With Day 3 at the World Series of Poker Europe in the books, the record 593-strong field has been whittled down to a mere 25 survivors. Leading the chip count is Max Silver, who will head into Day 4 with a stack of 1.78m, just a whisker ahead of Chris Moorman’s 1.769m. The rest of the top-10 looks as follows: Amir Lehavot (1.398m), Shawn Buchanan (1.267m), Dermot Blain (1.2m), Jeremy Kottler (943k), Brian Roberts (901k), Elio Fox (889k), Andrew Moseley (863k) and Giuseppe Sammartino (838k). Patrik Antonius, Jake Cody, John Duthie, Erik Seidel and Tony G are also still in the hunt for the €1.4m first prize.
Despite the 2011 WSOP-E move to French soil being widely hailed as a smart move, it’s not gone unnoticed that no French player has won a bracelet (compared to four event winners in Vegas this summer). The hopes of a nation rest on the prospects of surviving players Steven Moreau (709k), Thibaud Guenegou (546k), Arnaud Mattern (171k) and Philippe Ktorza (133k). Aux armes, citoyennes!
That’s not to diminish the accomplishment of France’s Barbara Martinez, who triumphed at the WSOP-E Ladies Event, outlasting 111 other pulchritudinous players to earn a spiffy gold ring (but not a bracelet) and €16k. The UK’s Elanor Gudger was your runner-up, earning just shy of €10k, while France’s Magali Fabron took third and €7k.
As for the stateside 2011 World Series of Poker main event final table, the November Nine will reconvene Nov. 6 at the Rio in Las Vegas to whittle their number down to three. The action (with hole cards) will be viewable ‘nearly live’ (15-min. tape delay) on ESPN 2, while the three-man finale will be broadcast starting 3:30pm EST on Nov. 8 via ESPN, ESPN 2 and online via ESPN3.com and WSOP.com.
In non-WSOP live poker news, Julian Menendez has emerged on top of the Latin American Poker Tour Columbia main event. The LAPT’s first visit to Colombia will most assuredly not be its last, as the 681-player field made it the largest main event in LAPT history. Menendez earned $64,700 for the win, relegating Jonathan Monsalves to the runner-up spot.
In the UK, Julian Thew has won the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Coventry main event, outlasting a 145-strong field to earn £42,740. Thew’s accomplishment is all the more impressive given that it makes him the first player to earn three GUKPT titles (the previous victories coming in Plymouth and Brighton) and it happened on the bloke’s birthday, too. Rick Trigg finished second, although with the dubious distinction of having been defeated by Thew on the very first hand of heads-up play. Let’s hope Trigg’s £30k purse took some of the sting away.
