The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe Event #7 €10,450 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event kicked off on Saturday as 215 players took to the felt in the first of two starting flights. After six 90-minute levels of play, the field had been reduced to 115 with Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and his stack of 234,850 leading the way.

It didn't take long for things to heat up at the Majestic Barrière in Cannes, France; in fact, in Level 1 there was a hand that had the whole tournament floor talking. "It's nuts, nuts and a flush draw," Jean-Robert Bellande said from a nearby table. "Two guys have the nuts and one has top pair and a flush draw... with one to come."

The board read and three hands were face up on the felt. Henry Tran held the for top pair with a flush draw; Erik Cajelais held the for a turned nut straight; and Brandon Barnes held the for the same turned straight. "Club!" yelled Tran before the put out the. Cajelais was not happy at all, and he got up from his chair and quickly stormed out of the room while Barnes left more quietly. Tran had them both covered and has catapulted to over 90,000, which carried him to the end of the night where he bagged up 118,750.

Another big hand happened early on and set the stage for Mizrachi. Shortly after taking his seat, we came upon a Mizrachi hand with 23,000 already pulled into the middle with a board reading . The Grinder had his remaining chips in front of him, and Konstantinos Mamaliadis made the call.

Mamaliadis:
Mizrachi:

Mizrachi was in the lead with a turned two pair, which held when the blanked on the river. With that, Mizrachi doubled to 56,000 and never looked back.

Not everyone was as fortunate as Mizrachi. Among those to hit the rail on Day 1a were Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Nam Le, Tobias Reinkemeier, Fabrice Soulier, Victor Ramdin, Jennifer Tilly, Will Failla, Chris Moorman, Jeff Lisandro, Frank Kassela and Vanessa Selbst.

With that said, quite a few notables managed to punch their ticket to Day 2 including JC Alvarado (180,675), Sergil Baranov (152,000), Martial Blangenwitsch (129,800), Dan Shak (100,875), Philipp Gruissem (90,500), Steve O'Dwyer (89,000), Prosper Masquelier (70,450), Matt Stout (61,650) and Phil Ivey (55,000), just to name a few.

Day 1b action is set to kick off at 12:00 CET on Saturday, so be sure to join us then as we bring you all the action and eliminations from the second starting flight of the 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event.

All tables have finished up with their final six hands of play and the players are bagging up their chips for the night. A recap of the day will be posted shortly.

Tom Bedell fired 3,100 on the flop, and Phil Ivey folded. Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi made the call, then the dealer dealt the on the turn. Bedell bet 4,500, and Mizrachi snap-called.

The river was the , and Bedell checked. Mizrachi fired 25,000, and Bedell made the call. Mizrachi showed the , but Bedell's for the flush proved to be the winning hand.

Michael Mizrachi	242,000	-53,000
Tom Bedell	106,000

The tournament officials have just announced to the field that each table will play out six more hands before the players bag and tag their chips for the night.

No, that's not a typo, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi has nearly 300,000 in chips. He just busted Vanessa Selbst in unknown action and seems to be having quite a party at his table. We would be, too, if we had nearly ten times the amount of chips we started with.

Michael Mizrachi	295,000	105,000
Vanessa Selbst	0	-57,000

Aleander Kravchenko checked the flop from the big blind and watched Frank Kassela bet 1,900 from middle position. Kravchenko then woke up with a check-raise to 15,000, and Kassela reluctantly called off for about 8,500 total.

Showdown
Kravchenko:
Kassela:

"Deuce," Kassela said with a chuckle when he saw Kravchenko's hand. While the Russian was ahead, Kassela was drawing live; that is until the spiked on the turn. "Good game guys," the 2010 World Series of Poker Player of the Year said. The was put out on the river and Kassela took his leave late on Day 1a.

Alex Kravchenko	65,000
Frank Kassela	0	-10,000

We're not sure of the preflop action, but we do know that both Jean-Noel Thorel and Henry Tran put in 7,000 and saw a flop of , which they both checked. When the hit the turn, Tran checked, Thorel bet 8,000, and Tran check-raised to 28,000. Thorel moved all in for around 40,000 total and Tran made the call.

Showdown

Thorel:

Tran:

Thorel got it in good with a set, but Tran did hold a flush draw. Fortunately for Thorel, the was harmless and he doubled big in the last half hour of the night.

Henry Tran	95,000	-40,000
Jean-Noel Thorel	90,000	54,000

After a player raised to 1,150 from under the gun, action folded to Dan O'Brien in the big blind. He three-bet to 3,000, but the original raiser upped it even more with a four-bet to 7,000. O'Brien moved all in for 23,000, and his opponent called.

O'Brien showed and was flipping with the pocket jacks for his opponent. The board ran out , and O'Brien was eliminated.

Dan O'Brien

0

-8,000

We caught the action with 25,000 in the middle and a board reading . John Monnette had checked and Martial Blangenwitsch moved all in for just shy of 38,000.

Monnette, who has cashed in three events so far in Cannes (there are only seven), thought for about 40 seconds before making the call for about 2/3 of his stack. Blangenwitsch then turned over and a dejected Monnette revealed . The failed to help Monnette and he slipped to 20,300 while Blangenwitsch doubled to 100,000.

Martial Blangenwitsch	100,000
John Monnette	20,300	-44,700

With about 3,500 in the pot, Arnaud Anatole, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and Phil Ivey each checked the flop in that order. The landed on the turn, and Anatole moved all in for 11,350 — a big overbet. Mizrachi made the call before Ivey folded.

Anatole:
Mizrachi:

"Can't fold the royal draw," said Mizrachi when he turned over his hand.

The dealer dealt the on the river that gave Mizrachi the winning flush. He busted Anatole en route to getting back to 130,000 in chips.

"That's why you're the best," said Vanessa Selbst to Mizrachi from the other side of the table.

Michael Mizrachi	130,000	-40,000
Arnaud Anatole	0

From early position, Matan Krakow raised to 1,100. Matt Salsberg reraised to 3,200 from middle position, and then action folded to Yannick Bonnet in the small blind. He moved all in for 12,725. Krakow folded, but Salsberg called.

Salsberg:
Bonnet:

The flop, turn and river ran out to give Bonnet a straight and double him up.

Yannick Bonnet	27,000
Matt Salsberg	2,000	-24,000

Three players each put in 3,600 preflop and took a flop of . Both John Monnette and Frank Kassela checked from middle position, and that opened the door for Martial Blangenwitsch to bet 8,600 from the hijack. Both Monnette and Kassela folded and that was the end of that.

It was a very boring hand, but it gave us an excuse to update you on the stacks of the 2010 Player of the Year (Kassela) and the current Player of the Year contender (Monnette).

John Monnette	65,000	-5,000
Frank Kassela	10,000	-36,000

There was already 17,000 in the pot and a board reading when we reach Table 17. Sebastian Guinand had checked from the big blind and Justin Bonomo followed suit from the hijack. Guinand then tabled for kings and jacks, which was good as Bonomo folded his hand.

Justin Bonomo

8,675

-23,325

Players are now on their last break of the night. They'll play one more 90-minute level upon there return before calling it a night.

Phil Ivey's table recently broke and he's been moved to the direct right of Vanessa Selbst over on Table 18. Also at that table is Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi.

Just from those three players combined, there's $37,155,136 in live tournament earnings represented. On top of that, 13 World Series of Poker gold bracelets have been earned. Ivey leads the group of them with eight, Mizrachi has three, and Selbst has two.