It’s the end of Day 2 of the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event and leading the field at the Casino at the Empire London is a familiar face, Andy Bloch. The Full Tilt Poker pro and former member of the infamous MIT Blackjack Team enters Day 3 holding about 10% more chips than his next closest competitor. Play will begin on Tuesday at 1:00pm local time, when the final 27 players will be determined.
If you’re a fan of poker, there are plenty of names that you should recognize near the top of the leader board in the WSOP Europe Main Event:
1. Andy Bloch – 321,600
2. Brian Townsend – 290,100
3. Erik Seidel – 282,300
4. John Juanda – 252,500
5. Phillippe Rouas – 233,300
6. Christopher Elliott – 231,900
7. Christopher Moorman – 219,500
8. Justin Smith – 217,700
9. Daniel Negreanu – 203,700
10. Brandon Adams – 190,000
Bloch has over $2 million in career WSOP earnings, including over $700,000 in 2008. He was the runner up in Event #1 this year, the $10,000 World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em. His consolation prize was a healthy $488,048, nearly one-quarter of his lifetime WSOP earnings. Event #1 was ultimately won by Nenad Medic. His second place finish in the $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship in 2006 was worth $1 million. That tournament was taken down by the late Chip Reese. Bloch cashed five times in total in 2008 and is one of the top mathematical minds in the game.
Brian Townsend and Chris Moorman are two of the top online poker players in the world. Moorman, who hails from the United Kingdom, won the $1K Monday on Full Tilt Poker in April. He took third in the $500,000 Guaranteed on PokerStars for $50,000 four weeks ago and has also chopped that site’s Second Chance tournament. He is one of the net’s feared players and plays under the name “Moorman1” online.
Townsend is a member of Team CardRunners, the staff of the popular poker training site. The 26 year-old plays under the names “sbrugby” and “aba20” online and has been playing professionally for the past two years. He appeared on GSN’s “High Stakes Poker;” several others who have competed on the show enjoy top 10 chip stacks in London. On August 26th, he admitted on his CardRunners blog that he was guilty of multi-accounting on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Both online poker sites have since handed down punishment against the young pro.
Here are the full payouts for the WSOP Europe Main Event. The top 36 spots pay out:
1st Place – £868,800
2nd Place – £533,950
3rd Place – £334,850
4th Place – £271,500
5th Place – £217,200
6th Place – £171,950
7th Place – £135,750
8th Place – £108,600
9th Place – £81,450
10th-12th – £54,300
13th-15th – £45,250
16th-18th – £36,200
19th-27th – £28,960
28th-36th – £25,340
The money bubble will be burst on Tuesday, when the field is parsed down to its final 27 players. A winner of the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event and owner of the £868,800 payday will be determined on Thursday.
