Day One of the ₤5,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha tournament of the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe kicked off on Wednesday. The tournament attracted 165 total entrants, generating a prize pool of ₤825,000. When the smoke cleared, Jason Mercier held a slight chip leader over online poker pro Shaun Deeb. The two sit atop the leader board of 45 players who survived the first day of action.
Mercier has had a great deal of success on the European Poker Tour. He won the EPT San Remo event in April, besting a final table that included Italian World Series of Poker bracelet holder Dario Minieri as well as William Thorson, who finished third in the 2006 EPT Dublin event. Mercier, an American, also finished sixth in the EPT Barcelona event during Season 5, cashing for €227,000. That tournament wrapped up a week ago and was won by German poker player Sebastian Ruthenberg.
Deeb has three cashes to his name at the World Series of Poker. All three came in 2007 in No Limit Hold’em events. The largest was a $25,000 payday for taking 27th in a $1,500 buy-in tournament. Deeb won the 25th event of the recently-completed PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, a $320 rebuy Pot Limit Omaha tournament. He banked $144,000 for the win. He won the ninth event of the latest Full Tilt Online Poker Series for another $115,000. In May, he won the Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars for $102,000.
Here are the top ten chip stacks in the room entering Day Two of the Pot Limit Omaha event:
1. Jason Mercier, 209,800
2. Shaun Deeb, 190,700
3. Roy Brindley, 140,600
4. Neil Channing, 128,000
5. Eric Dalby, 125,900
6. Bruno Fitoussi, 123,700
7. David Williams, 122,400
8. Phil Laak, 111,400
9. Andy Bloch, 109,200
10. Sorel Mizzi, 105,000
Brindley is an accomplished poker player who finished third in the 2005 William Hill Poker Grand Prix, winning nearly $115,000. Ironically, that tournament was won by Laak, who sits with the eighth largest chip stack in the room. Laak was the runner up in a $2,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2005 WSOP, cashing for over $150,000. He won the World Poker Tour Invitational during Season II for $100,000.
Channing won the 2008 Irish Poker Open, cashing for €801,400. Fitoussi finished second in the $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship during the 2007 WSOP. He lost to Freddie Deeb heads-up, but bested a final nine that included Barry Greenstein, Gabe Kaplan, David Singer, and Kenny Tran. He’s played in tournaments around the world and cashed for $53,000 by virtue of finishing eighth in the first WPT Championship.
Williams and Bloch are household poker names. The pair represents Bodog and Full Tilt Poker, respectively. Williams is one of just four Bodog pros. Bloch was a member of the infamous MIT Blackjack Team and is one of the most talented poker players on the planet. Mizzi, who goes by the name “Imper1um” online, finished third in the 2007 Irish Poker Open. He is sponsored by Betfair.
The top 18 spots pay out as follows:
1st: £218,626
2nd: £132,000
3rd: £84,562
4th: £66,000
5th: £51,562
6th: £41,250
7th: £33,000
8th: £26,812
9th: £22,688
10th-12th: £18,562
13th-15th: £16,500
16th-18th: £14,438
Play in Event 3 resumes at 2:30pm local time on Thursday.