Everything happened so quickly that we missed it, but Steve Brecher and Barry Greenstein were happy to fill us in after the fact (with no help from Melanie Weisner, we might add).
It was a small pot preflop, and Benyamine and Saar Wilf saw a flop of with two hearts. Wilf called a bet there, and the offsuit landed on fourth street. Benyamine bet again, Wilf raised, Benyamine re-raised, and all the money got in there. Wilf had flopped a set of tens, but Benyamine's had turned the go-ahead straight.
A blank on the river locked up the pot and the knockout for Benyamine, and he's the big stack with 65,000 here in the early going.
Registration is still open for another 115 minutes, and we have a registration update for you.
The clock shows 188 players have entered Day 1b so far, and that number is ticking upwards by the minute. That's already ten more players than registered for Day 1b last year, and we'd guess we'll see very close to 200 runners take the felt today by the time the cashier's window closes at the end of the second break.
You in London? Got £10,000 burning a hole in your pocket? Get down to Leicester Square and get yourself in the running for this last bracelet of the 2010 WSOPE!
Carlos Mortensen's seat might have been empty for a lot of the first level, but he's arrived now and spent the time he had building up his stack. Recently he dealt a severe blow to the stack of Elijah Berg. On the river the board stood and Mortensen had bet 10k into a pot of a more than that. Berg thought for a while before calling and Mortensen turned over for the nut full house. Berg showed that he had flopped a set of fives, but Mortensen rivered him with a better full house, hitting a four-outer. Berg dropped to 6,600 while Mortensen rose to 44,000.
We've got ninety minutes of poker behind us, and it's time for the first break of the day. It'll be 20 minutes, and we'll be right back.
We're kinda bored, too, so here's a good way to kill five minutes of the break. Have a look at our interview with Phil Ivey earlier in the week. He doesn't talk this much very often, you know.
Tony Cousineau opened preflop to 250 from the cutoff before William Thorson made it 625 on the button. Ludovic Lacay reraised to 2,075 in the small blind. Cousineau folded but Thorson made the call. Lacay and Thorson have tangled before many a time in EPTs and both know of each others super-aggressive reputation giving this hand an extra edge.
The flop came and Lacay fired out 3,000. Thorson flat-called to see an turn where the Frenchman bet 6,100, Thorson looked vaguely concerned but then called a second time to see the river. This time Lacay stacked up all his remaining chips and pushed them into the middle, a total of 16,525. This final bet appeared to be too much for Thorson, who gave up.
Lacay said, "What did you fold? Queens?" before readily scooping up the 22,000 chip pot.
"I'm the oldest player at the table," confessed Neil Channing during the break. "I limped one hand and four people felt the need to comment. It was very hurtful."
"I mean, I have all my limbs and faculties in tact, and I have 31,000 after this first level. I can virtually just go home now and come back tomorrow for Day 2."
Daniel Negreanu is one of the most well-known poker players on the planet. He's here playing today upstairs in the Flame room, and when it comes to the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, Negreanu performs very well — much better than he has in the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas over the years.
The WSOP Europe has only been around since 2007, making this its fourth year in the poker world. Out of those four active years, Negreanu has cashed in both 2008 and 2009. Not only has he cashed, but he's made his way to the final table of this extremely elite field both times! That's quite the feat and something that Negreanu will be looking to match again this year. In 2008, Negreanu placed fifth in the WSOP Europe Main Event for £217,200. He bettered his performance the following year in 2009 when he finished in second place behind champion Barry Shulman for £495,589. If Negreanu's going to continue his trend of improving his finish every year in this event, there's only one spot left to claim and that's first place.
Negreanu also came into the WSOP Europe this year tied for the most all-time WSOP Europe cashes with Chris Bjorin. Bjorin went on to cash in two events before Negreanu arrived and pulled ahead six to four. Negreanu did make the money in the heads-up event the other day to pull back within one. If he can cash in this event and Bjorin fails to do so, Negreanu will once again be tied for the most cashes. Negreanu also sits fourth on the WSOP Europe all-time cash list with £722,594 in total earnings.
When you compare his finishes in the WSOP Europe Main Event with how he does back in the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, Negreanu's performances are much better here, across the pond. He's only cashed twice in Vegas in the Main Event. He placed 11th in 2001 for $63,940 and then 229th in 2006 for $42,882. With Negreanu playing in that Main Event far more often than he plays in this one, he clearly performs much better over here. Negreanu discusses the WSOP Europe and how well he does in the video interview we did with him a few days ago, so be sure to check that out!
Whether or not Negreanu will be able to make another final table run is yet to be seen. He's got a tough starting table including Mohsin Charania and Peter Jetten so we'll see how he goes throughout the day. Whether or not he makes another deep run though, Negreanu is still one of the best overall performers at the WSOP Europe hands down.
"It could be a short day," smiled Frank Kassela as he moved all in for just under 7,000. Initial raiser, Matthew Jarvis, made the call from under the gun.
Kassela:
Jarvis:
"I don't run too good on all-ins," revealed Kassela with a straight face.
Board:
And with aces up, the two-time bracelet winner doubled up, whilst the November Niner was left with just 8,500.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
with two hearts. Wilf called a bet there, and the offsuit 
landed on fourth street. Benyamine bet again, Wilf raised, Benyamine re-raised, and all the money got in there. Wilf had flopped a set of tens, but Benyamine's 
had turned the go-ahead straight.
and Mortensen had bet 10k into a pot of a more than that. Berg thought for a while before calling and Mortensen turned over 
for the nut full house. Berg showed that he had flopped a set of fives, but Mortensen rivered him with a better full house, hitting a four-outer. Berg dropped to 6,600 while Mortensen rose to 44,000.
and Lacay fired out 3,000. Thorson flat-called to see an 
turn where the Frenchman bet 6,100, Thorson looked vaguely concerned but then called a second time to see the 
river. This time Lacay stacked up all his remaining chips and pushed them into the middle, a total of 16,525. This final bet appeared to be too much for Thorson, who gave up.
