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.

Many players arrived late for today’s tournament, including the man that historically likes to arrive late and put on a show, Phil Hellmuth. Today was no exception. Phil came in with his typical manner of going around the table and shaking everyone’s hand and letting them know that “The Man” had arrived.

Mike Matusow was wired for sound on this Day 1b. First he went into a little monologue regarding the crowd hanging around the rail. He mentioned that “There’s more people in that square than Sarah Palin was ever governor of in that little town of hers in Arkansas. Or Alaska or whatever.” Later he gave a clue regarding why he is always so wired. He said that is was coffee. Apparently the caffeine gets to him. He said, “I went from sleeping to can’t shut up.”

Jennifer Tilly and Marcus Golser were among the first big names to exit early in today’s field. Golser pushed with the powerhouse hand 8c-2d. Unfortunately, a player woke up with the “mediocre hand” A-A. The flop did come with an 8 on it, but the rest of the board bricked out and Golser hit the rail. Tilly exited much quieter and we didn’t get details on the bustout. I must say that I cannot see how she can afford to keep playing these events. After watching her play at the World Series at different times, one has to wonder who the money pit she is tapping to keep being bought into these events. Before you say Phil Laak, remember that he isn’t doing much better either. At least Laak cashed twice at the WSOP this year. Tilly was 0 for whatever.

Just before the end of the third level, both Phil Hellmuth and Annette Obrestad were eliminated. Hellmuth was all-in on a flop of 6h-8h-Qh. He held Ah-Ad, but unfortunately his opponent held Qc-Qd. As irony would have it, Hellmuth had 11 outs to win the hand. (11 is the number of bracelets Hellmuth holds.) The turn fell the 3d, which reduced his outs to 10. The river fell the 6d, which completed his opponent’s full house and sent Hellmuth packing. Annette Obrestad was all in on the turn with a pair and a flush draw, facing two players with better pairs. She was unable to neither pair her kick nor catch her flush, and her day is done.

Topics from politics to religion were discussed at today’s event. Mike Matusow and Robert Williamson III were discussing politics and Williamson said “Biden sucks . . . He’s old! He’s almost as old as McCain. That’s the only one out of the four I don’t like.” For those of you that are reading overseas, Biden is the vice-presidential candidate of John McCain in the US presidential election. Mike Matusow later on mentioned that he knew the reason why Jerry Yang won the Main Even in 2007. He said, “The reason Jerry Yang won the World Series was because he prayed harder than everyone else.”

Sadly, Mike Matusow was eliminated during level 5 of today’s event. Mike Matusow was all-in preflop and called by Costas Artemi. Matusow held pocket kings and his opponent held Ad-Kd. The flop hit neither player, but the turn produced an ace that put Artemi ahead. Matusow did not catch a miracle two outer on the river and the tournament area became significantly quieter after the hand.

In a “hand” that should have brought back great memories, the dealer at John Phan’s dealer dealt out a flop before dealing any cards to the players. Phan was greatly amused by this. David Williams at an adjoining table asked “You moved in, right?” For those of you that don’t know, during the $3,000 No Limit final table at the World Series of Poker in Vegas, John Phan and his heads up opponent moved all in blind three times in a row. The flop, turn, and river were all dealt before they turned up their cards one at a time.

The eighth and final level of the night saw the departure of Allen Cunningham. Cunningham tried to make a move from the button, pushing all in with 9d-2d. Jerome Bradpiece made the call with As-Qd. The board missed both players and Cunningham’s tournament is over.

John Phan had a roller coaster day. At one point he was around 50,000 in chips but slowly bled off chips throughout the evening. Finally in the last level, he was all in with As-Qs. Unfortunately, he was against Ks-Kd. The board missed both players and Phan had to get off the ride.

David Williams and Jean-Robert Bellande were the last two big names eliminated in the last level of play. Bellande pushed from the small blind holding 9h-8h. The big blind called with Kh-7s. The flop came with two hearts, giving Bellande hope. A king on the turn left Bellande needing a heart to win. The river fell the Ad, and Bellande was off to watch Survivor reruns. David Williams moved all in preflop with Ac-5d but ran into the pocket queens of Andy Black. The turn produced a gutshot wheel draw for Williams, but neither an ace nor a five fell on the river and Williams was gone.

48 players survived today’s Day 1b and will join the 41 player from yesterday tomorrow for Day 2. Phil Laak, Andy Bloch, and Andy Black all survived with decent stacks. Adam Junglen emerged as the chip leader, with 83,600 in chips. Junglen will enter Day 3 as the overall chip leader.

Day 2 will begin tomorrow at 1 p.m. London Time. The 90 player field will then play down to the final table.