Event #3: £1,075 No-Limit Hold'em
Day 1a Started
World Series of Poker Europe 2010
Event #3: £1,075 No-Limit Hold'em
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
World Series of Poker Europe 2010
Buy-in
£1,000
Prize Pool
£582,000
Entries
582
Level
9
Blinds
300 / 600
Ante
75
Making the Clubhouse Turn
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
It's Friday morning in London, and it's time for the halfway event in this 2010 WSOPE, the £1,000 No-Limit Hold'em shove-ament. That's actually a bit of an unfair moniker as this Allen Kessler-approved structure gives the players 3,000 chips with the blinds starting at a friendly 25/25.
This Event #3 will attract the largest field of this five-event Series, and today is the first of the three starting flights. We've got 145 players registered so far, and we'd expect to see that number hovering around 200 by the time Day 1a registration closes after the first break. Even as we type, three more bracelet hopefuls have added their name to the roster.
There's not much left to say until we get rolling at high noon, just about twenty minutes from now. We'll be back when the cards go flying.
Level: 1
Blinds: 25/25
Ante: 0
Game Time
The paperwork and announcements are all out of the way, and we can get down to business. We've got 171 players in their seats, and the cards are in the air!
A Nostalgic Presence
As expected, today's field is slightly more saturated with amateur players, with the pros more widely dispersed than Tuesday's opening event. Having said that, there are two celebrities up here that ran rampant through my teenage years: Tony Cascarino, who I used to cheer from the stands at Villa Park, and Michael Greco, who played Beppe (although never, ever call him that) in Eastenders.
Also present are Ben Vinson, Jake Cody, Scott Montgomery, Marc Goodwin and recent WPT victor Jake Cody.
Three Below
The field is split between the two levels of the Casino right now with the majority of the field upstairs in the Flame and Shadow rooms; we've only got three lonely tables down here on the bottom level. They'll be the first to break out of the way, but we've got at least a few notables holding down the under-stair section down there.
The center table has Martin Kabrhel and Jason Mercier sitting side-by-side in the four and five seats with Jude Ainsworth in the nine. Next to them is a table that contains Anton Wigg and John Tabatabai, and those five are the only faces we recognize down here.
In The Shadow Room
Spotted so far in the beautiful stylish Shadow room.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
3,000 | |
|
|
3,000 | |
|
3,000 | |
|
3,000 | |
|
|
3,000 | |
|
3,000 | |
|
3,000 |
Early Morning Aches & Pains
"You don't get too much bang for your buck," commented Jamie Burland as he took his seat. "The starting stack is small, but it's deeper-stacked later on," I informed him, thinking back to the Vegas trends.
But despite the short stack, it appears as though he is planning for the long-term, and has already attached himself to a masseuse before he's even played a hand.
In fact, the Ibiza Angels are in full force today with a member on virtually every table. Level 1 is clearly a very stressful period here at the Empire.
Bring Out the Bromance
"I miss you, man," said Antonio Esfandiari to PokerNews Editor-in-Chief and Executive Producer Matthew Parvis.
"I miss you, too," responded Parvis.
"No, you don't," said Esfandiari.
"No, I really do!" finished Parvis.
The Hunt for Bracelets
Speaking of masseuses - and in the absence of any early action - Antonio Esfandiari must feel like spaghetti with the amount of relaxation he's subjected to throughout the day, and after presenting the British Poker Awards the other day, he's returned to the Capital to vie for his second bracelet to date.
Going one better, however, is Praz Bansi. He's just joined Michael Greco's table, and will be hoping to snap up his third bracelet - the second of the year - after a close-but-no-cigar finish in Tuesday's six-handed event.
I don't hear the jingle-jangle of gold on too many other wrists, but we do have Scott Montgomery up here on the balcony, the former November Niner having picked up his first bracelet to date by taking down a $1,000 event at this year's World Series for a meatalicious $481,760.