At the time of writing, 15 players remain in the £10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event. Arguably the two biggest names in the field, Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey and Viktor Blom, the person many believe to be behind the “Isildur1” moniker, both found the rail on Monday.
Blom 3bet all-in before the flop with pocket eights and received a call from Brian Powell, who held K-Q to set up a race situation. The flop came 7-7-Q, giving Powell queens-up and the lead in the hand, and no help came for Blom on the turn or river.
Blom refused to chat with the media following his elimination. Coverage found on WSOP.com detailed, “Blom was whisked away to the interview booth where, true to form, he declined to speak. The production crew insisted, but Blom fought back, basically telling them he ‘didn’t want to talk about it.’ The crew told him to simply say that, as any tidbit of an interview would be viral gold. Blom simply walked off, though, relegated to the rail with 15 players left.”
Before he was eliminated, Blom busted Thomas Bichon from the WSOP Europe Main Event. Bichon departed in 20th place after Blom’s K-Q drew out on his A-Q. Blom hit a king on the flop to leave Bichon drawing to three outs and moved to 900,000 in chips.
Ivey, who is also reluctant to speak with the media, found the exit in 19th place to pick up £26,000. Ivey ran A-10 into Ronald Lee’s A-K in his final hand and, when a king hit on the turn, Ivey was drawing dead to the river. Ivey came within 18 players of his ninth WSOP bracelet and second of 2010. His latest piece of hardware came in June in a $3,000 HORSE event in Las Vegas. That tournament saw Ivey best Bill Chen heads-up in a final table that also included former WSOP Europe Main Event champ John Juanda, Jeffrey Lisandro, and PokerStars pro Chad Brown.
Two-time bracelet winner Greg “FBT” Mueller busted in 22nd place to pick up the same £26,000. He ran A-Q into Powell’s A-K on his final hand. The dealer put four cards to a straight on the board to give Mueller some hope for a chop, but the river paired the board to send the accomplished Canadian packing. Both of Mueller’s bracelets came last year, one in a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout and one in the World Championship of Limit Hold’em.
Here is the field that remains in the 2010 WSOP Europe Main Event midway through Day 4:
1. Ronald Lee – 1,727,000
2. Dan Fleyshman – 1,460,000
3. James Bord – 1,359,000
4. David Peters – 835,000
5. Nicolas Levi – 729,000
6. Daniel Steinberg – 702,000
7. Brian Powell – 675,000
8. Fabrizio Baldassari – 602,000
9. Andrew Pantling – 397,000
10. Hoyt Corkins – 384,000
11. Roland de Wolfe – 345,000
12. Clint Coffee – 330,000
13. Barny Boatman – 310,000
14. Marc Inizan – 244,000
15. Arnaud Mattern – 225,000
David Peters final tabled Event #1 of WSOP Europe, a £2,650 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed tournament. Also gunning for his second final table in London this year is Andrew Pantling, who finished second to Phil Laak in the same Six-Handed event for £105,000. Dan Fleyshman is the CEO of the Cake Poker Network site Victory Poker.
Each of the 15 players left standing is assured £42,000 and the winner will walk away with £830,000. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the Casino at the Empire in London.
