Daniel Negraneu was sitting short stacked after a hand against Howard Lederer in a limit holdem round. With a board of 9h-2h-Qs-Jc-Qc, Lederer bet out and Negreanu had to fold. Negreanu was left with only 18,000 in chips. Lederer moved up to 107,000 chips, which was second overall.

The best poker player alive, Phil Ivey, continued to show his dominance in this event. With 14 players left, he was sitting with 124,300 in chips. Jeff Lisandro, winner of the $2,000 Stud Event at the 2007 WSOP was sitting third at 102,000 chips.

Spencer Lawrence has been on a tear in limit events at this year’s World Series of Poker. He had three cashes and two final tables. He finished 2nd in $1,500 Omaha 8 or better event and then 6th in the Limit Holdem Shootout. I was on hand to watch both performances. His other cash was in the $10,000 Limit Holdem Championship where he finished 22nd. Regardless of where he finishes in the event, he is proving himself to be one of the most prolific limit poker players in the world.

Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey got into a raising war on a flop of 7s-9d-6h. When the smoke cleared, Negreanu was all in and showed As-6s-2d-6c for a nut low draw and a set of sixes. Ivey showed 10d-7c-2s-8s for the flopped straight and weak low draw. The turn fell the 2h, counterfeiting Negreanu’s nut low draw, but leaving him a weak low draw. The king of diamonds on the river ended Negreanu’s quest for a bracelet and made him our 14th place finisher.

Mark Gregorich doubled up twice in a row during a stud round against Phil Hellmuth. First he made an eight against Hellmuth’s jack. The very next hand, he was able to secure another double up and move up to 50,000 chips. Hellmuth had been complaining earlier about the dealer’s shuffling habits and continued to do so after these back to back losses.

The Tournament Directors went around and talked to all the players about putting an early end to the event as it appeared that we were nowhere near making the final 8. It was decided that play would conclude at the end of level 13.

Hellmuth’s attacks on the dealer ended up getting out of hand. At one point, he made the dealer cry. The tournament director came over and explained to her that it is not her fault that he is losing. The dealer was so upset that the TD told him that he would receive a penalty if his behavior did not improve.

Phil Ivey put Isaac Haxton all-in during a holdem round. Unfortunately for Haxton, Ivey came out on top. Haxton becomes our 13th place finisher taking home £5,500.

I don’t know if you are a believer in Karma, but sometimes things happen that has to make us wonder. For example, in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, Prahlad Friedman accused Jeffrey Lisandro of stealing an ante chip during the Main Event. This ended up becoming a big issue when he continued to berate Lisandro for over an hour regarding the “ante theft.” Finally, the Tournament Director had to get involved to restore order. It was later discovered that Lisandro did not steal the ante, but Friedman never apologized. Since that event, Friedman has not been heard of on the tournament scene. He has not cashed in an event in over 2 years. Lisandro on the other hand has had 9 cashes at the WSOP, including 3 final tables and one bracelet. He also finished 2nd in the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Race. The game he won the bracelet in was 7 Card Stud. In stud, you must ante before each hand.

What does the above have to do with this event? Preflop during a holdem round, Phil Hellmuth angrily threw his chips in announcing all-in. Since this was a limit event, this was actually just a raise. Sherkhan Farnood raised enough to cover Hellmuth and they were off to the races. Just to give you a little background, Farnood had won a few pots earlier in the day and Hellmuth had berated him as being the “worst player in history.”

Hellmuth held As-Kh and Farnood held 3h-3c. The flop came Jd-Qh-Kd to give Hellmuth top pair and a straight draw. The turn fell the 5d. Only two cards in the deck could come to give Farnood the win. The river fell the 3d, giving Farnood a set of threes and eliminated Hellmuth from the event. Hellmuth stormed off to complain about Farnood, the dealer, and anything that folks would listen to him complain about. How much you want to bet that Farnood is the dealer’s new best friend.

Howard Lederer made a late day push and is our current chip leader with 208,500 chips. After his suckout against Phil Hellmuth, Sherkhan Farnood is right behind him with 141,500 chips. Phil Ivey is sitting in fourth position with 114,000. Spencer Lawrence is the middle of the pack with 88,500. Raul Paez is our short stack at the moment with 17,500. With the limits about to go up to 4,000 – 8,000, he is left with just over two big bets.

The final 11 players will return tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. and play until we reach our champion. Also, the £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event starts tomorrow. The best Omaha players from both the U.S. and Europe will gather to take their shot at the bracelet. PLO is the most popular form of poker in Europe, so the Americans will have a disadvantage in tomorrows contest. Play for that event starts at 3 p.m. London time.

Michael Binger was one of the first pros eliminated from today’s action. Binger pushed all in with pocket aces. His opponent held pocket threes. Binger must have read Phil Ivey’s book on busting out of this event. The flop came with both remaining threes, giving his opponent quads. The river did not fall an ace, and Binger was eliminated.

