WSOPE Day 2 - We're Simply Spectators in Jen Harman's Universe

By Pauly
London

After a long day of poker, Jen Harman emerged as the chipleader as she made the final table of the £2,500 HORSE event. 105 players bought into one of the toughest filed of players I have ever seen since I started covering poker tournaments. Jen Harman plays in the biggest cash game in the world, which happens to be a mixed-game format. She's the chipleader in a tournament where she held an slight edge over the rest of the field. She's going into the final table with the chiplead and we'll see if she can hold off Kirk Morrison, Jesus, Alex KGB, and the young American Yuval Bronshtein.

£2,500 HORSE Final Table:
Seat 1: Jennifer Harman - 204,000
Seat 2: Gary Jones - 30,000
Seat 3: Joe Beevers - 74,500
Seat 4: Kirk Morrison - 172,500
Seat 5: Thomas Bihl - 130,500
Seat 6: Yuval Bronshtein - 185,500
Seat 7: Alex Kravchenko - 114,500
Seat 8: Chris Ferguson - 142,500

Day 2 Money Winners:
9th - Jan Sorensen - £7,219
10th - Eric Dalby - £7,219
11th - Mark Vos - £6,562
12th - Barny Boatman - £6,562
13th - Tom Nightingale - £5,775
14th - John Juanda - £5,775
15th - Marc Goodwin - £5,250
16th - Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke - £5,250

You can follow the action of the final table over at PokerNews starting at 2pm local time. Change100 and Jen will be providing the coverage of the final table.

Several big names failed to make the money on Day 2 including... Stephen Ladowsky, David Levi, Nikolaus Jedlicka, Rafi Amit, Jeff Madsen, Brandon Adams, Max Pescatori, ZeeJustin, David Williams, Pascal Perrault, Andreas Hoivold, Donnacha O'Dea, Mark Tenner, Bruce Yamron, Annie Duke, Allen Cunningham, Lee Watkinson, Jeffrey Lisandro, Neal Friets, Barbara Lewis, Erik Seidel, Eli Elezra, Mel Judah, Hansen, and Ola Brandborn.

I get to cover my favorite event at the WSOPE... £5,000 PLO. Should be fun. Barry, Snoopy, and I will be bringing you that action and drama starting at 2pm local time. I wonder if they will get 100 runners for that event? Stay tuned to find out.

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Bouncin Round the Room on Day 2

The players complained about the stuffy poker room and the final seven tables were played out on the casino floor. It gave a much better view for the spectators and media and the players seemed to be happy. The railbirds are much more orderly in London, even for a Friday night where everyone held a pint in their hand, and seemed to be having a joyous time. They actually apologize when they bump into you or discover that they are in your way.

Peter Birks stopped by the Empire twice to check out the action. On dinner break, he took us on a quick tour of some of the seedier side streets in Soho. He also took us to a great curry house for dinner. Good food and great conversation.

We also bumped into Katkin from Murders' Row fame. He used to play in HDouble's infamous West LA homegame and now he lives in Dublin and came over for work reasons. He said he was getting cold decked at the Three-card Poker tables.

When Tiffany Michelle was conducting an interview with John Juanda in front of the casino during one of the breaks, Shronk was harassed by a man in a bear costume dressed up like a Beef Eater. I wish I had that on tape. I pushed the bear aside and told him to stop fucking with our camera guy. I pointed to a group of tourists that he should bother instead. He told me to "Piss off," and walked away. Pauly 1, Freaky People in Bear Outfits 0.

I forgot to write about this... I had a homeless person ask me for spare change while I ate dinner the other night with Change100. We sat at a table outside the restaurant and he said, "Governor, can you spare a pound?" Governor? What the fuck? Are we reenacting a scene from a Charles Dickens novel or something? That was a bittersweet moment. I have always wanted to be addressed as "Governor" but he had the audacity to ask me for the equivalent of $2 US. At least the bums on the subway in NYC simply ask for spare change.

Johnny Mushrooms sighting! Even though he's not playing in any of the WSOPE events (too expensive for his tastes), Johnny Mushrooms made an appearance at the casino and railbirded his fellow Aussie Mark Vos.

The internet at the Empire Casino has been spotty (at best) over the last two days and of course, the wifi at my $300 a night hotel room has crapped out. I'm writing this piece while sitting in the hallway as I get odd glances from the housekeepers cleaning the adjacent rooms. I'm staying 15 days at this hotel and Change100 and I are dropping $4,500 US out of our London travel budget. You figure they would hook me up with some decent wifi. Talk about the bad beat of the day. Maybe I'll tell Tony G and he'll rip the hotel staff apart so hard...

The only good thing is that the hotel is a few steps away from a Ladbrokes betting parlor. I'm ready for some NFL action!

Thanks to Greg, Chris, and Andrew for pointing out the NFL schedule on SkySports. I'll do my best to watch the Jets-Pats game on Sunday. I hope they show it in the casino. Now do any of you gusy know where I can watch college football???

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Come back at the Tao of Poker for daily recaps and head over at PokerNews for live coverage and updates including chip counts, photos, and videos.

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