WSOP Europe: Ian Munns Leads After Day 2, Doyle Brunson in Pursuit

Lance Bradley | September 28, 2009

Ian Munns finished Day 2 of the WSOP Europe Main Event with the biggest stack but there's a bigger name lurking for a shot at a record-tying bracelet.

A Day 2 shortened to allow players and fans alike to observe Yom Kippur turned out to be a real blessing for Ian Munns at the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event.

Munns finished the day with an astonishing 528,300 and he’s 229,300 ahead of his nearest competitor, Praz Bansi who bagged up 299,000. That’s right, no other player finished with a stack larger than 300,000 but Munns managed to crest the 500,000 chip mark on Day 2.

Munns’ lead is quite impressive but there is one name in the top ten that will have poker fans and historians excited. Doyle Brunson finished with 210,900. The day started with 178 players and ended with only 92 survivors including the 76-year-old Godfather of Poker.

Also in the top ten are Amnon Filippi (4th - 216,500), Ram Vaswani (9th - 202,500) and Jason Mercier (10th - 202,300). Mercier would be the fifth player to win two bracelets this year should he manage to navigate the remaining 78 players and go on to win.

Two members of the November Nine still have a shot at the Ivan Demidov-like double. James Akenhead finished with the 17th largest stack (178,000) while Antoine Saout has some work to do from the 50th spot (90,100). The average chip stack at the start of Day 3 will be 109,000. With half the field being sent home on Monday there had to be some casualties.

Despite a grand entrance and a seat at the ESPN feature table on Day 1b Phil Hellmuth will have to wait to conquer London. The 11-time bracelet winner was sent to the rail on Day 2 along with Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel and Mike Matusow.

The players will return for a full six levels of play on Tuesday at Noon BST.

2009 WSOP Europe Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts