James Mitchell Takes the Lead

James Mitchell is definitely out chip leader in the room right now, but not by much. He has the lead by around 34,000 from Mihai Pop, who has been moved from his original table. Mitchell was moved to his earlier, but looks in complete control of it. Pop will need to focus quickly if he wants to get to know his opponents in time to make more chips from them.

James Mitchell is one of poker's interesting characters, but also one of its quietest. His best result remains his 2010 Irish Open Main Event victory, which netted him $809,094 but he has cashed consistently and built a live tournament winnings score of $1.7m in the past eight years.

Softly spoken at the table, but one of the most popular players on the circuit and revered by his peers, Mitchell mainly plays in the UK and has dominated the London circuit at points in his career, yet never seemed to be in a period where he's on fire or in a slump.

Can either James Mitchell or Mihai Pop catch Day 1a Chip leader Arron Fletcher (535,000)? We'll find out tonight.