Organizers of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Grand Prix de Paris wanted to get the field 143 down to 72 in just four or five levels Wednesday. Mission accomplished. After just four levels on Day 2, there were just 63 players remaining, a full table fewer than the goal. Philipp “Philbort” Gruissem will be the chip leader when first cards are dealt Thursday, holding a 37,000 chip lead over the man in second place, Bryan Colin.
It is a fairly tight race at the top of the leaderboard with five players over the 200,000 chip mark and a couple just below. Though the spread between one and five is 64,000 chips, with blinds and antes about to be 800/1,600/200, it won’t take a monster hand to narrow the gap. This is poker, after all, and fortunes can change quickly. Just take a look at the top ten from the last two days. Just three players in the overall top ten chip counts after Day 1 still sits in the top ten after Day 2. It’s a long way to the top.
Gruissem does not have a long record of live tournament cashes – only a dozen are listed on his page at TheHendonMob.com – but he has made the most of them. Five have been of the six-figure (U.S. dollars) variety, while three others have been for over $90,000. His largest cash came almost a year ago when he won the £20,000 High Roller Event at the UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) London, a score of £450,200 ($703,657). That summer, he placed 28th in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event ($242,636) and won the €10,000 Single Reload event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona stop (€234,500/$337,838). Continuing his ultra-high stakes cashes, he finished 3rd in the €25,000 8-Max High Roller event at the EPT Grand Final this April for €366,000 ($483,213) and then placed 10th in the $250,000 Super High Roller tournament at the 2012 Macau High Stakes Challenge, good for $587,778. In his career, the German Gruissem, now living in Brighton, UK, has won over $2.7 million on the live tournament circuit.
Quite a few well-known players are still alive going into Day 3, including Jason Mercier, Tony G, Andrew Lichtenberger, Bertrand Grospellier, Peter Jetten, David Benyamine, Antoine Saout, Tristan Wade, Theo Jorgensen, and Erik Cajelais.
While eliminations were ahead of the desired pace on Wednesday, there is still quite a ways to go before the money bubble bursts, as the payouts do not start until 27 players remain. Play will resume at the Aviation Club de France at 3:00pm local time Thursday.
World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Philipp Gruissem – 280,600
2. Bryan Colin – 243,300
3. Matt Salsberg – 229,700
4. Juha Helppi – 222,800
5. Giacomo Fundaro – 216,000
6. Mohsin Charania – 196,300
7. Antony Lellouche – 184,500
8. Fabian Quoss – 178,900
9. Andrew Lichtenberger – 178,600
10. Idris Ambraisse – 175,200
