Event 1 - £1,500 No Limit Hold'em Day 1a | 2008 World Series of Poker Europe

09-20-2008 00:16 UTC+2

Untz...Untz...Untz...

[user25067]

Ah yes. The throb of dance club electronica has returned to the Empire Casino, spilling over from what appears to be one of the property's discos. There hasn't been nearly the uprising we saw when the cabaret act went on an hour ago though a number of players have thrown their headphones back on in an attempt to drown it out.

I say bring back the cabaret. Next time I'm requesting "Luck be a Lady."

09-20-2008 00:18 UTC+2

He Sees Inside Souls

MarcC

John Juanda raised to 2,400 from the cutoff and only found a call from the big blind player, before the flop came {6-Spades}

.

The big blind led out for a 3,600 bet that Juanda called, before the turn brought us the {3-Spades}

. Once again the big blind led out for 5,000, which Juanda thought through and made the call.

The river {J-Diamonds}

saw both players check it through. Juanda waited for his opponent to show his missed gutshot draw with {7-Diamonds}

. Juanda showed the not-very-strong but winning {7-Hearts}

.

Juanda is up to 36,000 now.

Tags: John Juanda

09-20-2008 00:22 UTC+2

Kabbaj Gets the Bacon

MarcC

John Kabbaj has managed to double his stack up to 30,000. He managed to get it all in preflop holding {A-?}

versus an opponent's {J-?}

. The board blanked out and now suddenly Kabbaj has 50 percent more than the average stack.

Tags: John Kabbaj

09-20-2008 00:22 UTC+2

Jason Not Feeling Gray

[user22113]

Jason Gray has added to his chip stack after knocking out Guillaume de la Gorce. The board read {9-?}

and the Frenchman called all in on the river, but mucked when he saw his opponent's {10-Clubs}

and thus exited the stage.

Tags: Jason Gray Guillaume de la Gorce

09-20-2008 00:24 UTC+2

David La Ronde = New Chip Leader

[user25067]

All the money went in on an {8-Hearts}

flop, David La Ronde holding {8-Spades}

for trips and his disappointed opponent with {J-Spades}

. The

on the turn made La Ronde a full house and the {7-Clubs}

on the river sealed up his victory. His opponent hit the rail and La Ronde stacked up his 71,000 chips, good enough for the current lead.

09-20-2008 00:30 UTC+2

Londoners Double

[user22113]

Brian Johnson raises from the cutoff, only to find the small blind moving all in and then Neil Channing moving faster than a whippet on racing day as he shoves his paltry stack all in as well from the big blind.

Johnson folds, flashing the {A-Diamonds}

which must please Channing as he shows {J-Spades}

to the small blind's {A-Clubs}

. The board runs out {7-Hearts}

to double Channing up, and Brian Johnson lets out a groaning laugh.

"You'll never guess what I had, {A-Diamonds}

!"

Meanwhile, at the same time Willie Tann moves all in and gets called with his {A-Spades}

ahead of

, which is the way it stays on the {5-Hearts}

board.

Tags: Neil Channing

09-20-2008 00:43 UTC+2

Hoa'd of Thought It

MarcC

Carl Hostrup made a raise to 2,200 from late position and Hoa Ngo defended his big blind by making the call.

The flop came {J-Diamonds}

and Ngo called Hostrup's 3,500 continuation bet before the turn came {9-Spades}

. Ngo checked once more and was to face an all-in bet, this time totaling 13,900.

He sat there and thought for a long while, but it was no Hollywood as he made the call for most of his stack with {K-Hearts}

. It was a good call too as he had Hostrup's {K-Clubs}

out-kicked.

The river came {10-Hearts}

!!! It made two pair for Ngo but made the straight for Hostrup, doubling him up once more, this time to 42,000.

09-20-2008 00:46 UTC+2

When an Early Night is not Early Enough

[user25067]

Despite the fact that the length of the day was curtailed by two full levels of play, Rumit Somaiya just decided to call it a night with over 20 minutes remaining in Level 8. With about 40,000 worth of chips in his stack, Somaiya just put on his coat, filled out his end of day card with the tournament staff, and left!

No bad beat, no big fold, no steam to walk off-- it appeared that he'd just had enough and figured he was well-stacked enough to survive being blinded off for a couple of more rounds.

Somaiya did, however, leave a banana behind in his absence to take care of his chips. Thus far, the banana appears to be playing rather tight.

09-20-2008 00:49 UTC+2

Delight for Davood!

[user22113]

Davood Mehrmand has managed to double up through Daniel Negreanu. It was an all-in preflop jobbie, Davood's {A-Spades}

fending off the challenge of {K-Spades}

on the

board.

The German now has around 17,000.

Tags: Daniel Negreanu

09-20-2008 00:56 UTC+2

Double Knockout

MarcC

The short-stacked Hoa Ngo didn't waste too much time getting his stack in before Arnaud Mattern reraised all in for just over 6,000 from late position. Tony Mackay was sitting in the blinds and decided to give them both value by making the call.

Ngo tabled {8-Spades}

, Mattern

, and Mackay {6-Diamonds}

.

The board came {Q-Spades}

!!!

.

The two-outer came for Mackay on the turn and he eliminated two players, helping his stack up to 21,000.

Tags: Arnaud Mattern