If you'd like to read up a little bit on the history of the WSOP Europe, check out the WSOP-E Preview Article we wrote up a couple days ago. It'll let you know who's got the most cashes, the most final tables and the most money earned along with some insight as to how the WSOP-E is building since its inception in 2007.
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Team Full Tilt Pro John Juanda broke his folded arms to throw out a bet of 400. Scott Montgomery, small blind, made the call and the river came the a queen to complete a 
board.
Montgomery checked once again, triggering a bet of 600. Montgomery deliberated for a moment before making the call, but soon mucked his hand upon seeing that he'd hopped on a tour bus through Valuetown versus Juanda's 
.
It looks as though Juanda has closed in on that 10,000 mark, whilst Montgomery had around his starting stack.
We meandered past Vanessa Rousso just as she was becoming involved in a pot. From what we could gather it looks like she was the preflop raiser from under the gun, and she had one opponent in the young man to her direct right. The two of them took a flop of 
, and Rousso very slowly checked. Her opponent bet 850, and Rousso paused for another minute or two. She cut out the calling chips and broke down her remaining stack to assess the potential damage. After another minute or so, she placed them gently into the pot.
The 
peeled off on fourth street, and Rousso again checked... eventually. Her opponent bet 1,875, and Rousso spent another two or three minutes in the tank before finally surrendering her cards to the muck. She's left with right at 9,000 now, doing slightly better than her beau Chad Brown. The two are sitting back-to-back at adjacent tables, and Brown has some catching up to do with his 7,100 chips.
Everyone's favourite circus show, Phil Hellmuth has just taken his seat on the table overlooking the balcony. No Julius Caesar or General Patton or even MMA gear this time. Joined on his table is Ben Grundy, he of nose-bleed PLO high stakes fames, while Justin Smith has finally been given a seat before his table was immediately broken and he's been moved next to Annette Obrestad.
Phil Hellmuth is normally louder than a foghorn when he enters a card room, but today he just slipped into his seat on the balcony quieter than a nun in a library. In fact, I haven't heard him say a single word yet, so perhaps the Poker Brat is fully focused coming into this year's WSOPE and approaching the Series with a slightly different mentality.
Hellmuth has been located, though, and has enjoyed a fruitful, if intriguing start. I joined the action on the 
flop, Hellmuth (small blind) check-raising his opponent's UTG lead of 350 to 1,650. A call was made.
Both players checked the 
turn, only for Hellmuth to lead out for 2,200 on the river. Again, his foe made the call.
"Pair of kings," announced Hellmuth confidently. His opponent mucked and Hellmuth showed 
. He now has 11,000.
Huck Seed has been derooted and will have to wait until Event #2 before adding to his bracelet cabinet. According to former neighbour Tony Cousineau, he was short at the time and got it all in on the turn with a flopped top pair. Unfortunately for the '96 World Champ, his opponent had a turned a set to leave Seed drawing dead.
The small blind raised to 250 and Dan Smith called from the big blind. The flop came down 
and the small blind fired 300. Smith made the call.
The turn brought the and the small blind fired 700. Smith made another call.
The river completed the board with the 
and the small blind fired 2,000. Smith made another call, but lost when his opponent tabled the 
and dropped to 12,500.
Well, the 2010 WSOPE is officially two levels old. Just about 270 players have turned up for Event #1, a veritable who's-who of professional poker as one gazes around the room. Even better, registration is still open until the end of this break, about 15 more minutes.
All eyes were on Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey to start the day, partially because of their -- shall we say, significant bracelet bets. And partly just because they're two of the most captivating personalities in the poker world. Things are all roses for Mr. Ivey right now, shooting out of the gate to double his stack within the first couple orbits. Our last count had him sitting comfortably at about 16,000 with the pesky Martin Kabrhel having already been sent off. Other names near the top of the counts include Andrew Lichtenberger, Joe Serock, and 2010 WSOP-bracelet-winning Brits Praz Bansi and James "Flushy" Dempsey.
Dwan, on the other hand, will have to sweat this one out from the rail. "Durrrr" was eliminated near the start of the second level, relegated to the online nosebleeds for the next two days.
Those who've managed to outlast Dwan are headed out of the room for their first break of the day, and T.D. Jack Effel says that he intends to have seats for all of the alternates by the time they return. Speaking of returning, we'll be back in twenty minutes for another two levels of poker, but it's leg-stretchin' time for now.
Don't wander too far!
Level: 3
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
We're back in action with Level 3 as the blinds have moved to 75/150.
"We did manage to get every single player who wanted to play today's event into the field within the first two levels," Jack Effel said over the mic. "We'll have the final numbers and the prizepool for you in a few minutes."
We don't have the official numbers yet either, but we can tell you the board shows 271 as the cards go back in the air. It should be right about that number, plus or minus a couple of stragglers or no-shows.
