At the end of the first day of WSOPE play, Phil Hellmuth was just another name mentioned in passing among the list of players who were still in the running after the day closed with only 80 players left. He wasn’t a chip leader and wasn’t starting the day in a particularly good position, but, nonetheless, the poker star warranted a nod, as his position in this event could mean not only that he could pass Ben Lamb for the Player of the Year title, but also that he still had a chance at nabbing his 12th bracelet at the World Series of Poker.
Hellmuth ended the day in second place on the leaderboards with over 400k in chips. As one of only 12 players remaining, he’s guaranteed at least €13,228, which moves him into first place on the PoY boards, overtaking Ben Lamb, who has held the number one spot since the WSOP events were paused (although Lamb’s performance in the Main Event could turn the tables once more, as could Hellmuth’s performance through the rest of the events in Europe). The Poker Brat didn’t seem to be effected by the change of venue from the Hotel Majestic Barriere to the Le Croisette Casino Barriere– at this point, though, it seems like nothing will come between Hellmuth and the bracelet that he’s come close (but not close enough) to winning three times already this year in Las Vegas. With so much on the line, it’s no wonder that this second day of the 2011 WSOPE events were dominated by Hellmuth– players, spectators and media alike were all focused on the action surrounding him, which you have to imagine is a little intimidating (and potentially distracting) to the other players.
Switzerland’s Guillaume Humbert, who sent Day 1 leader Flavien Guenan to the rail, is the current chip leader with 541,000 chips. Among the other 10 players who remain are David Benyamine, with 253,000; Anton Wigg, who has 201,000; and Casey Kastle, who started Day 2 as the chip leader among the Americans and now holds 119,000 chips.
In other WSOPE news, the €1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event began its first day, with three of this year’s November Niners making an appearance. Eoghan O’Dea is still in the running for the event, while Matt Giannetti and Phil Collins have been eliminated. Only 54 of the original 381 players have made it to Day 2, where they’ll join up with the players who entered on the second Day 1 of this event. Nine levels were played on Day 1A, and Australian Andrew Hinrichsen closed out the day in first place with 63,900 chips.
Coming back for another day of play are Nicholas Chouity, McLean Karr, Erik Cajelais, Randy Dorfman, and Roby Lewis, while several great names in poker won’t be returning: Tom Dwan, Erik Seidel, Jean-Robert Bellande, Barry Greenstein, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jonathan Duhamel, Justin Bonomo, Jason Mercier, Eugene Katchalov, and Chris Moorman were all send to the rail before the close of the action.