Who's Who of Poker get action going at WSOPE Day 2

Who's Who of Poker get action going at WSOPE Day 2

Saturday, 25 September 2010

The Empire is once again packed out with 22 tables full of some of poker’s superstars and a brief stroll around the area gives you an idea of just how many tough tables there are in this elite tournament – hint: there are 22 tough tables.

Already we’ve seen three all-ins and one bust, the unfortunate player hitting the rail being Full Tilt Poker’s Martin Kabrhel – and that’s just on a five minute walk through the field! Let’s guide you through The Empire so you can appreciate just how many world class poker players are gathered under one roof.

In the centre of the stage, Jason Mercier will be battling Nam Le; Tommy Vedes; Eric Baldwin and Arnaud Mattern, though the WCOOP/EPT/NAPT/WSOP champion will need to get a wiggle on with just 20,500 in front of him. At the table behind, London legend Praz Bansi is facing off opposite defending champion Barry Shulman who has built an impressive stack of 85,000.

In the other corner of centre stage we have Neil Channing seated to the right of chip leader James Mitchell – the two poker friends look eerily alike in glasses with stubble and messy hair. It’s like a mirror that shows you the future, James. They have Chirs Moorman, Hoyt Corkins and Jeff Lisandro as well as each other to contend with.

In the corner table downstairs we find a man who needs no introduction, one Phil Ivey, with a stack nearing six figures and a relatively easy table. When a relatively easy table sees you playing against two-time WSOP bracelet-winner JP Kelly, Ted Lawson and Nicolas Levi then you know just how tough this field is.

Taking a walk upstairs we find more star-studded tables as Huck Seed sits in the opposite seat to Eli Elezra (whose full name is Eliahu, fancy that) with two November Niners to contend with – John Dolan and Filippo Candio join them at Table 20. Next door, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier finds himself in the same seat as last night but this time he has Kathy Liebert to his right (a woman who will take no crap if you try to play position with her) and Erik Seidel to his left. He’ll have a struggle.

WSOPE PLO winner Erik Cajelais is muscularly looming over a table that includes Barny Boatman and Phil Laak while the voice of Mike “The Mouth” Matusow looms from the central upstairs table:

“Alright, I’ll take off my glasses too,” said Matusow to a formerly shades-wearing opponent, removing his spectacles. “I can’t fucking see shit without these!”

“Watch your language, Mike,” piped up former $50,000 HORSE champion Freddy Deeb, seated between Full Tilt Pros John Juanda and Chris Ferguson – between the three players on that corner of the table we have eleven WSOP bracelets. Opposite them, Patrik Antonius is seated in a rail friendly corner as is JC Tran on a separate table. Daniel Negreanu has been confined to the oft-forgotten upstairs corner table again; this time he’s opposite Allen Cunningham and next to WCoOP and WPT champion Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

See what we mean when we say it’s a tough field?



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