Europe rolled out a score of big game players for the first event of the 2008 World Series of Poker at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas yesterday. 352 players anted-up for the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold’Em event including Alex Kravchenko, Steve Wong, Andy Black, Ben Grundy, Mel Judah, Neil Channing, Barny Boatman, Harry Demetriou, Thierry van den Berg, Alexander Kostritsyn, John Duthie, David Benyamine, Thor Hansen, Markus Lehmann, Max Pescatori, and Dario Minieri.
First prize in the event is $794,121.
One table stacked with heavyweights early in play included last year’s pot-limit hold ‘em event winner Allen Cunningham, as well as Andy Black, Harry Demetriou and Kathy Liebert.
Brit Demetriou came a cropper when he tangled with Liebert. On a board of J
10
5 , Demetriou made a small bet of 300 in early position. Kathy Liebert raised to 1,600, Demetriou re-raised the size of the pot to 7,100, and Liebert pushed all-in. Demetriou called with K
J ; and Liebert revealed a dominating set of fives. Demetriou picked up some help on the turn, when the J hit the table, but the 9 sent him to the rail. Liebert jumped to the top of the leader board after the hand.
Dario Minieri was another early casualty when he put the remainder of his chips into the pot with 66 , but found himself
dominated by his opponent’s TT
. The board ran out 97253 and Dario was sent to the rail, leaving Max Pescatori the lone representative of Italy at the table.
Frenchman David Benyamine had a productive mid-session run increasing his stack to 128,000 when his pocket aces crippled an opponent with pocket kings. The double-paired board of J85J8 didn’t scare either player.
Later in the session online whizz Ben Grundy from the UK, on a board of QK5J5, reluctantly called a bet of 15,000. As soon as his chips hit the felt the small blind mucked his hand. Grundy scooped up the pot and increased his chip stack to roughly 135,000.
Towards the end of the night Russian Alex Kravchenko’s A-T could not improve against his opponent’s J-J and he was eliminated.
Thierry van den Berg and Markus Lehmann also busted before the evening’s play was over.
Eli Elezra ended the night as the clear chip leader after making quad deuces to bust Eugene Katchalov. Elezra is the only player sitting with over 300,000 in chips.
Today at the Rio sees day 2 of the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold’Em event while day 1 of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’Em tournament gets underway.
Check CardPlayer.com regularly for live updates of all the action today.
