Day 2 of the London WPT saw the survivors of Day 1a and 1b merge to do battle through what proved an electric five levels of play. The Palm Beach Casino saw the 90 players remaining joined by five new arrivals, including notable players such as Jeffrey Lisandro, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Jake Cody – though come the end of play, the 2010 EPT Deauville champ Cody was the only one of the three left standing.
In total 171 players took part in proceedings, creating a sizeable prizepool of £820,800 with £273,783 the reward for the player who takes down the title.
Earlier on Day 1a, Phil Ivey and Luke Schwartz had crossed swords and they were reunited on Day 2 – with big stack Erik Seidel joining their table to create an intriguing blend of talent, though Seidel and Ivey were unable to negotiate their way past day 2, both succumbing before the close of play.
The lesser-known Italian PartyPoker Qualifier Giovanni Safina must have been cursing his luck at having also landed on this table of death, but he dealt with the challenge of such illustrious opposition with aplomb.
Safina spent the day climbing steadily through the rankings before a purple patch of play saw him ascend to the chip lead where he remained come the close of play.
Luke Schwartz had also looked to be garnering a title-challenging stack, taking time out to feud briefly with Phil Ivey, before a final hand collapse saw him hand over most of his chips over to William Martin.
He remains in contention although it is the trio of Partypoker qualifiers, Giovanni Safina, Tonio Roeder and Talal Shakerchi who will head the counts when they resume tomorrow.
WPT London live updates continue on the PartyPoker blog throughout the day.
