There is a lot of action left to be continued tomorrow as day 31 of the World Series draws to a close. Two events began today, the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E and the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha. One is currently finding its final table, the $1,500 no limit hold’em, while another has just come to an end, the $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E tournament. An event which saw Europeans fall by the way-side throughout the day was the $2,000 no-limit hold’em. It eventually found its winner, after a rollercoaster of a heads up match.

Norwegian Sverre Sundbo was thrown straight into the action early on the final table of the $2,000 no-limit hold’em event, when he was dealt pocket sixes. Check-raising Gabe Costner on the turn, he put all his chips in the middle, and Costner insta-called. With two overcards, K8, Costner needed to see one hit the river, but Sundbo’s pockets held and Costner fell from chip lead. Sundbo saw no rest, as his freshly-won chips found their way back in the middle again. This time he was up against Alan Cutler. He had hardly warmed-up the chip leader seat when he had to hand it over to Cutler.

With seven players left, Sundbo had around half the chip lead’s stack, so when he saw his Q6 he took a shot. Little did he know, he was up against a monster. Ryan D’Angelo had raised to 125,000 preflop and Sundbo moved all in. It was an easy decision for D’Angelo with AQ, and he insta-called the Norwegian. The board fell A54105. D’Angelo had Sundbo dominated, and with an ace on the flop, Sundbo was drawing dead on the turn. Sverre Sundbo said goodbye to what might have been, and consoled himself with $134,942 for seventh place.

Russian Kirill Gerasimov was next on D’Angelo’s hit list. After raising to 150,000, Gerasimov then pushed all in. Much like his last decision, this was an easy call for D’Angelo, as he was again sitting on AQ. This time however, the race was a little harder, as Gerasimov turned over pocket jacks. The board was in D’Angelo’s favour once more and came down 6557A. The Russian had committed all his chips with the best hand, and was doing well, until D’Angelo rivered an ace and sent him packing in 6th place ($177,111).

Despite his best efforts, European slayer D’Angelo did not quite make it to the final two. He was eliminated in third place, and left Alexandre Gomes and Marco Johnson behind to fight it out. And what a fight it was. Heads up play started with a 2.5:1 chip lead to Gomez, but it wasn’t long before Johnson was back in the game, when his all-in with pocket jacks found their set on the turn.

Soon enough the two were all-in once more. Gomez’ timing appeared to be terrible at first when he moved all-in with A10, prompting a quick and confident call from Johnson, who had AA. His fellow Brazilian supporters willed the ten onto the board cheering, “Diez! Diez! Diez!” and Gomez proved that aces do not necessarily mean game over when he paired his ten on the flop, and hit a set on the turn. Gomez was not home and dry just yet though, as Johnson was right behind him in chips. However, in the end it was Gomez’ turn to take home the gold and $770,540, after his AK beat Johnson’s QJ.

Europeans who did well in the event were Russian Sergey Rybachenko in 10th place ($46,386), German Arne Mews in 12th ($46,386), Denys Drobyna in 15th ($35,843), Englishman Sunny Chatha in 19th ($25,301), and Adam Markovits from Hungary in 22nd ($20,241).

A mass of earlier Euro cashes included Denis Limon ($16,024) France, Jeppe Mikkelsen ($16,024) Denmark, Michel Leibgorin ($16,024) France, Vandung Nguyen ($16,024) Netherlands, Mathias Olsson ($12,650) Sweden, Paul Testud (France), David Callaghan ($10,120) Ireland, Jens Grieme ($8,855) Germany, Joseph Lovelady ($6,747) England, Javier Martinez ($6,747) Spain, Alfredo Delgado ($6,747) Spain, Frederic Rusconi ($5,903) Switzerland, Thomas Quaade ($5,903) Denmark, and Karim Jomeen ($5,903) England.

Those who cashed for $5,060 were David Wortham (Germany), Florian Langmann (Germany), Ian McDonald (England), Trond Eidsvig (Norway), Paulus Valkenburg (Netherlands), Dunder Johan (Sweden), and Jan Oyen (Norway).

Geir Torsvik (Norway), Matrin Hruby (Czech Republic), Bryan O’Connell (Ireland), Nikolay Evdakov (Russia), and Tarik Bouregba (France) cashed for $4,216, and Hanno Offen from Germany, and Englishmen Neil Channing, and John Fletcher took home $3,795 for their efforts.

European hopes lay in France’s Patrick Bueno as the $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E tournament found its final warriors. The Frenchman’s dreams of gold were short-lived however when he was eliminated in eighth place earning $230,880 for his five-day effort. After a grueling final table that lasted over 300 hands, 1999 World Series main event champion Scotty Nguyen came out on top over high-stakes online player Michael DeMichele. Nguyen earned his fifth bracelet and $1,989,120, taking his lifetime winnings to nearly $9.4 million. He also becomes the first player in history to win both this event and the WSOP main event.

The second day of the $1,500 no limit hold’em saw the field thin down to the final table. During the first 30 minutes of play, more than 60 players made their exit, and att time of writing, there are 12 players left. These include a hefty Euro contingent: Rasmus Nielsen from Denmark, John Conroy from Ireland, Jesper Hoog from Sweden, and German Robert Kalb.

Irishman Andrew Black looked as if he was making good headway earlier in the day when he moved to Kristy Gazes' table. He then got involved with the player in seat 8. Black moved all in preflop from the cutoff after his opponent raised, and his opponent made the call, tabling K10. Black showed AJ, and the board ran out 5338A. "Welcome to the table, Andrew," was Black’s response as he happily pulled in his new chips. But Black could not withstand the wrath of Nielsen in a later hand when his AQ was beaten by Nielsen’s KK.

Nielsen took the lead at level 15 and hasn’t let go of it since.

Another H.O.R.S.E event kicked off today, the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E, with an astounding 803 entries. First place will receive $256,412 — that is nearly $100,000 more than what last year’s champion took home. This is largely due to the fact that the buy-in has been increased by 50 percent. Eliminations were hard to find in the first two or three levels, but the pace picked up in the second half of the day, and by the conclusion, only 184 players were left.

Europeans were out in force on day 1 of the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha event. Among those scattered throughout the room were Russian Alexander Kostritsyn, Brit Barny Boatman, Italy’s Dario Alioto, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott of the UK, Norwegian Thor Hansen, Dario Minieri from Italy, Finn Thomas Wahlroos, and Dutchman Rob Hollink.

Irishman Andy Black joined the event after his elimination from day 2 of the $1,500 no limit hold’em event, but he didn’t even make it through the first few levels of this one, as he was eliminated at level 2, alongside Frenchman Bruno Fitoussi.

At Dario Minieri’s table, Mike Matusow and Gavin Smith were having a good chat. Matusow learned that Minieri still didn't have a driver's license and generously offered to teach him how to drive (in Minieri's Porsche of course). The players also discussed their love for Minieri's homeland of Rome, Italy. Smith said he loved how passionate the Italians are for their sports, and Matusow said he spent two weeks in Italy and it was the best time he has had in his life. Minieri just smiled and nodded as Matusow went on to tell him how unbelievably good the food is in Italy. The table grew significantly quieter however when Matusow and Smith were eliminated. Frenchman David Benyamine hit the rail not long after, and joining him at level 6 was Italian Max Pescatori.

Russian Nikolay Evdakov was doing well as the event approached the end of its first day.

There will be another champion to look forward to tomorrow in the $1,500 no limit hold’em event. The $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. and the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha tournaments will continue whittling their fields down, while a new event starting is the $1,500 no-limit hold’em.

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