World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Day 2: Say Goodbye to Hellmuth and Hello Dolly
Day two of the World Series of Poker Europe championship event got underway with 178 players returning to the Empire hoping to earn WSOPE gold. Although play started at 5:30 p.m. because of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, action moved quickly and the field narrowed to 92.
Leading the way is London’s Ian Munns with 528,300. He is followed by Praz Bassi (299,000), Oyvind Riisem, Amnon Filippi (216,500) and David Docherty (216,200). Possibly the biggest story of the day was the strong play of Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson as he continued to show his younger competitors that he still has plenty of fight. Brunson sits in sixth place with 210,900.
Other stories brewing throughout the day included another deep run for WSOP gold by 2009 November Nine finalist James Ankenhead, who currently sits in 17th place, and the impressive play of U.K. football star Teddy Sheringham.
One of the day’s most interesting hands involved the exit of Phil Hellmuth after he called down Antonio Esfandiari. Hellmuth’s elimination came right before the day’s first break when Esfandiari dragged a pot while holding a pair of queens to Helmuth’s pair of eights with Hellmuth check-called Esfandiari on every street. According to reporters on the scene, Hellmuth threw one of his traditional tantrums as he left the tournament floor, telling anyone and everyone about what he considered to be a bad play by Esfandiari.
Notable players who survived day two’s action included Jason Mercier, Liz Lieu, Steve Zolotow, Ram Vaswani, John Tabatabai, "Devil Fish" Ulliott, Brandon Cantu, Antonio Esfandiari, John Kabbaj, Joe Beevers, Chris Bjorin, Daniel Negreanu, Jani Vilmunen, Annette Obrestad, Freddy Deeb, Brandon Adams, Todd Brunson, Barry Shulman, John Juanda, Farzad Bonyadi, Men "the Master" Nguyen, Philip Tom, Tony Cousineau, "Cowboy" Kenna James, Teddy Sheringham, David Oppenheim and Dennis Phillips.
The World Series of Poker Europe Main Event continues tomorrow at noon local time in London. Check out our Live Reporting page for continuing coverage and up-to-the minute reports live from the floor of the Empire Casino, and be sure to follow us on Twitter.
