£10,000 WSOP Europe Main Event Day 1b | 2008 World Series of Poker Europe

09-28-2008 14:16 UTC+2

Busy Day

Running at nearly full capacity, the upstairs area of the Empire Casino is also temporary home to quite a few well-known players, from the established, e.g., Allen Cunningham, to the young internet players just starting to make their mark on the live scene, e.g., Stephen Chidwick, to those who fit somewhere in between the two, like last year's runner up John Tabatabai, European rankings leader Nik Persaud, James Akenhead and Sorel Mizzi.

Cards have been shuffled and dealt, but there are quite a few stragglers wandering in. One young English player just reached the boundaries of the balcony, failed to find Table 17, and proceeded to shout, in early frustration, "How come nobody in this casino knows where Table 17 is?!" Beware latecomers - such confusion awaits those who show up late and miss the announcements about the locations of the tables, which seem to have been numbered almost at random.

09-28-2008 14:10 UTC+2

Pre-Comp Strategies

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"Erica - have you checked out that Snoopy guy?"

Greetings, poker fanatics, and welcome to yet another day of poker festivity and wonderment. I have tactically opted to cover the tables in the TV/bar area for easy access to alcoholic beverages if need be, but judging by the bedlam of yesterday, I predict I'll be more than satisfied with action at the felt.

Already spotted in my quadrant are a number of familiar faces including Eric Liu, Surinder Sunar, Doyle Brunson, Jesper Hougaard, Marco Traniello, Devilfish and the future Mrs Snoops (well, as soon as I can work out what to do with that Laak fella) Jennifer Tilly. Keep a close eye on the Tilly updates, which will come thick and thin throughout the day, mainly due to her being better looking than anyone else in the area.

Level: 1

Blinds: 50/100

Ante: 0

09-28-2008 13:28 UTC+2

2008 World Series of Poker Europe: Main Event - Day 1b

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Welcome back to the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square for our continued coverage of the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. With Day 1a in the books, players in the Day 1b flight hit the felt this afternoon at 1:00 p.m. local time, some perhaps hoping to have half the success that Justin 'BoostedJ' Smith experienced last night. Smith ended the day with an impressive 158,925 in chips and is far and away the chip leader heading into Day 2 -- so far.

A larger field is expected to pack the Empire today, meaning there will be more chips in play. While catching Smith would be a difficult feat, it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility. With players like Gus Hansen and Tom Dwan on deck, you never know what could happen.

Stay with us -- we're live from the Empire in just a few moments!