The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe continued on Monday with Day 2 of Event #2: €1,100 No-Limit Hold'em as the remaining 98 players of a 626-player field returned to battle down to the final 15. Leading the way is Antonin Teisseire, who bagged up 269,500, but the winner of the biggest buy-in poker tournament in history, Antonio Esfandiari, is just 5,500 behind.

The big story at the start of the day was who would make the top 63 and earn a piece of the €600,960 prize pool. Among the 35 players who came up short were Greg Merson, Ozzy Sheikh, Konstantin Puchkov, David Benyamine and John Tabatabai; however, the man who went the furthest with nothing to show was Jean Marie Morvan.

On the money bubble, action folded around to Dominik Nitsche in the small blind and he put in a raise. Morvan had 800 of his 1,300 stack in the big blind, and opted to call off the remaining 500.

Showdown
Nitsche:
Morvan:

The Frenchman was dominated and seemed a bit dejected as the board ran out . Morvan finished as the bubble boy why those players still in the room applauded to celebrate making the money.

A little while later, a big hand developed when Tristan Wade moved all in from early position for 11,300 with and received a call from start-of-the-day chip leader Marvin Rettenmaier, who held offsuit in the cutoff. French pro Teisseire then moved all in over the top from the big blind with what turned out to be , and Rettenmaier opted to call off for over 30,000. Both Wade and Rettenmaier were at risk, but the former would be spared as the board ran out and he tripled with a full house; meanwhile, Teisseire took down a sizeable side pot and Rettenmaier was eliminated from the tournament in 47th place for €2,133. Wade would join Rettenmaier a short time later in 43rd place while Teisseire went on to capture the chip lead.

Other in-the-money finishers included Renaud Blangiardi (56th-€1,965), Roger Hairabedian (39th-€2,344), Daniel Weinman (35th-€2,608), Dominik Nitsche (34th-€2,608), Erik Cajelais (27th-€3,846), Gil George (25th-€3,846) and John Monnette (23rd-€4,489) and Andrey Gulyy (16th-€6,340).

While many fell, some survived and others even thrived. Among those returning for Day 3 are Day 1a chip leader Ashly Butler, Joe Kuether, Salvatore Bonavena, W.J. Vincent, McLean Karr and Casey Kastle.

Here's a look at tomorrow's lineup with chip counts:

Table 1

Table 2

The clock has expired on Level 17, which means play has come to a stop. The players are now bagging and tagging, and we'll bring you a full round of counts plus a full recap of today's action in just a bit. Stay tuned.

Action folded around to Andrey Gulyy in the small blind and he moved all in for around 35,000, which Valentin Detoc called from the big blind.

Showdown

Gulyy:

Detoc:

Gulyy was in need of some help with his best chance being a queen, but it wasn't in the cards as the board ran out . Gulyy took his leave in 16th place, good for €6,340.

Valentin Detoc	180,000	135,000
Andrey Gulyy	0	-35,000

After Ashly Butler had opened with a raise, Henri Chapuis moved all in for 35,500. The Day 1a chip leader made the call and it was off to the races.

Showdown

Butler:

Chapuis:

The flop was kind to Chapius, as was the turn, but then Butler did what he's done on more than one occasion today... spiked an on the river. With that, Chapuis dreams of a WSOP Europe bracelet came to an end in 17th place.

Ashly Butler	170,000	35,000
Henri Chapuis	0	-35,000

Antonio Esfandiari opened for 8,000 from early position only to have W.J. Vincent move all in for 25,500 more. Esfandiari asked for an exact count and then slid in a call.

Showdown

Vincent:

Esfandiari:

Vincent was way out in front, especially after the flop came down . "Spade," Esfandiari yelled in hopes of a runner-runner flush, but he was silenced when the left him drawing dead. The was run out on the river for good measure and all Esfandiari could say was, "That's sick."

Meanwhile, Serge Ekert was eliminated in 18th place.

Antonio Esfandiari	250,000	-34,000
W.J. Vincent	72,000	38,500
Serge Ekert	0	-79,000

After the eliminations of Sylvain Gibert (21st), Marc Bariller (20th) and Guy Pariente (19th), just 18 players remain. Here's a look at the seat draw:

Table 86

Table 88

Guy Pariente	0	-26,500
Sylvain Gibert	0	-46,000
Marc Bariller	0	-85,000

We just had three rapid eliminations which has brought about the two-table redraw. Details to come.

We saw Emil Eriksson making his way to the payout desk, which meant he had been eliminated. W.J. Vincent was kind enough to inform us that Eriksson had shipped with and was called by the of Joe Kuether.