Marc Goodwin moved all in on a flop of 5s-3c-10d. Both Tony Duffield and Fuad Serhan pushed all-in behind him. Duffield showed Ah-10h for top pair, Goodwin showed As-Ac, and Serhan showed 5h-5d for a set of fives. Serhan had both opponents covered. The turn and river came running fours, giving Serhan the pot and eliminating two players.

Level 11 saw the end of Phil Laak’s tournament. Phil Laak moved all in holding Kc-Js. He picked a bad time to make a move as Sid Harris made the call with As-Ah. The board missed both players and Laak rocketed out of the tournament.

Shortly before the end of level 11, John Juanda moved all in on a flop of 6s-4d-9h and was called by Tim Pennington. Juanda held 9s-7s against Pennington’s Jh-Jd. The turn card of the 7c put Juanda head. Unfortunately for Juanda, the river fell the 6c, giving Pennington a better two pair.

Erik Seidel started the day as the third shortest stack in the tournament with only 7,000 chips. Seidel was able to double up a couple of times early on but his run finally came to an end in Level 12. Seidel moved in with A-K and ran into pocket queens. The board missed both opponents and Seidel will be available to play in tomorrow’s H.O.R.S.E. event.

This first event of the WSOP Europe will pay 45 spots and we reached the bubble period during level 12. Pete Linton became the unfortunate bubble boy. Linton was all in with Ah-9s against Ad-4s. Linton stayed ahead on both the flop and turn, but a river 4h sent Linton to the rail with the same prize as the other 365 player, $0.

Shortly after the bubble burst, pro Surinder Sunar moved all in with A-7 against Arkadi Kilman’s pocket fours. The board missed out and Sunar took home £ 3,075.

Level 13 saw the end of Brandon Cantu’s day. With only 8,100 chips remaining, Cantu moved all in with Qs-10c. Adam Junglen made the call with Ad-9s. Cantu exclaimed “Give me a ten, dealer” as the flop was dealt and his wish was granted with a Kd-4h-10s flop. The turn fell a disastrous Ah, leaving Cantu needing a queen, ten, or jack. The river card fell a harmless 4c, and Cantu was eliminated.

Level 13 appeared to be an unlucky level for Daniel Negreanu. First, Negreanu was forced to fold a hand on the river that cost him about 1/3 of his stack. Finally, during the color up period, Negreanu raised preflop and Christoph Bommes moved over the top all-in. After tanking for a while, Negreanu made the call showing 9s-9c. Bommes held As-Kd. Bommes immediately spiked a king on the flop, giving him a commanding lead. Negreanu needed one of the two remaining nines to win the hand. A nine did not fall and Negreanu busted out in 24th place.

During level 14, Jason Gray made a raise to 11,000 from late position. Warren Woodall made the call. The flop fell Ah-10d-9c. Woodall checked to Gray, who bet out 14,000. Woodall then raised to 45,000. After tanking a bit, Gray moved all-in and Woodall made the call. Gray held As-Ks for top pair, and Gray held 10c-9s for two pair. The river missed both players with the 3d. The river card of the Qh failed to help Gray and Gray headed for the rail.

Level 16 saw the end to Andy Bloch’s tournament. Jesper Hougaard made a raise from the button and Andy Bloch moved all in from the big blind. Hougaard insta-called with Qc-Qd. Bloch held Kh-Jh. The flop fell 7s-Ah-10s to give Bloch a gutshot straight draw. Neither a queen nor king would fall on the turn or river. Andy Bloch finished in 15th place and earned £ 7,072.

Play was down to ten handed when Christoph Bommes called an all in bet from Yevgeniy Timoshenko preflop. Bommes held Jh-Jc and Timoshenko held Ad-Kc. The flop fell 7h-Ac-5c to put Timoshenko in the lead. Bommes was unable to catch a jack on the turn or the river and he became the final table bubble boy.

Nine players will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. to play for the bracelet in this £1,500 No Limit Holdem event. This is the breakdown of the final table:

Seat 1: Fuad Serhan 61,000
Seat 2: Daniel Nutt 207,000
Seat 3: Yevgeniy Timoshenko 345,000
Seat 4: John Dwyer 511,000
Seat 5: Ian Woodley 153,000
Seat 6: Jesper Hougaard 89,000
Seat 7: Linda Lee 121,000
Seat 8: Neil Channing 199,000
Seat 9: Adam Junglen 795,000

Linda Lee is the last woman standing in this first event of the WSOP Europ but she will have a long road to travel to win this bracelet. Adam Junglen enters as the chip leader for this final table with John Dwyer right on his heals. Jesper Hougaard was chip leader for a good portion of the day, but wound up the second short stack entering the final table.

Tomorrow also marks day one of the £2,500 H.O.R.S.E event. Play will begin at 2 p.m. tomorrow and promises to sport a very strong field. As has been the case, I will be back tomorrow to bring you a recap of the action of both the final table of Event 1 and the first day of the £2,500 H.O.R.S.E event.