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The World Series of Poker Europe Main Event kicked off last Thursday at the Casino at the Empire in London, England. This event started with two Day 1’s as players looked to take down the last bracelet of 2011. Barry Shulman won this event last year and was looking for a repeat performance.

Day 1a started with 137 players and nobody made a bigger entrance than Phil Hellmuth. He entered the casino escorted by 11 Lady Gaga impersonators, one of which was singing “Poker Face.” Unfortunately for Hellmuth, his entrance didn’t bring him any luck as he was out on Day 1a.

Players that played during Day 1a included Michael Mizrachi, Chad Brown, Allen Kessler, Chris Ferguson, and Erik Seidel. Faraz Jaka, Nick Shulman, and Leo Margets were among those that went on to Day 2 action from this heat.

Day 1b drew out 209 players with Men Nguyen, Eric Mizrachi, David Benyamine, Tom Dwan “durrrr”, and Vanessa Rousso. Barry Shulman started his title defense in Day 1b and was still alive at days end. Phil Laak, Eli Elezra, and Antonio Esfandiari were among those that moved to Day 2 play from this heat. In total, only 195 players saw Day 2 action.

Two players that made Day 2 action that drew the biggest rail and the most headlines were Phil Ivey and Viktor Blom. Blom is the man everyone is claiming to be isildur1 and Ivey is of course, Ivey. In addition to these two big names, Daniel Negreanu was trying to make a charge at his 3rd straight WSOP Europe Main Event final table.

By the end of Day 2, only 69 players were left, but it was Viktor Blom that took over the chip lead. Phil Ivey was 6th in chips with Negreanu still in the hunt. Barry Shulman went down during Day 2 action, guaranteeing a new champion.

Day 3 saw the players make the money in the event. Daniel Negreanu fell short of the money. He moved in with A-K, but Darren Woods made a light call with pocket threes, and they held. Viktor Blom made the money and survived the day, but he had a real roller coaster type of day. After starting as chip leader, he dropped to 275k before moving back up to 657,000 by the end of the day. This was good enough for 5th place on the day. Phil Ivey was just behind him with 657,000.

Day 4 22 players return to play to the final table. Ivey made a misstep early on and wound up in 19th place. He shoved with A-10 pre-flop and ran into A-K from Ronald Lee. Viktor Blom did not fare much better. The dropped 2/3rd’s of his stack early on and put in his last 210k with pocket eights. Brian Powell made the call with K-Q, leaving Blom in good shape. That was until a queen on the flop and king on the turn left Blom with just two outs. An eight failed to fall, and Blom finished in 16th place.

By the end of Day 4, the final table was reached with Roland de Wolf the main headliner. Dan Fleyshman was the chip leader going into the final table. Here were the chip counts:

Seat 1: Roland de Wolfe 1,377,000
Seat 2: Marc Inizan 349,000
Seat 3: Nicolas Levi 428,000
Seat 4: Fabrizio Baldassari 677,000
Seat 5: Brian Powell 842,000
Seat 6: Dan Steinberg 1,520,000
Seat 7: James Bord 1,331,000
Seat 8: Ronald Lee 1,899,000
Seat 9: Dan Fleyshman 1,946,000

Fleyshman nosedived early and finished in 7th place. Roland de Wolfe made a strong showing, but failed to take down the event. With four players left, he shoved with K-Q and Fabrizio Baldassari made the call with A-8. Baldassari flopped two pair, and a deuce on the turn eliminated de Wolfe in 4th place.

James Bord and Fabrizio Baldassari played heads-up for the bracelet. Baldassari was the chip leader early, but a bad shove with Q-8 resulted in Bord doubling up with A-K. A while later, Baldassari and Bord was in a raising war that saw Bord move all-in with pocket tens. Baldassari held pocket fives and made the call. The board missed both players and James Bord is the 2010 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion.

James Bord hails from England, and this is his first major tournament win. He took home the bracelet and £830,410 in prize money. Congratulations.

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Wednesday evening saw another healthy influx of high stakes cash games on Full Tilt Poker. To the surprise of none, the game was again full of the biggest named pros to ever play online. Tom Dwan ‘durrrr’ was joined by Di Dang screen name ‘Urindanger’, David Benefield, Gus Hansen, and Phil Ivey. In the first big pot of the day, Dwan wins a pot worth over $23,000 by rivering a straight against the top set of ‘FinnnishNightmre.’

The next hand went the opposite way. ‘FinnnishNightmre’ won this next pot for more than $20,000 with deuces full of aces, taking nearly all of his money back from Dwan.

Dwan dropped another pot in this hand. Gus Hansen made an eight high straight to win this pot after getting called on the river.

Hansen took another pot off one of his highest profile enemies witha bet of $3000 on the river of a Limit Omaha H/L hand.

Dwan got it back, however. In this pot, he made a full house on both runs of the hand for a win of over $32,000.

