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JP Kelly leads after Day 1a at WSOPE £1000 NLHE event

WSOP Europe RSS / Dave Allan / 19 September 2009 / Leave a comment

Day 1a ended in the £1000 No Limit Hold'em tournament at the WSOPE with a familiar name leading the chip counts. JP Kelly goes into Day 2 with an impressive 65,000 chips. Hot on the youngster's heels are Richard Kellet and Ian Frazer but it was a day of carnage for some of the other big names.

Tournament director Jack Effel got the 2009 WSOPE underway in earnest, following Thursday's Million Dollar Game, and a plethora of star names were seated for this one. Phil Hellmuth was quick to head for the exits. The 'Poker Brat' managed to get all of his chips into the middle with an open-ended straight draw versus his opponent's pocket kings. The straight didn't come and Hellmuth found himself on the rail after only one round of play.

London locals Neil Channing, Willie Tann and Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott were also eliminated early on. Channing fell victim to Richard Kellet. Kellet was one of the chip leaders throughout the day and looks in good shape for Day 2 but it was JP Kelly that ended the day as the leader of the pack. Kelly claimed WSOP glory earlier this year when he picked up a $1500 bracelet in Las Vegas and he must be one of the favourites to win European WSOP glory here in London.

Players continued to hit the exits at high speed throughout the day. The 3000 starting chips given to each player saw many all ins, early on, on various occasions. The 295 players that started the event were whittled down to just 40 before midnight where play was stopped for the day.

There are still many household names left in the mix, though. Roland de Wolfe, Joe Grech and Eddie Hearn are clinging on in there as we look towards Day 1b for more frantic action.

The current top ten players and their chip counts look like this:

JP Kelly - 65000
Richard Kellett - 65000
Ian Frazer - 60000
David Stucke - 40000
Swee Chai - 40000
Andy Kyprianou - 35500
Andrew Seden - 30000
Raymond Rahme - 24000
Adam Matusiak - 22000
Raul Paez - 20000

Day 1b starts at noon UK time today. We'll have all the important action and news here at Betfair Poker.

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