There were 159 entries for Day 1A of the WSOP Europe Main Event. And the price for entry was far more
steep than in the US as �10,000 had to be paid upfront for a seat. That is $18,400 USD per player!
As in the Main Event in the US, the game is No Limit Hold'Em and is officially designated Event #59
to end the WSOP Series for 2008.
In the field were Andrew Black from Ireland, Jarred Solomon from South Africa, Dominic Kay and
Ben Grundy both from the United Kingdom, Eric Seidel from the US, Josh Arieh, Victoria Cohen,
Bruno Fitoussi, Issac Haxton, Steve Zolotow, Barney Boatman, Joe Beevers, Phil Hellmuth, Joe Hachem,
Kathy Liebert, Vanessa Rousso, Jason Grey and Andreas Krause.
At the end of the day there were 86 left over that will come back on Day 2. Tomorrow the second half
of the field, known as Day 1B, will take to the tables. Here are the top 9 with chip counts for Day 1A:
Justin Smith -- 158,925
Eric Sagstrom -- 98,750
Andy Bloch -- 97,100
Scott Montgomery -- 81,650
Ivan Demidov -- 73,625
Branson Adams -- 72,475
Mike Matusow -- 71,550
Scott Fischman -- 70,650
Dustin Dirksen -- 70,100
Main Event -- Day 1B
Today more came to the tables as there were 203 players on Day 1B. Once the cards were in the air,
battles began with the top names that showed up. WSOPE defending champion Annette Obrestad was eliminated
and will not repeat her stunning performance when she won last year. In the field were Jan Schwartz,
Nenad Medic, Jennifer Tilly, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, David "Chino" Rheem, John Juanda, Barry Greenstein,
Phil Laak, Juha Helppi, Jon Kabbaj, Doyle Brunson, Mel Judah, Farzad Bonyadi and Peter Gould.
The Main Event will be filmed by an ESPN crew. The tournament will be shown both in the United States and Europe, most likely early next year.
At the end of Day 1B there were 93 survivors. This will mean a total of 179 players will move on to Day 2.
Here are the top 9 chip counts for Day 1B:
Daniel Negreanu -- 154,050
Jamie Rosen -- 139,225
David Benefield -- 126,775
Sargon Ruya -- 114,100
Jean Thorel -- 98,675
Marco Traniello -- 96,750
Mikael Norinder -- 91,650
Yuval Bronshtein -- 85,675
Roland De Wolfe -- 84,000
Main Event -- Day 2
Number of Entries: 362
Total Net Prize Pool: �3,620,000 ($6,660,079 USD)
Number of Places Paid: 36
First Place Prize: �868,800 ($1,598,587 USD)
WSOPE Main Event Tournament Notes from Day Two:
Out of the 362 players who entered this tournament, only 179 survived Day One. Now at the end of Day Two, only 62 players still remain alive in the tournament.
Early chip leaders Justin Smith and Daniel Negreanu fell back slightly. Smith is currently ranked eighth in the chip count. Negreanu is now in ninth place.
Jamie Rosen was third in the chip count at the end of Day One. However, he was eliminated on Day Two.
Americans held the top four spots in the standings at the end of Day One. Yanks continued their good fortune on Day Two, as they currently hold all of the top five chip positions.
Christopher Elliot make the biggest leap of the day. He started Day Two ranked 174th out of 179 players and ended up as the top non-American, presently in sixth place.
The Day Two chip leader is Andy Bloch, with 321,600 in his stack. The average chip stack is currently about 116,000. Bloch
appears to be in an ideal position to win his first WSOP gold bracelet. Although he still has a long way to go, Bloch's win would
undoubtedly be welcomed within the poker community as a well-deserved and long-overdue victory.
Poker legend and two time WSOP main event champion Doyle Texas Dolly" Brunson was eliminated on Day Two. He played in all four WSOPE events
this year, but failed to cash. Eleven-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth was eliminated on Day Two.
Sherkhan Farnood, winner of WSOPE Event 3, was eliminated on Day Two. Day Three play is expected to continue until five levels are completed, or the 18-player mark is reached, whichever comes first.
Here are the top 9 with chip counts for Day 2:
Andy Bloch -- 321,600
Brian Townsend -- 290,100
Erik Seidel -- 282,300
John Juanda -- 252,500
Phillippe Rouas -- 233,300
Christopher Elliott -- 231,900
Christopher Moorman -- 219,500
Justin Smith -- 217,700
Daniel Negreanu -- 203,700
Main Event -- Day 3
Here are the results as brought to us by the WSOP:
Of the 362 players who entered this tournament, only 24 still remain at the conclusion of Day Three. So far, 15 levels have been completed, which amounts to 30 total hours of tournament play.
The current chip leader is John Juanda (Las Vegas, NV USA) with 657,500. He is slightly ahead of Daniel Negreanu (Las Vegas, NV USA) who is currently in second place, with 653,000.
Former WSOP gold bracelet winners still alive in the tournament include: John Juanda, Mel Judah, Erik Seidel, Mike Matusow, Scott Fischman, and Daniel Negreanu.
Players reached the prize money (36th place) in the middle of Level 14. Stephen Ladowsky (Toronto, Canada) was the unfortunate "bubble" finisher. He finished in 37th-place, just one spot out of the money. Ladowsky's misfortune cost him �25,340, equal to about $45,191 at the current exchange rate.