Dwan, however, went back in the red here. Phil Ivey took a Stud Hi pot to double up to over $23,000 with three eights.

Dwan once again took a hit, this time losing a hand of more than $35,000 to the quad aces of ‘FinnnishNightmre.’

Ivey won another big pot off Dwan in this hand. Kings were good enough to outlast straight and flush draws to take this pot.

The terrible day for Dwan didn’t stop there. In this Omaha H/L hand, Dwan called the river bet of Gus Hansen, only to be on the losing end of a scoop to a straight and a six low.

Di ‘Urindanger’ Dang came into the action here, winning a three way capped pot with queens full for $48,000.

The amazingly awful day of Tom Dwan continued in this hand, losing a pot of over $28,000 to Hansen, who won a Razz pot a queen low.

The biggest story of the big game on this day was the losses of Tom Dwan, which amounted to around $150,000. The winners on the session were Di Dang, Phil Ivey, and Gus Hansen. Hansen won nearly $100,000, while Ivey and Dang each won around $50,000.

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Phil Ivey wins his eighth bracelet! Phil rose to the top in a field of 478 players in the Event #37: H.O.R.S.E. of the 2010 WSOP. The final table would include Chad Brown, Bill Chen, John Juanda, and also Jeffrey Lisandro. Phil Ivey would get heads up with Bell Chen in the end and would be up against a huge stack. Phil steam rolled Bill Chen heads up winning pot after pot to take down the bracelet.

Phil Ivey wins Eighth Bracelet photo WSOP

Phil most likely has won some side bets on top of the 325k first place prize. He is half way to winning his $5 million dollar prop bet with Howard Lederer. If Phil Ivey wins just one more bracelet in this years or 2011 World Series of Poker or WSOPE, he will take a $5 million dollar bite out of Howard Lederer’s wallet. Actually if he doesn’t win another US WSOP but wins a WSOPE it’s a push.

Here are the results from the final table:
1. Phil Ivey – $329,840
2. Bill Chen – $203,802
3. John Juanda – $129,553
4. Kenneth Aldridge – $93,418
5. Jeffrey Lisandro – $68,417
6. Dave Baker – $50,871
7. Albert Hahn – $38,391
8. Chad Brown – $29,406

H.O.R.S.E. poker is a mixed game of limit Holdem, Omaha hi lo, Razz, Stud, and Stud eight or better. Most people believe that H.O.R.S.E. is the true test for best player because you can’t lose your huge stack just a hand or two like pot limit or no limit. This year they changed the player’s championship to 8 game, which included pot limit omaha and no limit holdem. I’m from the side that believes in limit games to test true skill in poker.

Phil does not even own a bracelet in Holdem, he has two in PLO and two in mixed limit games.
2000 $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha $195,000
2002 $2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo $118,440
2002 $2,000 S.H.O.E. $107,540
2002 $1,500 7 Card Stud $132,000
2005 $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha $635,603
2009 $2,500 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball $96,367
2009 $2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo / 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo $220,538
2010 $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. $329,840

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John Juanda photo from WSOP

John Juanda is leading the 3k H.O.R.S.E.. In my opinion, John Juanda is one of the most dangerous players on the poker circuit. What makes him especially dangerous is how he is also one of the most under estimated players out there. Hes tied for third in the 2010 WSOP player of the year competition and could take over if he wins this event. Dan Heimiller is also an under estimated or under appreciated player. He’s in 2nd for POY and is also in contention for taking over the number one spot. They will both have to watch out for Phil Ivey who is in their rear mirror in 7th place, as he goes for his eight bracelet and corresponding side bets once again this year. Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer are alleged to have a $5 million dollar prop bet between the two of them whether Ivey can win 2 bracelets over the next 2 years. So Phil will essentially be half way there if he wins this one. But lets not forget about Jeffrey Lisandro who is right behind Ivey in 8th place. Jeff is one of the most feared cash game players in the world and has even been asked to leave because he was drying up whole poker rooms. He won an amazing 3 bracelets and the 2009 WSOP Player of the Year. Ivey most likely would have gotten that title if it included the Main Event where he (Ivey) made the final table. Goto Full Tilt Poker for series coverage.

Chip Counts:
1 John Juanda 393,000
2 Dave Baker 373,000
3 Ryan Hughes 354,000
4 Daniel Makowsky 312,000
5 Kenneth Aldridge 257,000
6 Brent Wheeler 256,000
7 Phil Ivey 205,000
8 Jeffrey Lisandro 193,000
9 Mitch Schock 189,000
10 Alexandre Luneau 182,000
11 Dan Heimiller 180,000
12 Ming Reslock 173,000
13 Jordan Siegel 161,000
14 Bill Chen 158,000
15 David Benyamine 137,000
16 Yuebin Guo 109,000
17 Chad Brown 108,000
18 Scott Seiver 105,000
19 Albert Hahn 100,000

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