Home / Poker News September 2009 / WSOPE Day 1B – Ivey busts, Ferguson does well
WSOPE Day 1B – Ivey busts, Ferguson does well
Posted by: James Carter. - Sun, 2009-09-20 13:22
Day 1B of the 2009 London WSOPE’s £1,000 event saw another flight of more than 300 players belly up to the tables of the Empire Casino. Day 1B’s starting field was at least as impressive as Day 1A’s in regards to the quality of the competition. Allen Cunningham and Annette Obrestad were there, together with Men Nguyen, John Juanda, James Akenhead (out to prove once again that November Nine members had this magic knack to do well in live events before the final table showdown), Phil Ivey (who does well in live events regardless of his WSOP Main Event final tablist status), Jeff Lisandro (the scourge of the 2009 WSOP), Antonio Esfandiari and Andy Black.
Day 1B set the final number of registrants for the WSOPE London to 608, which meant that the prize-pool this field would do battle for would be a £608,000 one. The winner would thus have a £136,803 payday, not to mention the bracelet which would be the first of the year awarded on British soil.
The end of Day 1B found Chris Ferguson, Fabien Dunlop, Nicholas Levi and Stephane Hansen atop the provisional chip leader board. With the exact chip counts still pending, it was impossible to know who the leader was. One thing was certain though. The overall chip leader, leading all Day 1A and Day 1B survivors into battle on Day 2 would be JP Kelly, who finished Day 1A atop the pile.
One notable appearance at the £1,000 WSOPE event was that of Phil Ivey. Not just a “mere” November Nine member, Ivey is the one people are currently looking to, hoping that he’ll end up taking the gold, and through some sort of a miracle, he’ll help the poker industry go legal again in the US.
Ivey showed up late. The action was well into the third level of play when he arrived. Nonetheless, he managed to double up fast and was about to start dominating his table though his trademark aggressive style when he ran his top pair into an opponent’s two pair to bust out and head to the rail.
One of the most impressive displays of poker prowess came from Stephane Hansen who busted a bluff by Julian Thew to chip up nicely at his expense. Thew had A,K and he bet every single street of a board made up of 6,4,5,J,4, hoping to intimidate Hansen or to catch a pair. Hansen though was on to something. He called all of Thew’s bets and eventually showed down pocket 3s to take the pot.
Given the fast pace that has been characteristic of the event so far, Day 2, which will kick off at 2 PM tomorrow, will probably see the final table reached. The money bubble, which is set to 63rd place, will certainly burst.
