2008 World Series of Poker Europe

£10,000 WSOP Europe Main Event
Day: 1b
1a1b2345
Event Info
2008 World Series of Poker Europe
Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k♠6♣
Prize
£868,800
Event Info
Buy-in
£10,000
Prize Pool
£3,620,000
Entries
362
Level Info
Level
28
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
Players Left 1 / 362
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2008 World Series of Poker Europe: Main Event - Day 1b

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!

Level: 1

Blinds: 50/100

Ante: 0

Pre-Comp Strategies

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

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.

All In Already

The board is reading {2-Spades} {4-Diamonds} {K-Hearts} {3-Diamonds} {A-Diamonds} and Alex Kamberis has bet 4,600 on the river only to see Fredrick Andersson check/raise all in. Kamberis keeps repeating, "I had the nuts...I can beat a five...you don't do that without a flush..."

Finally, he folds {6-Hearts} {5-Hearts}, but Anderson isn't giving anything away, he mucks his cards quietly.

Easy Pickings

There's one table that seems to be acting like a magnet to the cameras, but from where I stood, there didn't seem to be too many familiar faces. A quick glance down the player list, however, unveiled who these lesser known players were:

Annette Obrestad
Marco Traniello
Phil Laak
Antonio Esfandiari
Shane Schleger
Johnny Lodden

Who knows, if they run well this week, maybe they can make a name for themselves.

Early Action

I'm yet to witness an all in, but the generous 20,000 starting stack does seem to be creating bigger pots and triggering unusually large bets. Wandering through the playing area, I spotted such a hand on Table Tilly.

Stefan Raffay made it 250 from the cut-off, Fredrik Keitel reraised to 1,050 from the button and Stephane Campilla called in the small blind. Raffay folded and the two remaining players saw a {5-Hearts}{8-Diamonds}{K-Hearts} flop where Keitel took it down with a massive 6,100 bet.

This kind of overbet seems to be indicative of a lot of pots I'm witnessing within this opening level.

Strength in Nine

The nine seats at every table were all vacant to start the day -- reserved for late registrants to the tournament. While many of those seats remain available, here are a few of the names who've filled in the nine-hole thus far:

Table 7, Seat 9: Jesper Hougaard
Table 10, Seat 9: Shaun Deeb
Table 12, Seat 9: Philippe Rouas
Table 14, Seat 9: Gavin Smith
Table 15, Seat 9: John Phan
Table 16, Seat 9: Brain 'sbrugby' Townsend
Table 23, Seat 9: Yevgeniy Timoshenko

Trying to Bluff a Legend

unknown player
unknown player
If you're looking for players to bluff, then someone who's been playing for 50 years and seen more hands than I've had hot dinners probably isn't the wisest of choices. However, taking a shot at someone as legendary as Doyle Brunson is always tempting.

I joined the action with the board reading {3-Diamonds}{5-Clubs}{3-Spades}{K-Hearts}. Wilf Saar led out for 700, and the wily veteran made the call. On the {A-Clubs} river, Saar paused momentarily, before conceding his hand and checking it down. Whilst Saar shamelessly showed his {7-Clubs}{6-Clubs}, Brunson scooped the pot with {7-Spades}{5-Spades}.

Would Brunson have called a big bluff on the river? We'll never know...

"I think I have to bet"

Neil Channing and Alex Kamberis were just involved in a decent sized pot with over 5,000 in the middle on a board of {7-Hearts} {A-Spades} {9-Spades} {2-Diamonds} {3-Spades} . Channing said, "I think I have to bet because I reckon I'm in front..." before throwing out 2,600. Kamberis instantly called and as Channing flipped {A-Diamonds} {Q-Diamonds}, Kamberis showed {A-Clubs} {7-Spades} for two pair to scoop the pot.

Tags: Neil Channing

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