The second day of play has come to a close at the World Series of Poker Europe, presented by Betfair. With 15 minutes left on the clock the announcement was made that each table would play 5 more hands then be done for the night. As the tables wrapped up, there were some last minute eliminations and some big pots raked in during the waning moments of play.

Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman (left) was able to pick up a nice pot with a call on the river. Chris had raised to 3,600 from under the gun and James Keys made it 11,200 from the button. After asking how much more, Moorman put in the chips to make the call and the players saw the T44 flop. Chris sent the action over to Keys who put in a bet of 15,400. Moorman made the call and the turn was the 2. Both players checked to the A river where Moorman again passed and left it up to Keys to make a bet. He did, putting out 32k. Moorman shook his head, at one point bouncing his fist into his mouth making it look like he was hitting himself. Finally he made the call and Keys was reluctant to show his hand. After a pause Chris flipped over his QQ and Keys then mucked his hand without ever showing. After picking off the bluf from Keys the stack in front of Moorman grew to around 200k. By the time the last hand was dealt at his table Moorman had a final total of 219,500.

Scott “R_A_Y” Montgomery was hoping to make for a major storyline by making the final table of both the main event in Vegas and the WSOP Europe main event final table. That hope ended a few minutes before play wrapped up when Scott busted out of the tournament.

Tim “Tmay420″ West’s recovery from the short stack held up to the end of play, with Tim bagging up chips totalling 58,600. Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza finished with 43,200. Peter “#1Pen” Neff had a quiet but solid day, ending up with 130,400.

The top stacks are all around the 300k mark with Andy Bloch, Erik Seidel, and Brian “sbrugby” Townsend all in the mix with John Juanda and Justin “Boosted J” Smith (right) not too far behind.

The full list of end of day chip counts is Available Here.

Below are the top 20 chip counts at the end of day 2 play.

• September 29, 2008 -- Heating Up
• September 30, 2008 -- Juanda, Negreanu, Boosted J Lead The Way into Day 4
• September 30, 2008 -- Peter Prospers, Townsend Tumbles
• September 30, 2008 -- Garza Ousted, Moorman Doubles; 45 Left

“It’s like a party in here,” an animated Daniel Negreanu said after he was moved to table three in the dungeon area and after pausing for a moment he followed up with “a really hot party.”  There are six tables in the room, all with lighting for TV overhead.  Between the high power lights putting off heat and the crowded room being slam full of players, dealers, media, floormen, TV crews, fans, and massage girls the temperature has been on the rise since the dinner break. 

The six tables in the Face to Face room referred to as the dungeon make up 2/3rds of the remaining tables.  The other three are out in the main part of the casino.  Before being moved into the dungeon area Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza (right) had another player all in with his set of tens in commanding position when all the chips went on the turn.  His opponent had only two outs with his pocket queens, but a queen on the river left Jeff to think about what might have been had he collected the 130k chip pot. 

Instead, he is having to deal with what is, which is a chip stack below the 85k average, but not critical.  He has been moved to the Tim “Tmay420″ West / Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar table that is the shortest table of the tournament in total chips with no huge stacks and plenty of smallish ones, including West who was able to again double up but still only has 16k.

Stephen “Stevie444″ Chidwick and David “Raptor” Benefield have both been eliminated.  Chidwick (left) was all in against Andy Black with pocket threes trying to hold up against Black’s AT.  The A-T-x flop left Chidwick chasing a set that did not materialize and just before the end of the level Stevie was eliminated.

Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman, Peter “#1Pen” Neff and Scott “R_A_Y” Montgomery are going strong out in the main area.  Neff seems to have settled in around 125k while Montgomery has bounced back from an earlier blow and now is back up to around 60k.  A stoic Fischman has over 100k in front of him at the table.

Also getting some attention from the cameras in the dungeon are chip leader Brian “sbrugby” Townsend and Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman.  Near the end of the level Moorman was seen raking in a pot, but the crush of people around the table made it impossible to get any details on the hand. 

Around 80 players went to break, but the last 2 hour level will send more than a few of them home tonight with no chips to return to tomorrow.  Who will falter, who will survive, who will prosper?  Two hours left in day 2 to find out.

• September 29, 2008 -- Finish Strong, Day 2 Complete
• September 27, 2008 -- All Day For A Quarter, Day 1A Complete
• September 30, 2008 -- Juanda, Negreanu, Boosted J Lead The Way into Day 4
• September 30, 2008 -- Peter Prospers, Townsend Tumbles

The clock has ran out on Day 1B play at the World Series of Poker Europe, presented by Betfair. For many, the day ended early as they were eliminated. For others day 1 was all about survival, and for the select few chip accumulation was the story of their starting day.

Daniel Negreanu and Jamie Rosen both stayed solid throughout the last few levels, Daniel finishing with over 150k and Rosen coming in at 139,225. Brian “sbrugby” Townsend (left) was able to get a double up late in the day when his pocket aces held up. He finished with a solid 71,950.

Adam Junglen had to toss a few hands late in the day, losing some ground but still finishing with 41,100. In one hand there was about 4k in the pot preflop and Junglen bet 2,400 on the K86 board. He was min raised to 4,800 and after asking how much the other player had behind (45k) Junglen tossed his hand in giving up on the pot. A little later he opened a pot for 1,050 and the same player he doubled up earlier with pocket fives losing to T-9 moved in over the top for 10,875. Junglen folded showing KQ offsuit and postulating that his opponent had ace rag.

