Event #7: WSOP Europe Main Event - €10,400 No-Limit Hold'em

Day 1a of the €10,400 Main Event Championship at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe has come and gone. On the schedule today were the first six levels of play, and a great six levels they were. The field size was enormous on first day of action with 310 players coming out, further proving that the WSOP's idea to move this series to France was an awesome idea.

Last year, James Bord conquered a field of 346 players, meaning this Day 1a almost surpassed that total by itself. With another few hundred players tomorrow, this will easily be the largest-ever WSOP Europe Main Event field. The previous record was from 2007 and 2008 when the field size of 362 players each of those years.

At the end of the night, under 200 players remained with Jamie Rosen leading the charge. He bagged up a whopping 162,700 in chips according to the dealer sheet on the table at the end of the night.

Rosen wasn't the only player to bag up a lot of chips. Dermot Blain (123,500), Chris Moorman (121,775), Polito Laurent (120,200), Mustapha Kanit (117,700), Erik Friberg (117,000), Darren Elias (111,400), Leo Boxell (110,900), Emil Patel (109,000) and Johnny Chan (108,350) will all be yielding big stacks when Day 2 arrives on Monday. Matan Krakow, Sam Holden, Erik Seidel, Tristan Wade, Matt Waxman and Randy Dorfman advanced as well.

Moorman saw a nice boost to his stack come from eliminating well-known pro and two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Jason Mercier. When we got to the table, the flop of     was in the middle with Moorman's    tabled versus Mercier's   . The turn brought the   and the river the   to eliminate Mercier.

Another notable elimination was 11-time gold bracelet winner and 1989 WSOP Main Event champion Phil Hellmuth. With the blinds at 250-500 with a 50 ante, Hellmuth was down to his last 1,600 in chips. Action folded to him in the hijack seat and he raised to 1,100. Michael Telker three-bet to 2,800 from the small blind and Hellmuth called all in. Telker held the    and Hellmuth the   . The board ran out       and Hellmuth headed for the exit.

Day 2 will take place on Monday at 1200 CET (0300 PDT) in Cannes, giving the remaining players Sunday off. Day 1b will take place on Sunday starting at 1200 CET (0300 PDT). Be sure to tune back into PokerNews for all of the live coverage starting then.

On a board reading      Johnny Chan, seated in early position, bet 8,000 and Philippe Sintes instantly called. The river saw the   make an appearance and Chan fired 8,000 again only to see Sintes make it 17,000 to play.

Chan smelled a rat and went deep into the tank for over two minutes before emerging with a fold. He showed    and Sintes responded by turning over   

From the hijack Nicolas Wade made it 1,175 to play and the action folded to Tristan Wade in the big blind. He checked his holecards and made the call.

The dealer put out the    , Wade checked and Levi checked behind. The turn was the   and when Wade checked for a second time Levi bet 3,000 and Wade's cards hit the muck.

Jason Mercier has just been eliminated from the tournament at the hands of Chris Moorman. When we got to the table, the flop of     was in the middle with Moorman's    tabled versus Mercier's   .

The turn brought the   and the river the   to eliminate Mercier.

Chris Moorman	120,000	72,925
Jason Mercier	0	-53,250

Phil Hellmuth will not be adding bracelet number 12 to his collection as he has just been eliminated here in Cannes.

Down to 1,600 he decided to raise to 1,100 from the hijack seat and then call off his last 500 chips when Michael Telker three-bet to 2,800 from the small blind.

A drama-less       board saw Hellmuth rise from his seat, say goodbye to Ben Lamb and exit stage left.

Matt Waxman, 2011 World Poker Tour Paris champion, check-called a bet of 3,900 on the      board from 2009 APPT Macau champion Dermot Blain. The river completed the board with the   and Waxman checked again. Blain contemplated betting, but claimed, "I'm a nit," and checked.

Waxman tabled the    and Blain the   . Waxman's losing hand was mucked and Blain won the pot.

Dermot Blain	135,000	86,750
Matt Waxman	53,000	8,700

Will "The Thrill" Failla has just busted two players in once hand to catapult him back to around 40,000 chips.

From under the gun a short stacked Gavin Cochrane moved all in and next to act was Audrey Villano who also moved all in for what turned out to be 10,825. One player folded and Failla re-shoved over the top of them both and when the rest of the table folded it was time for a showdown.

The final board ran out       and Failla helped himself to a substantial pot.

After Carlo Savinelli checked the     flop, Jason Mercier bet 1,325. David Kahan put in a raise to 3,200 and then Savinelli mucked. Mercier made the call.

The turn was the   and Mercier checked to Kahan. He bet 10,000 flat and Mercier tank-called.

The   paired the board on the river and Mercier checked again. Kahan decided on a bet of 20,000 and Mercier went into the tank. He would eventually make the call and when he did, Kahan tapped the table to signify to Mercier that he made a good call before turning up the    for a bluff. Mercier showed the    and raked in the pot.