2009 World Series of Poker Europe

Event 2 - £2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha
Day: 1
123
Event Info

2009 World Series of Poker Europe

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
q♥j♦9♠7♠
Prize
£104,677
Event Info
Buy-in
£2,500
Prize Pool
£395,000
Entries
158
Level Info
Level
21
Blinds
0 / 0
Ante
0
Sort

2009 World Series of Poker Europe: Event 2

[user38449]
[user38449]
We're back at the Casino at the Empire on a rare sunny afternoon here in Leicester Square, London, for another glorious day of tournament poker fun. The soup du jour is mixed game poker; pot limit hold'em and omaha, to be precise. Event 2 -- brand new to the World Series of Poker Europe, presented by Betfair -- is a £2,500 buy-in affair in which each table will play nine hands of each game before switching to the other.

Today's play is scheduled for 10 rounds -- 60 minutes each -- with a dinner break after the sixth level of play. Players will begin the day with 7,500 in tournament chips, though some will give them away, some will have them stolen, some will luck their way into mountainous chip towers and others will skillfully navigate through the field, stacking opponents and collecting ammunition for tomorrow's Day 2.

It's all going down right here on PokerNews, so join us from 12:00 noon local time (GMT+1) to see how it all plays out.

Level: 1

Blinds: 0/0

Ante: 0

Shuffle Up and Deal

[user38449]
[user38449]
Tournament Director Jack Effel went over a handful of rules and instructions for the players, who have, for the most part, taken their seats.

The cards are officially in the air!

Faces in the Crowd

[user38449]
[user38449]
Our initial walk through of the tournament area led to the discovery of the following players:

Neil Channing
Joe Beevers
Huck Seed
Jeff's Lisandro and Madsen
Barry Greenstein
Ben Grundy
Sorel Mizzi
Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow
Men 'The Master' Nguyen
Family guy's Ross and Barny Boatman
Annette Obrestad
Andy Bloch
and last, but certainly not the quietest - Andy Black

Battle of the Betfair Boys

[user38449]
[user38449]
Betfair beaus Sorel Mizzi and John Tabatabai have drawn the same table and are seated just one seat apart; Tabatabai with position on Mizzi.

Meanwhile, here are a few more of the names who have taken their seats since the cards went in the air:

Tony Cousineau
Markus Golser
Brandon Cantu
Shaun Deeb
Roland De Wolfe
Sandra Naujoks
Nikolay Evdakov
Vitaly Lunkin

Who's Counting?

[user38449]
[user38449]
With the game changing every nine hands, you may be wondering who keeps track of how many hands have been played and how they do it. The responsibility lies with the dealers at each table. Each is equipped with a nine-chip pile of non-commissioned poker chips, which remain in plain sight in front of them. Each time a hand is played, the dealer takes a chip from his/her left and moves it to the pile on their right, or vice versa.

A special 'Hold'em/Omaha' placard also sits in front of the dealer, reminding the players what game is currently being dealt. It may seem easy enough, but these simple tools are essential to keeping the peace at the table.

Table Talk with Mike "The Mouth"

[user38449]
[user38449]
Mike Matusow on Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier and online poker:

"He's one of the best players I've ever seen."

"I can't even win a pot online. I don't know how these guys do it."

"Whenever I raise, they don't even fold any pair... When I make a move on them, they call with like third pair."

"He's a great player, though."

Matusow had been chatting with Sorel Mizzi about 'ElkY's' recent online success.

Tags: Mike MatusowSorel Mizzi

"Player out... Table 2!"

[user38449]
[user38449]
...said the dealer seated there, as we witnessed who we believed to be the first elimination of the day exit the tournament area.

While the departed's name escapes us, his captor's certainly doesn't. Russian pro Nikolay Evdakov -- perhaps best know for setting the record for most cashes (9) in a single World Series of Poker (2008) -- was the victor, and he now sits with a healthy 15,800 in chips.

Level: 2

Blinds: 0/0

Ante: 0

Enter the Italians and Phil Hellmuth

[user38449]
[user38449]
Phil Hellmuth has just made his signature late entrance, albeit without the hullabaloo that often accompanies it.

Italian pros Dario Minieri and Max Pescatori have also taken their seats, both arriving near the end of level 1/start of level 2.
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