2009 World Series of Poker Europe

£10,000 WSOPE Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info

2009 World Series of Poker Europe

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
1010
Prize
£801,603
Event Info
Buy-in
£10,000
Prize Pool
£3,340,000
Entries
334
Level Info
Level
30
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
15,000

Day 2b Set to Commence

Players are being called to their seats for the start of the second start day here at the £10k WSOPE Main Event. So many stars played yesterday we were wondering if there are any left to shine today - but as Annette Obrestad, Daniel Negreanu and John Juanda come to the TV area to sign their forms and take their seats on the Televised Table, we see we need not have worried.

The buzz of tentative chip riffling is starting to fill the air as Jack Effel takes to the mic to run through all the usual stuff - a brief history of the young WSOPE, how well the whole thing's been going so far, and what's going to happen during the day. It appears that registration will be open until about 3:30pm, so if you fancy a jaunt to Leicester Square and a punt on the Main Event bracelet at the 11th hour, you can still manage it. Just empty those piggy banks and bring your £10,000 down to the Empire Casino, and you could be taking up one of those Seat 9 stacks.

Shuffle up and deal!

Level: 1

Blinds: 50/100

Ante: 0

Celebrity Squares

Perched at ringside, we've been blessed with a cracking view of the feature table, and what a feature table it is to. With the likes of Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Sam Trickett and 2007 Champ Annette Obrestad, there are more familiar faces than an episode of celebrity squares. You even have James Keys, who, if my memory is up to scratch (I wasn't on the booze bus last night - check), is the only player to have cashed in both previous WSOPE Main Events.

Also Spotted...

Josh Gould
Peter Wood
Steve Paul-Ambrose
Shaun Deeb
Antonio Esfandiari
Dave Ulliott
Morten Erlandsen
David Oppenheim
Eric Liu
Mike McDonald
Alex Gomez
Martin Vallo
Jennifer Harman
Dennis Phillips
Josh Arieh

Many tables are still short-handed, so expect some late arrivals.

More Filtering In Like Insects into a Pool Trap

One by one the empty seats are filling (some started with just three players and a small-blind-nicking fiesta) and players are drifting around sticking in their allocated places.

Spotted recently:

Ben Roberts
Julian Thew
William Thorson
Roberto Romanello
Arnaud Mattern
Keith Hawkins
Nik Persaud
Praz Bansi
Ian Woodley
Wooka Kim
Sorel Mizzi
Steve Zolotow
Noah Boeken

One thing which people haven't taken into account while accessorising today is that some of the TV crews filming don't allow hat logos to be shown. I don't know what it is that makes hat logos exceptional, but a lady is walking around with two huge rolls of tape (one black, one white, to fit the individuals' fashion as closely as possible, I imagine) and covering up the offending baseball caps and occasional fedora type headwear. Roberto Romanello was the last to get the tape treatment, despite brief protest.

Tags: Arnaud MatternBen RobertsJulian Thew

Early All-In!

You wouldn't have thought it possible (unless you watched last year's WSOPE ME, perhaps) that a 30k stack could be on the line within the opening ten minutes of a 90-minute-level tourney like this. But Justin Smith just faced potential elimination (or didn't quite get a final 6k worth of value, depending on what he actually had) just a moment ago.

The board read {K-Clubs} {7-Hearts} {4-Spades} {3-Diamonds} {J-Diamonds} and he was staring fixedly, unswervingly, and without expression at some middle distance spot while his opponent wondered whether or not to call Smith's final bet of 6k into a pot of around 20k. It seems that Smith's stack had already somehow taken a hit, and he was now up in line for the First Elimination Spoon (wooden).

His opponent thought for a good while, looking at his own remaining 15k or so, before finally folding {7-Spades} {7-Diamonds} face-up... Meanwhile Smith stacked his new stack, and the rail commented on his brown jacket, which looks like it's been decorated with chocolate piped icing.

Tags: Justin Smith

Early Hurdle for Helppi

On a {Q-Hearts}{4-Diamonds}{2-Hearts} flop, Sorel check-raised a continuation bet of 500 from the player in the cut-off, to 1,200 in the big blind. His opponent called. Then, on the {Q-Spades} turn, the Finn check-folded to a bet of 1,500.

Sorel Mizzi is also present. He's seated to the right of Helppi with 29,000.

Tags: Juha Helppi

Early Setback for Obrestad

According to the official chip counts, Annette Obrestad has taken an early hit, courtesy of Sam Trickett. The counts for that table:

Seat 1: Annette Obrestad - 20,900
Seat 2: Sam Trickett - 37,950
Seat 3: Daniel Negreanu - 30,150
Seat 4: Vaklinov - 27,650
Seat 5: Dehkhargha - 34,750
Seat 6: Barry Greenstein - 29,400
Seat 7: James Keys - 30,000
Seat 8: Unknown - 29,250

Feature Table 2 Would Challenge Feature Table 1...

...For 'Table of Death' top ranking.

Being filmed currently in another small antechamber, cordoned off from the public gaze, are:

Jesper Hougaard
Eric Liu
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
John Juanda
Scotty Nguyen
William Thorson

I think they must actually have flipped a coin to see which one got The Stage (a special area in the casino with rows of seats for spectators and a lighting rig which probably weighs several tons) considering the talent with which both are laden...

Tags: Scotty NguyenWilliam Thorson