Only one of the "November Nine" WSOP Main Event finalists remains alive in the tournament. Six of the final nine entered. Only Ivan Demidov (Moscow, Russia) has survived to play Day Four. He currently in 10th place with 316,000.
Christopher Elliot (Alloa, UK), who made the biggest leap of Day Two (initially 174th and ending up in sixth place), did not fare as well on this day. He currently rests in 19th place.
The start of Day Two chip leader was Andy Bloch (Las Vegas, NV USA), with 321,600 in his stack. He lost his advantage on Day Three but remains very much alive in 12th place.
The average chip stack is currently about 300,000.
Former WSOP gold bracelet winners who were eliminated on Day Three included David "Devilfish" Ulliott (Hull, UK), Josh Arieh (Atlanta, GA USA), and Ted Lawson (Las Vegas, NV USA)
Several players have already collected prize money. This list includes
25th Place � Panicos Panaxi (Limassol, Cyprus) �28,960
26th Place � Willie Haughey (Glasgow, Scotland) �28,960
27th Place � Harri Pehkonen (Jyvadkyla, Finland) �28,960
28th Place � Roberto Machado (Maia, Portugal) �25,340
29th Place � Brian Johnson (London, UK) �25,340
30th Place � Tome Moreira (Porto. Portugal) �25,340
31st Place � Peter Turmezy (Budapest, Hungary) �25,340
32nd Place � Alexis Guimbal (Paris, France) �25,340
33rd Place � Josh Arieh (Atlanta, GA USA) �25,340
34th Place � Christofer Williamsson (Gothenburg, Sweden) �25,340
35th Place � Jani Sointula (Helsinki, Finland) �25,340
36th Place � James Keys (Bury St. Edmunds, UK) �25,340
The Main Event is being filmed by an ESPN crew. The tournament will be shown both Europe and the United States, most likely early next year.
Day Four begins on Wednesday, 1 October at 1 pm local time. Play is expected to continue until the 9-player mark is reached, which will constitute the 2008 WSOPE final table.
John Juanda -- 657,500
Daniel Negreanu -- 653,000
Justin Smith -- 624,500
Phillipe Rouas -- 573,000
Johnny Lodden -- 478,000
Brian Townsend -- 424,500
Ben Sonnert -- 346,500
Toni Hiltunen -- 321,500
Soren Kongsgaard -- 316,500
Main Event -- Day 4
We now have the final table assembled, but it did not come without a price for a lot of good players.
The list of the fallen on Day 4 included Andy Bloch in 23rd (�28,960),
Mel Judah in 21st (�28,960), Eric Seidel in 19th (�28,960), Mike Matusow in 18th (�28,960),
Phillipe Rouas in 14th (�45,250) and Soren Kongsgaard in 12th (�54,300).
The remaining players will get together again one last time to see who becomes the new European Main Event champion.
Here are the chip counts going into tomorrow's play:
John Juanda -- 1,349,000
Stanislav Alekhin -- 1,278,000
Ivan Demidov -- 1,006,000
Daniel Negreanu -- 1,002,000
Robin Keston -- 849,000
Scott Fischman -- 732,000
Toni Hiltunen -- 386,000
Ben Sonnert -- 385,000
Christopher Elliott -- 281,000
Main Event -- Final Table
Here are the results as brought to us by the WSOP:
The 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event champion is John Juanda.
Clocking in at a seemingly infinite 19 hours and 10 minutes, this was the longest final table in the
39-year history of the World Series of Poker. Measured in time from start to finish, the duration of
this "final nine" exceeded the mind-numbing 16-hours played in the $1,500 buy-in Razz championship,
won by O'Neil Longson (29 June 2005). This means that the previous record was shattered by three
hours and ten minutes. The nine finalists in this event took their seats and started play at 1:23 pm.
The final hand was not dealt until 10:32 am the following day. (Note: The two-hour dinner break was
not factored into the length of play).
This final table lasted 484 hands. This mark obliterated the previous record set during the legendary
duel between the late Chip Reese and Andy Bloch, which occurred in the 2006 $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E.
championship (14 July 2006). That final table lasted a whopping 354 hands according to the official
logs recorded at the time. Hence, this finale broke the record by 130 hands! Juanda collected �868,800
for first place, which is equal to about $1,598,587 in US currency. He now owns four WSOP gold bracelets.
Two out of the top three finishers were Russian players. The topic which shall indisputably arise in
post-WSOP Europe discussions is the emergence of Russian poker players upon the global poker scene.
Indeed, with the performances of Stanislav Alekhin (2nd) and Ivan Demidov (3rd)), the 2008 WSOPE Main
Event was a coming out party, of sorts. While Russian players Alexander Kravchenko, Yevegeny
Kafelnikov, and Ralph Perry have knocked on the proverbial door in recent years with their WSOP gold
bracelet victories, the success not just one, but two Russian-based players in such a formidable field
is a clear indication that the Russian Federation is producing world-class poker talent, equal to
(and perhaps superior than) many other nations.
The heads up was nothing short of all out war between John Juanda and Stanislav Alekhin. With a total of 19 hours plus,
it was obvious that no one wanted to go home without the bracelet. At one point Alekhin had Juanda outstacked
6 to 1, but Juanda won two critical huge pots to turn the tide. The hand of victory for Juanda came
when Alekhin pushed his chips to the middle with A 9 and Juanda called with K 6 suited. The felt showed
Alekhin what pure devastation was like when by the river he saw the dreaded 6 6 6 in front of him. This meant that John Juanda
was taking home the bracelet with quads over a highly determined Russian player.
