Day 1B Report

Day 1B saw a lot of the biggest names in poker take their seats for the 2006 Main Event. Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth did not last long, Hellmuth’s exit being greeted by not-so generous applause and cheers with more than a hint of schadenfreude about them.  Phil Ivey starting amassing chips early and around dinner was amongst the leaders but after that it was all downhill, and he finished the day with only 16,675 of his previously large stack remaining. Howard Lederer failed to make the cut and Chris Ferguson won’t have been wildly excited with the 20,200 he worked his way up to. Of the American names Allen Cunningham fared best, 77,625 one of the biggest built during the day but still dwarfed by the monster stack of Hossein Tagh Avi – an unknown who finished the day with 229,125, over 100,000 more than Day 1A leader Francis Cipriano could manage.

The well known European players were not faring too well either, although the Devilfish made it to 22,700, trademark knuckle dusters and all, top Finnish player Patrik Antonius got off to a terrible start and despite a recovery during the day will not be returning for day 2. Paul Jackson, Luke Smith, Pascal Perrault, Jon Kalmar, Tiffany Williamson, Fabrice Soulier, Torstein Iversen, Johan Storakers, Iwan Jones, Dave Colclough and Willie Tann all eliminated in a real cull of the European entrants today.  Padraig Parkinson does have a healthy 25,300 and Lars Bonding was amongst the top 10 performers making it to 88,600. So far though, it’s not good news for those hoping for the bracelet will be coming across the Atlantic in two weeks time

Today sees the first of the The Hendon Mob starting their tournament – Joe is joined by Sarah Bilney in taking to the tables, whilst uber-fish Luke Creigh will be getting a little more coverage than his skill warrants as myself and a few other forum members are keen to see how he’s getting on. Assuming, of course, he hasn’t donked off his stack by the time I find his table. The rest of the Mob are all playing tomorrow, Padraig claiming  their choice of day being determined by last longer bets they have made!

A list of the big players from both the US and Europe starting today will be available on the forum in the next couple of hours. Let’s hope a few more of those Europeans make it through their first day than they did yesterday.