Rosen Leads Into Day 2; Defending Champion Bord Still Alive
Welcome back to PokerNews' live coverage of the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. It's be a great series so far here in Cannes, France -- the new home of the WSOP Europe -- and continues today with Day 2 of the biggest event of them all.
This �10,400 Main Event Championship attracted a whopping 593 players over the course of two starting days and 328 of them remain in contention. Heading the pack is Jamie Rosen, who bagged up 162,700 in chips after Day 1a. Behind him are Lari Sihvo with 144,725 and Tommy Vedes with 142,775. Both Sihvo and Vedes played on Day 1b.
Previously, the largest-ever WSOP Europe Main Event was back in 2007 and 2008 when Annette Obrestad and John Juanda emerged victorious, respectively. In each of those years, the main event attracted 362 players. Comparing the 2007 and 2008 field size to this year, the tournament has grown nearly 64%. Comparing the number to last year's field size, you'll find a growth of over 71%.
Speaking of last year, defending champion James Bord is still alive and well with above-average chips. He bagged up a flat 60,000 at the end of play last night, which puts him roughly 6,500 chips above the mean. We'll be keeping a close eye on him all day today in his title-defense run.
Other notables still remaining are Robert Mizrachi, McLean Karr, Leo Boxell, Tony G, Johnny Chan, Ben Lamb, Matan Krakow, Olivier Busquet and Freddy Deeb. Also still alive are current WSOP November Niners Ben Lamb and Sam Holden.
We've yet to receive the prize pool and payout information from the WSOP staff, but once we do, we'll surely toss it your way. So far, we've heard some rumors swirling of a first-place prize worth �1,400,000.
Day 2 is set to kick off soon at 1200 CET (0300 PT). Another six 90-minute levels of play are scheduled with the blinds starting 300-600 with a 75 ante. Once the cards are in the air, the updates will be flying so keep that mouse hovering over the refresh button to get your poker fix all day long.