The 2010 World Series of Poker Europe has kicked off and it did so with a bang today. The £2,650 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event saw 244 players hit the felt in a jam-packed Casino of the Empire here in London, England. At day's end, a long 10 levels later, 31 player remained.
Plenty of big names hit the floor today to get things off and running for the first European bracelet event of the year, but unfortunately for many of them, they also hit the rail. Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, John Racener, Allen Cunningham and John Juanda were all eliminated it what was a very fast and furious day.
At the top of the leaderboard sits Andrew Pantling and he'll resume play tomorrow as the chip leader. He bagged up 106,100 chips. Hot on his heels are Chris Bjorin with 103,800 and Tai Tran with 103,400. Bjorin is tied for the lead with most WSOP Europe cashes to his name, having four. He's tied with Daniel Negreanu, who isn't here. If Bjorin cashes -- and it looks like he's going to with stack size -- he'll take the lead in that category.
Tomorrow's play resumes at 2:00 p.m. here in London. Seven of the players returning won't make the money as only 24 spots payout. If you want to find out who those players are and get in on the rest of the action, be sure to turn right back here to PokerNews.com for all your live WSOP Europe coverage!
With Allen Cunningham's exit, that's all members of Team Full Tilt eliminated in today's action. Phil Ivey and Cunningham both went deep but both came out on the wrong side of coinflips. The others Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and Tom Dwan fell much earlier and will have to wait until Thursday's £5,000 PLO to try and take a WSOPE bracelet.
Ed Roger has been grinding like Tony Hawks today and was just seconds away from becoming my 'Grinder of the Day' (an illustrious award, I'm sure you'll agree), but then disaster struck as he found himself sitting on the rail with just four hands to go!
It was Ivey-conqueror Peter Wood who lit the first spark, opening to 2,400 form UTG+1. With around 20,000 in front of him, Roger moved his sole column across the felt from the button, but was chagrined to hear John Tabatabai announce all-in from the small blind for around 45,000.
"No way, no way," boomed Peter Wood as he rose abruptly from his seat, frustrated to be faced with a tricky decision so late in the day. "No way, not 12 minutes from the end. Fold, I fold."
After inquiring as to his opponent's hand, Roger celebrated the good news with a sense of relief: "This is awesome! I'm coin flipping and I have no idea how."
Roger:
Tabatabai:
But despite his elation, the Poker Gods were in decisive mood and swiftly dashed any hopes with a flop, much to the relief of Wood who claimed to have folded tens. Roger did have outs to a flush, but no such fortune emerged as the turn and river came and respectively to send him home.
Chris Bjorin opened preflop to 3,000 and Allen Cunningham moved all-in for just over 20,000. It was passed around to Phil Laak who pushed all-in behind him and Bjorin tanked and folded what he said was .
Laak:
Cunningham:
The board came and Cunningham goes out to Laak, who is starting to build up a sizeable stack.
With the final minutes looming, the wonderfully named Kayvan Payman (I'm resisting the temptation to abbreviate to Kay-Pay) opened from the button to 2,100, only for Liv Boeree to three-bet from the big blind to 6,500. Payman just flat-called.
The flop was , and Boeree decided to maintain aggression by leading for 7,000. Again, Payman called, leaving himself around 25,000 behind.
On the turn, Boeree asked for a rough count, before holding up the white flag and tapping the felt, thus triggering a bet of 12,000 from Payman. Boeree quickly let it go and Payman took the pot.
"Gross," commented Boeree with a sigh.
"Did you have a hand?" asked another player.
"Yeah," she replied with her eyebrows raised.
Hand or no hand, Boeree is enduring a rather frustrating final level, and is now back below average with circa 40,000 in chips. Payman, meanwhile, has shot up to the 60,000 mark and looks set to end the day on a high.
Action folded to Phil Ivey on the button and he raised to 2,500. Peter Wood called from the small blind and the two saw a flop of . Wood checked and Ivey fired 3,000. Wood folded and Ivey won the pot.
On the next rotation, Ivey raised to 2,500 on the button again after action folded to him and things were shaping up the same as they did five hands ago with Wood making the call from the small blind.
The flop came down and Wood wasn't check-folding this time. He fired 4,100 and after a minute in the tank, Ivey moved all in for 30,100.
"Look what you've gotten yourself into now," said Wood about himself. "I can't fold this hand."
Another minute or so went by and then Wood made the call with the . Ivey held the best hand at the moment with the . An ace or a club would give Wood the best hand if he were to hit on the turn or river.
"Can I use my one time?" asked Wood as the was put out on the turn. He missed there, but the spiked on the river and although Ivey made a set, Wood spiked a club flush to win the hand. He slapped his hands together in victory before shaking the hand of Ivey.
Ivey got up quickly and began to exit the room. Willie Tann had asked Ivey earlier to give him his hat after he was finished, but Ivey must've forgotten about it and made his way to the exit.
Tann signaled to his railbird who was the one the hat was for and he started to go after Ivey. The fan held a Sharpie marker in hand, but turned back, obviously not wanting to bug Ivey after he just busted out. Tann insisted he go and the railbird turned back, with another friend by his side now, and they went after Ivey to ask for his hat and autograph. Ivey was already out the door and up the stairs at this time. He probably wasn't going to be too keen on signing autographs and giving away his hat upon busting, but everyone's a fanboy when you're the best player in the game. Just another day in the life of Ivey.
Jason Gray, who has over one million in live tournament winnings to his name, won't be adding to this stat today as he's just gone crashing out of the event. I arrived too late in the day to shower you with details, but I did spot that he had flopped top pair before losing out to a turned flush.
flop, much to the relief of Wood who claimed to have folded tens. Roger did have outs to a flush, but no such fortune emerged as the turn and river came 
and 
respectively to send him home.
.
and Cunningham goes out to Laak, who is starting to build up a sizeable stack.
turn, Boeree asked for a rough count, before holding up the white flag and tapping the felt, thus triggering a bet of 12,000 from Payman. Boeree quickly let it go and Payman took the pot.
. Wood checked and Ivey fired 3,000. Wood folded and Ivey won the pot.
and Wood wasn't check-folding this time. He fired 4,100 and after a minute in the tank, Ivey moved all in for 30,100.
. An ace or a club would give Wood the best hand if he were to hit on the turn or river.
was put out on the turn. He missed there, but the 
, behind but with a chance against the Frenchman's 
