The 2008 World Series of Poker Europe began today from the Casino at the Empire, located in Leicester Square in London, England. The first of four events is a £1,575 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament, which attracted 191 players on Day 1A. The £10,350 buy-in Main Event kicks off next Saturday, September 27th.
There was no shortage of poker superstars on tap for the first event of the WSOPE. Check out the partial list of pros in attendance on Day 1A:
Max Pescatori: A two-time WSOP bracelet winner who won his most recent piece of hardware by taking down a $2,500 Half Pot Limit Hold’em, Half Omaha event during the 2008 World Series of Poker. His first bracelet came back in 2006. Pescatori has $1.2 million in lifetime WSOP earnings and is one of the top Italian players in the world.
Phil Ivey: Considered by many to be the top all-around poker player, Ivey won not one, not two, but three bracelets during the 2002 WSOP, one each in Limit Seven Card Stud, Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low, and Limit SHOE. His other two WSOP bracelets have come in Pot Limit Omaha. The Full Tilt Poker pro remains at the top of the game and, when focused, he is a favorite to win any tournament.
Chris Ferguson: Jesus made the trans-Atlantic flight from his hometown, Los Angeles, to London. Like Ivey, Ferguson is also a five-time WSOP bracelet holder. His career was capped off when he won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2000 for $1.5 million, thee years before the start of the Moneymaker boom worldwide.
Layne Flack: He’s a six-time WSOP bracelet winner who took down a $1,500 Rebuy Pot Limit Omaha tournament during the 2008 tournament series for $577,725. All told, he has 19 lifetime WSOP cashes for a grand total of $2.2 million.
Barry Greenstein: The PokerStars pro made the final table of the $50,000 buy-in HORSE championship in both 2007 and 2008. He won his third bracelet in a $1,500 buy-in Razz tournament during this year’s WSOP.
Arnuad Mattern: The winner of the European Poker Tour’s Prague stop in 2007, Mattern recorded one cash during the 2008 WSOP in Las Vegas. He also won the Gutshot Poker Masters in London for over $50,000 in 2006.
Roland de Wolfe: An aggressive British player, de Wolfe made the final table of the $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event during the 2008 WSOP. That tournament was won by Full Tilt Pro Erick Lindgren and also included Bodog Poker pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, David Williams, Howard Lederer, and David “Chino” Rheem, who is a member of the WSOP “November Nine.”
John Juanda: He recorded five cashes during the 2008 WSOP and owns three bracelets. However, he’s been in a five-year bracelet slump and will look to right the ship in London. He is fresh off a trip to Macau, where he played in an Asian Poker Tour event.
As of 16:00 ET on Friday, there were 87 players remaining out of the 191 that started the day. Some familiar faces were atop the leader board:
Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 38,800
Daniel Negreanu – 35,500
Rumit Somaiya – 35,000
Michel Abecassis – 28,500
Brandon Cantu – 26,125
Dahe Liu – 26,000
Brian Johnson – 25,000
Ben Grundy – 24,700
Denis O’Mahoney – 21,300
Ian Woodley – 20,500
The first tournament runs for four days. Friday marked Day1A and Saturday will mark Day 1B.