Welcome back to the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square for our continued coverage of the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. Day 2 is upon us and a total of 179 players survived their Day 1 flights to earn a spot here today. The field, now merged into one body, will play five two-hour levels of poker today.
Keep it locked on PokerNews.com for all the latest updates, chip counts, photos and videos direct from the tournament floor.
With very, very few exceptions, every player still in with a shot at the £10,000 WSOPE Main Event title has shown up on time, taken their seats with determined expressions, and waited patiently for the "Shuffle Up and Deal" to echo through the brightly lit casino. Chip leaders and those making desperate bids for stack increases are all aiming for another day's play and potentially one of those most valued pieces of poker jewelry.
The atmosphere in here today is quiet (apart from Neil Channing whose chat function is undaunted despite having a short stack), but expect that to change as coffee is ordered and players like Stuart Fox, Johnny Lodden, Vicky Coren, Jeff Garza, Karl Mahrenholz and Florian Langmann face off against each other.
First hand, Ville Wahlbeck raises and Bengt Sonnert moves all in with Andreas Berggren moving in behind.
"Is this the first hand?" inquires Hellmuth.
Wahlbeck calls and shows , Sonnert flips and Berggren has . The board comes out and Berggren trebles up, while Wahlbeck is eliminated by Sonnert who still makes a profit.
"They're putting in 20 dimes with jacks in the first level...These young internet players, they don't know how to build mountains properly, you have to build them in the right way..."
Heads-up to the flop, cutoff David Lawrence bet out on the flop, and button Dominic Kay threw in a calm 4,325 on top. A long pause, and then Lawrence said, "I call." The turn brought the , and again a small bet out from Lawrence. "Raise," said Kay, before measuring the call (3,000) and then considering the correct amount... he settled on a further 8,250.
Back to Lawrence, who then announced all in, which set Kay off on an internal monologue, externalized with these comments:
"Can you tell me if he's got me covered...oh, I've got him covered, but I don't want to get crippled [the bet for him to call 28,175]...Only sixes. When I raised, you looked disgusted, like you wanted to throw up..."
With no comment from his all-in opponent, eventually Kay tapped the table, giving up the large pot but remaining in contention.
Magnus Persson has doubled through early doors. He found himself all in preflop with the speculative hand of , but managed to unravel his foe's when the board came an eventful for the ever-popular runner, runner, runner, runner flush.
Nenad Medic is struggling during these opening rounds, predominantly after tangling with Sargon Ruya. With the board reading , Medic check-called a bet of 14,000 before checking again on the turn. This time Ruya led for 28,000, a bet which forced Medic to pitch up tent in the think tank. After a long pause, that was met with a highly respectful silence from the other players, Medic sighed, mumbled frustratedly to himself before eventually folding face-up.
"Not many players can play like that," commended Ruya as he flashed the .
"It's good for you," replied Medic.
"Oh no, it's bad for me," concluded Ruya, as the mind games drew to a close.