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The second event of the World Series of Poker Europe, a No-Limit Hold’em event with a 1,090 Euro buy-in, is currently into its second day of action, and no player is more dangerous at the moment than Roberto Romanello.

The day started with 104 surviving runners, and players started hitting the rail quickly, often in the day’s early levels of play. Peter Jetten was knocked out on the first hand, and he was soon followed by Richard Toth, Matt Waxman, Farzad Bonyadi and Dan Shak. Several of those players went on to join Event 3, a PLO tournament with a much higher buy-in of 5,300 Euro.

Several notables were eliminated towards the middle of the day, including Kevin MacPhee and Vanessa Selbst. After the money bubble broke, even more big names hit the rail, including WSOP final table contender Eoghan O’Dea, Dan Kelly, Toby Lewis, Nicolas Choulty, Tyler Kenney and McLean Karr.

Nine players remained at the day’s closing, with Gianluca Speranza of Italy leading the way with 757k chips. Andrew Hinrichsen is in second with 434k, and Roberto Romanello is just behind in third. Romanello is arguably the strongest contender remaining given his resume: he’s won both a WPT and EPT title in 2011, meaning that a bracelet in WSOPE Event 2 would give him a Triple Crown. Only four players in poker history have accomplished the same. Romanello would be even stronger if not for a late-day battle with Speranza, in which nearly half of his stack disappeared in a single pot.

Other final table contenders include Eric Baudry, Bernard Guigon, Tarcisio Bruno, John Eames and Nabil Nedjai. Only time will tell whether Romanello can come back from a 2:1 chip deficit and make poker history.