Stephen “Stevie444″ Chidwick (right) had a rough end of the day as well. On a flop of J98 both players checked but with the K turn the other player led for 3k and Steve called. The river was the 6 and this time the bet was 8k to Steve, who had only about 20k total. He made the call only to see the other player turn over the QT for the nuts. That hand left Steve with around the 11,075 chips he finished the day with.

Below are some select chip counts. Full official counts from combined day 1 results are Available Here.

Daniel Negreanu - 154,050
Jamie Rosen - 139,225
Brian “sbrugby” Townsend - 71,950
Barry Greenstein - 46,500
Adam Junglen - 41,100
Tom “durrrr” Dwan - 41,025
Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza - 35,900
Stephen “Stevie444″ Chidwick - 11,075

Day 2 play starts at 1pm local time tomorrow. There should be just over 180 players left in the field after the day ones are combined, with the top 36 making the money.

Here are the official top 15 chip counts going into day 2.  For full chip counts and seating assignments see the link above.

• September 29, 2008 -- Heating Up
• September 28, 2008 -- Lights On
• September 29, 2008 -- Finish Strong, Day 2 Complete
• September 28, 2008 -- After Dinner Mint

In the realm of internet poker, a techno song titled “Win With The Ace High,” has gained a lot of popularity over the last few months after it became a staple on poker entertainment radio show PokerRoad Radio. Co-host Gavin Smith just got moved to a table where he saw a hand that makes calling with the ace high, as the line goes in the song “I call with the ace high, you can’t fool me,” look like childs play.

In a 3 way pot preflop with Gavin Smith, Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza, and Per Ummer all in for a enough to put around 4k in the pot. On the AT3 flop Jeff bet 3k when Per checked to him and after Gavin folded Ummer made the call. With the 2 on the turn Ummer and Garza both checked to see the T hit on the river.

So the hand has progressed to the river with the board showing AT32T and the action on Ummer. He paused in thought before counting out 5,800 worth of chips to put in the pot. Jeff thought for a few minutes before finally making the call. Since Jeff called it was on Ummer to show his hand first, and he decided he had to be beat and mucked. Garza (right) the tuned over Q-J offsuit for queen high to take the pot.

At this point I was thoroughly confused. Players calling a river bet with queen high is not something you see very often and I looked around for confirmation of the hand. Another reporter, also with a confused look, had seen the same thing. This was also the last hand of the 4th level and the players were headed out on break. Garza had stopped on his way out and was chatting with Adam Junglen. To confirm what I had seen I asked Garza about the hand and he said “I thought I was getting the odds to call,” in response to my “did I see that hand right, you called with queen high?” We chatted briefly, Jeff saying it had been a tough level and that was the only pot I won.

After a few minutes as I was walking away the hand in question registered with Junglen who said “You called a river bet with queen high?” in an amazed, incredulous tone.

Based on overheard conversation between Per Ummer and a table mate it sounded like he said he had king queen and had he shown his hand would have won the pot with king high. His cards were never shown that I know of so nobody other than Ummer will ever know for certain.  Later Garza noted that Per actually said he was beat and that he did not have KQ.

A short stacked Jason “JCarver” Somerville will come back from the break looking to win a pot with anything he can, be it queen high or 4 of a kind. Somerville hasn’t been able to get anything going, sitting to the right of Daniel Negreanu who has had things going his way pretty much every step of the way so far.

The fifth and final level of the day will be player with 200 / 400 blinds and a 50 chip ante. After the final two hours of play both day 1s will be complete and all players remaining will come back tomorrow for combined day 2 play.

• September 28, 2008 -- Bag Em Up, Day 1B Complete
• September 28, 2008 -- Feature Table, Queen’s Kings Overthrown
• September 28, 2008 -- Lights On
• September 28, 2008 -- Running Good

The downstairs area referred to as the dungeon started out the day in even more dungeon like fashion, with the lights dimmed to the point of barely being able to see. Daniel Negreanu was one of many players down there to voice a complaint and before long the lights were on. With Negreanu located there it wasn’t long until the cameras showed up to film either, and other than Daniel there are some other camera grabbers holding chairs down in the dungeon.

Barry Greenstein and David Williams are on of the tables, Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza (right) and Josh “JJProdigy” Fields are seated at the same far corner table and Adam Junglen and Alex Jacob are at the first table in the door making for plenty of storylines for the ESPN camera crews in the room. It was announced to the players on both day 1’s that this tournament will be broadcast on ESPN and into 350 million homes.

While the cameras are rolling in the dungeon and the main area, the upstairs corner of the room is seeing a lot of action even if it isn’t getting much video attention. Jamie Rosen has jumped out as the chip leader, collecting around 75k worth of chips in the first level and a half of play. If this were a bounty tournament he would have a handful of those already too, including that of Jean-Robert Bellande, who it turns out is not a Survivor - at least not on Day 1 of the WSOP Europe Main Event.

Earlier today before play started Annette Obrestad stopped by to chat a little bit and mentioned that she could not win the tournament today, only lose it. “I’ll just fold to day 2 and then start to play,” she said. Well, so far the defending champion has folded her way to double the starting stack and is sitting with a very healthy 40k chips midway through the second level. Brian “sbrugby” Townsend is also right around double the initial starting stack.

Pictured Left: Overhead shot of the feature table with Annette Obrestad.

• September 28, 2008 -- Bag Em Up, Day 1B Complete
• September 29, 2008 -- Heating Up
• September 29, 2008 -- Finish Strong, Day 2 Complete
• September 28, 2008 -- Feature Table, Queen’s Kings Overthrown