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The first two starting days of the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event are now over, and record attendance numbers proved that Cannes, not London, is indeed the proper home of the WSOPE. A total of 593 runners paid their buy-ins on either Day 1a or Day 1b, crushing the previous attendance record of 362 set in 2008.

Lari Sihvo of Finland capped out Day 1b as the chip leader with nearly 145,000. Hot on his trail are Tommy Vedes, Constant Rijkenberg, Antonio Palma and Alex Kostritsyn, all of whom have at least 121k chips.

Day 1b attracted some of the most talented players in professional poker, with names such as Filippo Candio, Erik Cajelais, James Akenhead, Jonathan Duhamel, Graeme Putt, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Benny Spindler all competing, sometimes even from the same table.

Unfortunately for Michael Mizrachi, the momentum from his win in WSOPE Event 5 did not carry over to the Main Event. Mizrachi hit the rail in the early stages of Day 1b, although his brother Robert remains in the runnings. Despite being seated at a table with poker experts including Sandra Najouks, Bryan Devonshire, Sorel Mizzi and Dominik Nitsche, Robert Mizrachi was able to briefly take the overall chip lead.

A number of talented pros were eliminated on Day 1b, including online poker phenom Viktor Blom. Other players destined for the rail were Sam Trickett, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Dan Kelly, Steve Billirakis and Marvin Rettenmaier. A list of some even bigger names fell late in the day: Daniel Negreanu, Jonathan Duhamel, Sorel Mizzi, Andrew Feldman and WSOP Main Event final table competitor Matt Giannetti. John Tabatabai, who previously finished runner-up in the WSOPE Main Event, hit the rail as well.

Bruno Benveniste held the lead around the dinner break, booting James Mitchell shortly before, but Sihvo ultimately hold the most chips after the last level of play. A total of 328 players will reconvene for Day 2 on Monday.