2012 World Series of Poker Europe

The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe continued on Monday with Day 2 of Event #2: €1,100 No-Limit Hold'em as the remaining 98 players of a 626-player field returned to battle down to the final 15. Leading the way is Antonin Teisseire, who bagged up 269,500, but the winner of the biggest buy-in poker tournament in history, Antonio Esfandiari, is just 5,500 behind.

The big story at the start of the day was who would make the top 63 and earn a piece of the €600,960 prize pool. Among the 35 players who came up short were Greg Merson, Ozzy Sheikh, Konstantin Puchkov, David Benyamine and John Tabatabai; however, the man who went the furthest with nothing to show was Jean Marie Morvan.

On the money bubble, action folded around to Dominik Nitsche in the small blind and he put in a raise. Morvan had 800 of his 1,300 stack in the big blind, and opted to call off the remaining 500.

Showdown
Nitsche:
Morvan:

The Frenchman was dominated and seemed a bit dejected as the board ran out . Morvan finished as the bubble boy why those players still in the room applauded to celebrate making the money.

A little while later, a big hand developed when Tristan Wade moved all in from early position for 11,300 with and received a call from start-of-the-day chip leader Marvin Rettenmaier, who held offsuit in the cutoff. French pro Teisseire then moved all in over the top from the big blind with what turned out to be , and Rettenmaier opted to call off for over 30,000. Both Wade and Rettenmaier were at risk, but the former would be spared as the board ran out and he tripled with a full house; meanwhile, Teisseire took down a sizeable side pot and Rettenmaier was eliminated from the tournament in 47th place for €2,133. Wade would join Rettenmaier a short time later in 43rd place while Teisseire went on to capture the chip lead.

Other in-the-money finishers included Renaud Blangiardi (56th-€1,965), Roger Hairabedian (39th-€2,344), Daniel Weinman (35th-€2,608), Dominik Nitsche (34th-€2,608), Erik Cajelais (27th-€3,846), Gil George (25th-€3,846) and John Monnette (23rd-€4,489) and Andrey Gulyy (16th-€6,340).

While many fell, some survived and others even thrived. Among those returning for Day 3 are Day 1a chip leader Ashly Butler, Joe Kuether, Salvatore Bonavena, W.J. Vincent, McLean Karr and Casey Kastle.

Here’s a look at tomorrow’s lineup with chip counts:

Table 1

Table 2

The clock has expired on Level 17, which means play has come to a stop. The players are now bagging and tagging, and we'll bring you a full round of counts plus a full recap of today's action in just a bit. Stay tuned.

Action folded around to Andrey Gulyy in the small blind and he moved all in for around 35,000, which Valentin Detoc called from the big blind.

Showdown

Gulyy:

Detoc:

Gulyy was in need of some help with his best chance being a queen, but it wasn't in the cards as the board ran out . Gulyy took his leave in 16th place, good for €6,340.

After Ashly Butler had opened with a raise, Henri Chapuis moved all in for 35,500. The Day 1a chip leader made the call and it was off to the races.

Showdown

Butler:

Chapuis:

The {2} flop was kind to Chapius, as was the turn, but then Butler did what he's done on more than one occasion today... spiked an on the river. With that, Chapuis dreams of a WSOP Europe bracelet came to an end in 17th place.

Antonio Esfandiari opened for 8,000 from early position only to have W.J. Vincent move all in for 25,500 more. Esfandiari asked for an exact count and then slid in a call.

Showdown

Vincent:

Esfandiari:

Vincent was way out in front, especially after the flop came down . "Spade," Esfandiari yelled in hopes of a runner-runner flush, but he was silenced when the left him drawing dead. The was run out on the river for good measure and all Esfandiari could say was, "That's sick."

Meanwhile, Serge Ekert was eliminated in 18th place.

After the eliminations of Sylvain Gibert (21st), Marc Bariller (20th) and Guy Pariente (19th), just 18 players remain. Here's a look at the seat draw:

Table 86

Table 88

We just had three rapid eliminations which has brought about the two-table redraw. Details to come.