2011 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London Day 2: Benny and the Chips
Day 2 of the 2011 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London Main Event was completed after five 75-minute levels of play on Sunday. The field of 417 that returned Sunday was whittled down to 159 players, with Benny Spindler leading the way with 469,800 in chips.
Team PokerStars Pro was represented well coming into Day 2. Those sporting the PokerStars' red spade and country flag included Joe Hachem, Vanessa Rousso, Jason Mercier, Victor Ramdin, Matthias De Meulder, Barry Greenstein, Ivan Demidov, Sebastian Ruthenberg, JP Kelly, George Danzer, Noah Boeken, Vicky Coren, Ville Wahlbeck, Ana Marquez and Angel Guillen, among others. Out of that bunch, Mercier (88,300), Marquez (75,600) and Ruthenberg (169,900) were able to advance, while all the others were sent packing.
Other notables who were eliminated included Scott Seiver, Surinder Sunar, Cornel Cimpan, Sam Chartier, Justin Bonomo, Jonathan Karamalikis, Mickey Petersen, Soren Kongsgaard, Nick Binger and Dominik Nitsche. Last year's EPT London champion, David Vamplew, was also eliminated, opening the door for a new winner this year.
The biggest name left in the field moving to Day 2 was not a Team Pro, but rather the "Godfather of Poker" himself, Doyle Brunson. Sitting quietly tucked under his big cowboy hat all day, Brunson built a stack to over 200,000 and finished the day there. He'll be back for Day 3 to continue the great run he's having in his first EPT Main Event.
Sarah Grant caught up with him during Day 2:
Of those who have made it to Day 3, we've got James Mitchell, Martins Adeniya, Sebastian Blom (brother of Viktor Blom), Steve O'Dwyer, Sorel Mizzi, Daniel Neilson and Jake Cody. Team PokerStars Pros Juan Manuel Pastor and Nacho Barbero are also returning for play on Monday.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benny Spindler | 469,800 |
| 2 | Jamie Rosen | 405,000 |
| 3 | Basile Yaiche | 403,600 |
| 4 | Martins Adeniya | 395,000 |
| 5 | Jonathan Layani | 363,000 |
| 6 | Matthijs Remie | 353,500 |
| 7 | Sandor Demjan | 350,500 |
| 8 | Andre Klebanov | 349,900 |
| 9 | Steven Kelly | 346,200 |
| 10 | Hugo Loureiro | 327,000 |
Day 3 begins at 1200 BST (0400 PDT) on Monday. Surely the money bubble will break then, so you won't want to miss any of the action. First place is worth a cool £750,000 and the top 104 places will be paid out. Be sure to tune into PokerNews then for all of the live coverage.
Follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