A on the flop paired Eriksson on the flop and gave him the lead, but Kuether would hit his two outer when a spiked on the river to win the pot and send Eriksson home in 22nd place.

Joe Kuether	111,000	94,000
Emil Eriksson	0	-87,000

A controversial hand just developed over at Table 86. It happened when Amaury Detoc limped from middle position and Ashly Butler announced that he was all in while subsequently tossing in about 10,000 worth of chips, though he had 65,000 more stacked up behind. The action folded back around to Detoc, who only spoked French, who asked the dealer how much it was.

"Seventy five," the dealer responded. It appeared Detoc attempted to clarify how many zeros that entailed, but the English-speaking dealer and Detoc weren't having the easiest time communicating.

"Call," Detoc said, prompting Butler to turn over . Detoc seemed confused as to why Butler would expose his cards and then it became apparent he thought the raise was to 7,500 given the chips in the pot, not an all-in raise to 75,000. Detoc began to argue his case while other players at the table chimed in with their opinions in a mixture of English and French.

The floor made his way over and assessed the situation, ruling that since Detoc said, "Call," and Butler revealed his hand, he would be forced to call the raise. Detoc was clearly not happy, nor were some other French players and media in the room. A French-speaking floor was called over to explain the situation, and ultimately Detoc was forced to call and turned over .

It was a race for a monster 150,000-chip pot, and neither player seemed excited to be in it. Butler was behind, and Detoc was obviously not confident. The flop saw Detoc put his hands on his head and it appeared the pressure was taking its toll. The turn brought Detoc one step closer to benefiting greatly off his mistake, but fate can be a cruel thing as he found when the spiked on the river to give Butler the win.

Detoc reacted sharply and walked away from the table, while Butler gave a rather subdued celebratory fist pump.

Ashly Butler	155,000	80,000
Amaury Detoc	58,000	-77,000

We didn't catch all the details as we were busy catching a controversial hand, which we'll be writing about next, but we do know that John Monnette was just eliminated after getting all in preflop with only to run into the of Igor Kalinicenko. Monnette would not improve as the board ran out and his day came to an end in 24th place.

John Monnette

0

-36,000

Players are now on a 20-minute break. During this time the tournament staff will be racing off the black T100 chips. The remaining players will then play two more levels before calling it a night.

While we were scoping out Antonin Teisseire's newly acquired stack of 190,000 (we're not quite sure what hand he won to get it), we heard someone say, "Nice call," and saw Marc Bariller call the all-in shove of Florian Ciuro, who had around 70,000. The former held and was well out in front of Ciuro's , but the board ran out and Ciuro spiked his out on the river. Bariller was clearly dejected, as were many of his French supporters.

Meanwhile, Antonio Esfandiari eliminated Ugo Jaskula over at Table 88 and chipped up to 210,000 in the process.

Antonio Esfandiari	210,000	55,000
Antonin Teisseire	191,000	135,000
Ugo Jaskula	0	-93,000

Remi Bollengier put in a raise from the cutoff only to have Gil George moved all in for approximately 33,000 from the big blind. Bollengier gave it some thought and decided to call with , which was ahead of George's . The board would run out and the gracious George made his way to the payout desk in 25th place while his wife looked on from the rail.

Remi Bollengier	85,000	47,000
Gil George	0	-60,500

"You don't have to write about that one if you don't want," Antonio Esfandiari told us as we approached his table. We arrived too late to know exactly what happened, but what we can tell you is that "The Magician" had in front of him on a board reading and the dealer was counting down his stack to be paid by Andrey Gulyy. When all was said and done, Esfandiari doubled to 155,000 and is our new chip leader.

Antonio Esfandiari	155,000	85,000
Andrey Gulyy	24,000	-76,000

After Serge Ekert had opened with a raise, Erik Cajelais moved all in holding for around 15,000. Unfortunately for him, Ekert held , made the call, and the board ran out dry. With that, Cajelais was sent packing in 27th place.

Meanwhile, Vic Gupta followed him out the door in 26th place.

Serge Ekert	79,000	37,000
Vic Gupta	0	-60,500
Erik Cajelais	0	-30,000

With around 20,000 in the pot and a flop of , Anthony Pons checked and opened the door for McLean Karr to bet 7,800. Pons responded with a check-raise to 7,800, and after asking for a count, Karr moved all in. Pons snap-called off for 54,700 and Karr knew he was in trouble.

Showdown

Karr:

Pons:

"I should have just raised and then I could have gotten away from it," Karr said aloud. "I didn't think he'd raise a set so big." Karr was in bad shape, but the turn did give him a flush draw. Unfortunately for him, the river was no help.

Anthony Pons	130,000	100,000
McLean Karr	40,000	-20,000