The second event of the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe wrapped up Day Two on Tuesday night. When the smoke cleared in the ₤2,500 buy-in HORSE event, a familiar name was at the top of the leader board: Full Tilt Poker pro Howard Lederer. The brother of Ultimate Bet tournament designer Annie Duke, Lederer leads the field with 11 players remaining. Among them were Phil Ivey and Jeff Lisandro. The action resumes today at 2:30pm local time from the Casino at the Empire in London.
Lederer topped an impressive field of 11 players who remain. Here were the chip stacks of the survivors of Day Two headed into today’s final table play:
Howard Lederer (Las Vegas, Nevada), 208,500
Sherkhan Farnood (Dubai City, Dubai), 141,500
Yuval Bronshtein, (Atlanta, Georgia), 133,500
Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, Nevada), 114,500
Jeff Duvall (London, England), 112,000
Spencer Lawrence (London, England), 88,500
Jeffrey Lisandro (Salerno, Italy), 82,500
Ivo Donev (Lochau, Austria), 78,000
Mark Gregorich (Las Vegas, Nevada), 62,500
Erik Albinsson (Falun, Sweden), 43,000
Raul Paez (Barcelona, Spain), 17,500
The tournament is a ₤2,500 buy-in HORSE event. It attracted 110 entrants, many of whom are recognizable faces due to the knowledge of the five styles of poker that make up HORSE: Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Stud, and Stud Eight or Better. Lederer is a two-time WSOP bracelet winner and is among the most respected players in the game. His first bracelet came in a $5,000 buy-in Limit Omaha High-Low tournament during the 2000 World Series. A year later, he won another $5,000 buy-in World Series of Poker event. This time, it was a No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball tournament. All told, he has 37 lifetime WSOP cashes for a grand total of $1.2 million. Lederer, who is also known as ‘The Professor,” won the World Poker Finals during Season I of the World Poker Tour.
Ivey is also a representative of Full Tilt Poker and is coming off a half-million dollar win in the recently-completed Million Dollar Cash Game. He’s a five-time WSOP bracelet holder who originally went by the pseudo name “Jerome” in Atlantic City casinos. After winning his first WSOP bracelet in 2000, he won three more in 2002. He’s finished in the money in the 2006 and 2007 HORSE Championships at the World Series of Poker for a combined $777,000.
Lisandro won a $2,000 buy-in Seven Card Stud tournament in 2007 for his first and only WSOP bracelet. In that tournament, he defeated Nickolas Frangos heads-up and took home $118,426. He finished 17th in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, which was eventually won by Jamie Gold, and pocketed $659,730. During that tournament, he was involved in a verbal alteracation with Prahlad Friedman over a missing ante, which ESPN aired as part of its tournament coverage. The Australian is one of the most focused and competitive players around.
Also today in London, a £5,250 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha tournament will kick off. It’s the third event on the WSOP Europe schedule. The £10,350 buy-in Main Event will begin on Saturday and runs for six days. Players in that tournament will start with 20,000 chips and the blinds will begin at 50-100. Each level runs for two hours and is followed by a 20 minute break. There are two starting days and the Main Event will crown a champion on October 2nd. Last year’s winner was internet poker guru Annette Obrestad, who goes by “Annette_15” online.