The population of Cannes, France is dwindling. A total of 230 players from the combined Days 1A and 1B hit the felts on Day 2 of the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOP-E) Main Event Monday and at the end of the night, there were just 77 left with chips. The Ukraine’s Sergii Baranov enters Tuesday’s action with a commanding lead; his 607,000 chips are almost 200,000 more than the man in second place, Axel Pergolizzi.
Baranov’s live poker tournament resume is short, but he does have a couple nice wins, both in 2010 and both on the European Poker Tour (EPT). The first was in March of that year when he won the €1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event at EPT Germany for €72,500 ($98,341) and the second came in October when he emerged victorious in the €1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at EPT Vienna, good for €55,000 ($76,742). In his live tournament career, Sergii Baranov has won just over a quarter of a million dollars.
He still has a ways to go for his 9th lifetime cash, though, as the payouts at the WSOP-E Main Event do not start until 48th place. The money bubble should burst today.
There are a number of big name players still alive and well in the tournament. Phil Hellmuth starts Day 3 in 4th place with 364,900 chips, part of a pack of players in the 300,000 chip range. Should he go on to win, he would lock down his record 13th WSOP bracelet. Also in that pack of players is 2010 November Niner Joseph “subiime” Cheong (328,400) who always seems to be in contention in major tournaments.
Day 1B’s chip leader, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, is still in good shape with 326,700 chips, good for 10th place, and Daniel Negreanu is in 12th place with 290,000 chips. Also surviving Day 2 were JC Alvarado, David Benyamine, defending WSOP-E Main Event champ Elio Fox, Jason Mercier, Liv Boeree, Sam Trickett, Eugene Katchalov, Scott Seiver, Andy Frankenberger, Jonathan Little, Bruno Fitoussi, Jean-Robert Bellande, and 2005 WSOP Main Event runner-up Steve Dannenmann.
One of the players who was eliminated Monday was the chip leader going into the day, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, who like Cheong, has seemed to come up big in major events lately. Word was that he played a very loose, wild style on Day 2, a style which came back to bite him. Daniel Negreanu posted a series of tweets commenting on Mizrachi’s play:
“playing with Grinder and he is playing a form of poker lately I haven’t seen in 10 years. He will be very swingy playing this way.”
“he’s playing every hand for almost any amount check raising tons, bluffing tons, and just very chaotic overall”
“he had 300k at one point and is now at 80k. Not sure what his plan is now but I’ll let y’all know!”
The chips are already in the air for Day 2 of the WSOP-E Main Event in Cannes. As already mentioned, the money line should be crossed today as the players begin to set themselves up for a final table run.
2012 World Series of Poker Europe – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Sergii Baranov – 607,000
2. Axel Pergolizzi – 419,400
3. Vladimir Troyanovskiy – 375,100
4. Phil Hellmuth – 364,900
5. Maxime Conte – 342,300
6. Lifeng Chen – 340,500
7. Huichen Kuo – 339,950
8. Max Silver – 333,600
9. Joseph Cheong – 328,400
10. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – 326,700
