27 September 2010
Viktor Blom folds out Steinberg to take the WSOPE chip lead
Two hands lead to Viktor Blom first dropping slightly then increasing a fair bit in the chip counts to overtake the 920,000 stack of Bord, James Bord (see what we did there?) against Daniel Steinberg. Blom raised from UTG+1 to 19,000 only to fold to Steinberg’s 57,000 re-raise and be shown 6-4o for his troubles.
Mattern survives a pre-flop cooler... just. Bord new chip leader.
We came back out to the floor of The Empire to find a crowd around the upstairs table where Arnaud Mattern and James Bord were both out of their seats with a pile of chips in the middle. The dealer moved Q-Q and A-A into the centre of the table and we deduced Mattern held the ladies from his despondent expression.
Roland de Wolfe de doubles in de chip counts
UK pro Roland de Wolfe wants to add another WSOP bracelet to his Triple Crown repertoire and after shoving his short stack in the middle twice in the first blind level he has come that much closer to making his goal.
Thomas Bichon eliminated in 19th place (£26,400)
In less than half an hour we have lost three players for one action-packed blind level as everyone aggressively shoves stacks of 5,000 chips into various pots to make the coveted final nine. Thomas Bichon is the latest unfortunate to join the rail at the hands of Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.
Greg Mueller eliminated in 22nd place; Jani Sointula eliminated in 21st place
Wow. Just wow. We’re barely twenty minutes into play at The Empire and already two players have departed proceedings and pocketed £26,400 for their three-and-a-bit day slog. We went upstairs to check out the tables and noted Viktor Blom with his permenent semi-scowl alongside Greg “FBT” Mueller and Brian Powell, who seems like he’d be more at home on a beach with a surfboard than at a poker table (it’s the hair).
Day 4 begins at World Series of Poker Europe Main Event
Day 4 has officially begun at the World Series of Poker Europe £10,350 Main Event with 22 players remaining in contention for the final table and eventually the first prize of £830,401 and a WSOP bracelet – we have some real stars among the crowd including (in)arguably the two best No Limit Hold ‘em players in the world: Phil Ivey and Viktor Blom.
Day 3 is in the book – Lee leads with 22 left.
We are on to Day 4 officially with 22 players returning tomorrow. Ronald Lee leads the diminished field and is just short of the seven-figure milestone with 947,000 in chips. David Peters is next followed by long time chip leader Andrew Pantling.
26 September 2010
Gus Hansen wins Heads Up High Roller
The list of best players never to have won a bracelet has been reduced once more. The name of Gus Hansen like Phil Laak can be scrubbed from that list after the Dane claimed his first WSOP title.
Goodbye Freddy
Dinnertime at the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event and Andrew Pantling has become the first player to top the 1,000,000 mark and currently has about ten per cent of the chips in play. Phil Ivey has dropped down at the hands of Barny Boatman and Viktor Blom is still swinging between near chip leader and near busto.
James Mitchell departs; Hansen vs. Collopy underway
Irish Open champion James Mitchell has been eliminated from the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event in 31st place. The Londoner pockets £21,106 which is the compensation for being dealt 9-9 against T-T on a seven-high flop. Meanwhile his former neighbour, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, is still winning and losing big pots every other hand.