September 30 2012, Donnie Peters, Remko Rinkema

It was a rare day of the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe on Sunday as only one feature event was running. The Main Event held its Day 1b, and 205 players joined the field to bring the total number of entrants up to 420. Just 115 players survived the day with none other than Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier finishing on top. These players will meet with the 115 that survived Day 1a, and all 230 will see poker action on Day 2.

Like in every tournament here in Cannes during the WSOP Europe, the tables were filled with top poker professionals. Two of those from France had very short days as both Guillaume Darcourt and Roger Hairabedian were eliminated quickly. Hairabedian has no reason to complain, though, as he won Event #3: “5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha and finished third in Event #7: “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em earlier this week.

Marvin Rettenmaier, John Tabatabai and PokerNews family member Marc Convey also didn’t last through the day. The latter made his WSOP Europe debut, but could not get anything going. A turned set ran into Bruno Fitoussi’s turned flush, and then Kristijonas Andrulis hit a gutshot straight against Convey’s flopped set.

Jon Aguiar and Brandon Cantu played till late Saturday night in the finals of the Mixed Max, and both players entered the Main Event on Day 1b. It didn’t work out for either of them, however, and they will get back at it Monday in their heads-up match. You can follow all that action here, which kicks off at 1600 CET (1000 ET).

Arnaud Mattern is a feature at the WSOP Europe every year, and once again he was back showing off his skills. The former EPT Prague winner has cashed in the Main Event in the previous three years, but unfortunately he’s not going to add a fourth.

Timothy Adams won the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Four-Handed event during the 2012 WSOP, and he had a great starting day. He finished the day with 134,475, and that was a lot more than what his buddy and 2011 WSOP Europe bracelet winner Tristan Wade (33,075) finished with.

Daniel Negreanu was singing and winning on Day 1b as his stack kept rising. After getting Ilan Boujenah to fold a set, he seemed in full control. Later, he busted Brandon Adams with a flush versus a set of eights. Negreanu went on to end the day with 137,500. Negreanu is no stranger to success at the WSOP Europe Main Event. In 2009, he placed second to Barry Shulman for £495,589, and that was just one year after he took fifth for £217,200.

You can have a good day like Negreanu, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to top Grospellier on the leader board. The French superstar closed out the day with 190,400 and was the day’s chip leader. One of the big pots Grospellier won came against Qiang Wang after the two saw a flop of for 3,500 each. Wang, who was in the big blind, put out a bet of 4,500. Grospellier called, and the was put out on the turn. Wang kept the pressure on with a big bet of 14,000, but he couldn’t shake the Frenchman. Wang then slowed down on the river, and it was Grospellier’s turn to fire to the tune of 17,775. Wang gave it a little thought before making the call, but mucked when Grospellier rolled over the .

Other notable finishers included Daniel Weinman in second on the day with 169,000 and 12-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who also cracked the top 10 with 116,150.

Compared to last year’s 593 entrants, the field of 420 looks a lot smaller on paper. The fact of the matter is that, it is, but numbers are still up from the time of the WSOP Europe Main Event being held in London. With registration now closed for the Main Event, the numbers were tallied. The competitors will all be vying for their share of the “4.032 million prize pool, and the top 48 finishers will earn at least “20,150. Up top is a massive seven-figure payday worth over “1.022 million, and there’s quite the star-studded group chasing after the title.

Play will resume Monday at 1200 CET (0600 ET). Make sure to tune back into PokerNews as we bring you all the action from the Majestic Barrieré in Cannes, France.

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September 28 2012, Chad Holloway, Josh Cahlik

The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe continued on Friday with Day 3 of Event #5: “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em, and the second day of Event #6: “1,650 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha. Here are recaps from all of those events thanks to PokerNews’ coverage sponsored by PartyPoker.

