The early goings of the World Series of Poker Europe, presented by Betfair.com, have been smooth sailing for two local Brits. Ben Grundy recently eliminated Jason “JP_OSU” Potter (left) and is well above the starting stack while Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman is off to a great start and among the early chip leaders with over 50k.

On an AT8 flop Ben bet 3k and Potter moved in over the top for just over 10k. Grundy made the call and Potter was drawing thin with his AJ trailing Ben’s AQ. Two low hearts filled out the board, marking the end of the road for Potter who, as always, took his defeat graciously and made his exit from the Empire Casino. After adding Potter’s chips to his stack Grundy is around 27k.

Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman (right) came out of the gates quickly, busting Howard Lederer early on and continuing to chip up since. Grundy’s original table was located behind the bar under the steps (yeah, they pretty much have tables everywhere but in the bathrooms here at the Empire) but the table was one of the first to break and Grundy is now in the downstairs poker area referred to as the Dungeon by most in and around the tournament, seated at a table with Max Pescatori to his right and Ted Lawson on his left. At last count Moorman had over 55k chips and was one of the chip leaders.

An ever aggressive Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson has been involved in a lot of pots, but so far hasn’t gained much traction. He has dropped a few thousand off of his starting stack and had about 16k at last check. Peter “#1Pen” Neff is in the same situation with just over 15k chips.

• September 27, 2008 -- Marco Busto, TV Play
• September 27, 2008 -- All Day For A Quarter, Day 1A Complete
• September 27, 2008 -- Baron Doubles, Last Level
• September 27, 2008 -- Dinner Break

In the first few minutes of play Marco “Crazy Marco” Johnson (left) was able to crack aces and take a nice pot from Ted Lawson. On a board of 9863 Lawson bet 3,500 into a pot of about 4k and Marco raised to 8,050. Lawson called and the 5 hit on the river.

Lawson led out for 3,500, a small bet into the pot and Marco thought for a few minutes before calling. “Aces,” Lawson said as he tossed up the AA and Marco showed his 86 for a flopped two pair to take the pot.

A few tables over Amit “Amak316″ Makhija folded on the river to an all in bet into a pot of around 15k. Makhija still had over 15k chips after the fold.

The one table outside of the main room was an interesting one, with Bryan Devonshire, Jason “JCarver” Sommerville, and Isaac “mr. menlo” Baron but about halfway into the first level the table was broken to fill empty seats in the main room. A rough count puts todays play at around 165 players with more expected to show up for tomorrow’s day 1B action. The line on the total number of players seems to be right around 400.

• August 25, 2008 -- Stacking Up
• August 27, 2008 -- Looking For A Final Table
• August 27, 2008 -- Amit Doubles, Graham Crumbles
• August 27, 2008 -- In The Money

The minutes on the tournament clock ticked by as the 37 remaining players in the PLHE tournament anxiously awaited the breaking of the infamous “bubble”.

Mike Sexton got up and left his table when there were 3 minutes remaining until a 20 minute break. As a result of the long hand for hand the tournament director added an additional 10 minutes onto the clock for level 14. Realizing that Sexton was going to potentially miss his blinds Eli Elezra and other players called him on their cell phones and soon enough Sexton’s bright purple shirt was seen rushing back into the tournament area. “There were only 3 minutes left on the clock!” he said.

After the extra 10 minutes expired the players were sent on a 20 minute break with everyone still waiting to see who would make the money.

After the break it only took another 20 minutes before a player was eliminated. The 36 players left are guaranteed at least $23,216.

PocketFive players remaining include Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers, Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar, Amit “Amak316″ Makhija, and Matt “MattG1983″ Graham.

• June 25, 2008 -- Pocket Fives No Good to Graham
• June 1, 2008 -- Marco, Graham, and Rajkumar Eliminated
• May 31, 2008 -- No Luck for the Ladies
• August 27, 2008 -- Amit Doubles, Graham Crumbles

With the blinds at 400/800, Chris “Genius28″ Lee and the player in the cutoff raised back and forth pre-flop until Chris put the other player all in. Chris showed AQ while the other player had KK. The flop came 36K giving the other player top set, and the K on the turn sealed the deal giving him quads. Although it hurt Chris’s stack he still has about 35k as we move into the dinner break.

The randomness of table draws brought some interesting collections of players. One table could seemingly be labeled the “live pro’s table” populated with players including Allen Cunningham, Joe Sebok, Andy Black, Tony Cousineau, Patrick Antonius, and Kathy Leibert.  Some tables had higher concentrations of known online players as well with one table including Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Brock “t_soprano” Parker, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, Ben “Milkybarkid” Grundy and Jeff Madsen.

Other tables, such as the table with Kevin “BeLOWaB0Ve” Saul, had a mixture of well-known live and online tournaments players including Shaun Deeb, Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton, John Phan, Michael Mizrachi, Minh Ly, and Dan Shak.

Among the chip leaders heading into the dinner break were Shawn Keller and Marco Johnson (pictured), who have around 150k in chips with about 170 of the initial 352 remaining.

Other notable players had the following chips stacks: Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis 18k, Isaac Haxton 30k, Shaun Deeb 20k, Chris “Genius28″ Lee 35k.

• May 31, 2008 -- Elezra, Sowers chip leaders; Mizzi eliminated
• May 30, 2008 -- Big Event Early
• June 3, 2008 -- Mizzi Accumulates Big Stack at Manic Table
• May 30, 2008 -- PrtyPSux Doubles, Shaundeeb and Amak316 Collide