Jimmy 'Gobboboy' Fricke, Daniel Negreanu and Jon 'Pearljammer' Turner.

The 44 survivors of Day 2b will join the 40 players who made it through Day 2a on Friday's Day 3 to play down to the money bubble of 36. The top ten chip counts overall are as follows:

Gus Hansen – 349,400
Patrik Antonius – 283,200
Janne Lamsa – 253,800
Pat Scanlon – 240,000
Aleksander Vathne – 231,200
Annette Obrestad – 214,400
Annie Duke 191,700
Theo Jørgensen – 174,100
Dominic Kay – 168,700
Magnus Persson – 165,600

Join PokerNews.com for all the live updates interviews and hand histories starting at 2PM local time (9AM ET) Friday from the Empire Casino in London.

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