The Final Four is Set; Cantu vs. Hairabedian and Jaka vs. Aguiar

The final 16 players in Event #5: “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em took their seats on Friday to engage in the final stage of the mixed max format – heads up. At the end of two rounds of play the final four emerged. Leading the way is Brandon Cantu who will be matched up with second largest stack Roger Hairabedian, the winner of Event #3: “5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha just a few days ago. In the second match, Jonathan Aguiar will face off against Faraz Jaka.

Each player moved into the heads-up portion of this tournament with the same chip stack that they earned throughout the rest of the levels. This led to many interesting draws that put small stacks up against large stacks with the hope of a major upset. Jason Mercier and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier were the two shortest stacks going into play and they were unable to run their stacks up to find a win in the round of 16.

Mercier came close to accomplishing this task with an early double up. Unfortunately for Mercier, he was forced to the rail when his pocket kings were cracked by Aguiar.

The other players who exited in the round of 16 include: Joe Keuther, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Watson, Jennifer Tilly, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, and Paul Tedeschi. Each of these players received “20,443 for their efforts.

The round of eight saw the following matches:

Martin Jacobson was able to give Brandon Cantu a run for his money and was actually able to overtake the chip lead. However, the two got all of the chips in the middle in a race situation where Cantu held against Jacobson’s . Jacobson failed to improve and the two were back to square one in chips. After roughly one more hour of play, Cantu finally sealed the deal and eliminated Jacobson.

Jonathan Aguiar was able to defeat PartyPoker Pro Marvin Rettenmaier in his second match of the day to secure the third spot among the final four. The match came to a head when Aguiar min-raised from the button and Rettenmaier three-bet all in. Aguiar snapped with and was out in front of Rettenmaier’s . The board fell , allowing Aguiar to scoop up the chips and take the third largest stack into the final four.

Jonathan Aguiar

Finally, rounding out the final four is Faraz Jaka, who was able to defeat Konstantin Puchkov. Jaka was able to double up three times against Puchkov before finally putting him to rest.

The bracket for the final four is as follows:

The final four will take their seats at 1300 CET (0700 EDT) on Saturday to play to a winner. Follow the live updates on the PokerNews Live Blog.

Lichtenberger and Marquez Headline Event #6: “1,650 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table

The 2012 WSOP Europe continued on Friday with Day-2 action from Event #6: “1,650 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha. After seven levels of play, the final table was set with five players including pros Ana Marquez and Andrew Lichtenberger.

The event began with 206 players, but was down to 26 at the start of the day, all but five of which would earn a payday. Narendra Banwari, Brandon Crawford and Dries Goyens were all among the early eliminations, as was October Niner and WSOP Player of the Year contender Greg Merson. However, no one went further and left empty handed than David Benyamine, who finished as the bubble boy.

It happened when Benyamine, who was the second-shortest stack behind Daniel Negreanu, raised under the gun to 3,500. Action folded all the way around to Antoine Pacaud, and he called from the the big blind. The flop saw Pacaud check, Benyamine move all in for 6,500 and Pacaud call immediately.

The turn and river completed the board, and Benyamine was eliminated after starting the day second in chips.

From there the eliminations came fast. Jamie Pickering was the first to go in 21st place, and both John Eames and Negreanu followed him out the door a short time later.

Over the next few hours, Dan Smith, John Monnette, Dan Shak, Raul Paez and Mike “Timex” McDonald all hit the rail.

Andy Frankenberger

Late in the evening, with a board reading , Aku Joentausta fired out 22,500 only to have Andy Frankenberger move all in for 33,500 more. Joentausta didn’t seem too excited, but he opted to make the call nonetheless.

The two-time bracelet winner held a wheel and had Joentausta in dire straits, but that all changed when the spiked on the river to give Joentausta a six-high straight and the improbable win, sending Frankenberger to the rail as the final-table bubble boy. Amazingly, the players played one final hand in order to get to the end of Level 15, and Nikolay Volper ended up busting to bring the field down to the final five players.

Players will return to the Majestic Barrière on Saturday at 1400 CET (0800 EDT) to play down to a winner, so join us then as we bring you all the action and eliminations from the last preliminary event of the 2012 WSOP Europe.

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