Day 2 Comes to an End with Baranov Leading Final 77
The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event continued on Monday with Day 2 action from the Majestic Barrière in Cannes, France. The remaining 230 from a 420-player field returned for another six levels of play, and by the end of the night just 77 remained with Sergii Baranov and his stack of 607,000 leading the way.
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi began the day as the chip leader (234,850), and held a significant lead over his next closest competitor, Day 1b chip leader Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. Neither player was lacking in experience nor success, but their Day 2s couldn't have been more opposite.
While Grospellier played a patient game and slowly accumulated chips throughout the day, eventually bagging up 326,700, Mizrachi went the opposite direction. The Grinder played a loose-aggressive game and his chip stack reflected that as it went for a wild up-and-down ride as described by Daniel Negreanu on Twitter. It soon became apparent that Mizrachi was taking one step forward and two steps back, and eventually it caught up with him and he was eliminated in Level 11.
Others who joined Mizrachi on the rail throughout the day were Vanessa Rousso, Joe Hachem, Faraz Jaka, Harrison Gimbel, Steve O’Dwyer, Greg Merson, Mike “Tmex” McDonald, Tristan Wade, Phil Ivey, Scotty Nguyen, Roberto Romanello, Antonio Esfandiari and McLean Karr, just to name a few.
While there were scores of eliminations, a handful of notables managed to survive the day. Former November Niner Joseph Cheong; 2009 WSOP Europe runner-up Daniel Negreanu; 12-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth; October Nine chip leader Jesse Sylvia; recent WCOOP winner Jason Mercier; and the defending champ, Elio Fox, are just a few of the pros who’ll be returning to action on Day 3.
Here’s a look at the top ten End-of-Day-2 chip counts:
2012 WSOP Europe End-of-Day-2 Top Ten Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergii Baranov | 607,000 |
| 2 | Axel Pergolizzi | 419,400 |
| 3 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | 375,100 |
| 4 | Phil Hellmuth | 364,900 |
| 5 | Maxime Conte | 342,300 |
| 6 | Lifeng Chen | 340,500 |
| 7 | Huichen Kuo | 339,950 |
| 8 | Max Silver | 333,600 |
| 9 | Joseph Cheong | 328,400 |
| 10 | Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier | 326,700 |
Another six 90-minute levels are scheduled for Day 3 on Tuesday as the remaining 80 players look to make the money at the top 48. Play is scheduled to kick off at 12:00 PM local time, and of course PokerNews will be on hand to bring you all the action and eliminations from the 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event.
, and both players checked. On the turn the 
hit and Andrulis fired out 9,000. Hellmuth picked up his cards and snapped them back and forth.
and Ivey defended his big blind.
, rainbow, and Katchalov bet 2,500. Ivey went on to check-raise to 6,000, after which Katchalov put in 15,000. Ivey, who started the hand with around 50,000, moved all in and Katchalov called.
, and was looking to complete his straight draw. The turn and river both brought blanks, and that was it. Katchalov is cruising with 129 players remaining in this event.
. Cheong checked, and Boucher fired 8,500. Cheong called.
, and Cheong checked. Boucher stayed on the gas with a bet of 14,600, which Cheong called.
, and both players checked.
for a rivered set of kings, and Boucher mucked his hand.
, and Finlay checked. Boeree bet 3,500, and MacPhee raised to 9,100 rather quickly. Finlay instantly moved all in for right around 44,000, and Boeree snap-folded. MacPhee wasn't happy, and he went into the tank for several minutes.
and said, "Only because you showed as well." MacPhee knocked on the table and complimented his opponent on the move.
, and Olivier doubled up. The dealer counted out the chips out of Haxton's stack, and he was left behind with just 400 chips. During all of this the runner-up of the $40,000 No-Limit Holdem anniversary event back in 2009 was standing up, and he expected to be eliminated.
. Nguyen sat motionless for about three seconds before turning over her 
