Casino at the Empire

The Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square was jumping for Day 1a of Event #1 of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe.

Day 1a of Event #1 (£1,000 No Limit Hold’em) is in the books at the Casino at the Empire in London as the 2009 WSOP Europe kicked off with 295 players showing up. By the end of the day however that field was reduced significantly and one name stood atop the leaderboard far from any of his competitors.

An astonishing 254 players hit the rail before the day was out including 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth along with Barry Greenstein, Jeff Madsen, Andy Bloch and Erik Seidel. While there was some big names being bounced the story of the day is the name at the top of the leaderboard and his commanding chip lead.

JP Kelly sits atop the leaderboard with 98,825 chips, over 31,000 more than his closest competitor. Richard Kellett, a fellow Brit, sits in second with 67,225. Kelly’s lead is so impressive that if David Stucke, who sits in third, and Ian Frazer, fourth place, added their chips together they’d still trail Kelly. Stucke has 45,875 while Frazer has 43,625.

The most well known name near the top might be South Africa’s Raymond Rahme. The 2007 WSOP Main Event 3rd place finisher sits in 14th with 24,000. Another top pro who survived the day was Roland De Wolfe (10,000).

The second starting day kicks off Saturday at Noon BST (4 am PT) and the 41 players from Day 1a will join the Day 1b survivors on Sunday. Follow all the action live on WorldSeriesofPoker.com.

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