The organisers plan for day two proper was to play down to a final table of eight but time constraints ultimately meant that goal was not quite reachable.

Players certainly knew they wanted to encroach on 500,000 chips by the end of it in order to make the final table with an average stack.  Therefore even those leading the way at the start of play were still a long way short of that goal.

Just 26 players had over 40,000 chips starting the day, some indication of the hard work before them, they were:  Bastian Landehagen 98,400, Erlend Melsom 80,000, Brent Wheeler 74,000, Marco Lucidi 69,700, Anton Smolyanskiy 68,500, Jan Olav Sjåvik 67,400, Kenneth Gregersen 59,800, Peter Fischer 59,400, Thomas Holm 53,800, Stefan Maglicic 53,200, Jonas Helness 53,100, Philip Hilm 51,600, Jeppe Mikkelsen 51,000, Ghassen Yafaoui  49,800, Anders Berg 48,600, Johnny Jensen 47,700, Iwan Jones 47,500, Martin Wendt 47,400, Jan Richard Johannessen 47,200, Erik Lindberg 46,400, Roy Brindley 45,900, Atle Walgren 44,100, Troels Berg 43,200, Guido Meacci  42,400, Patrick Kortsen 41,400 and Bernard Boutboul 40,100.

Michael Frandsen, John Perrson, David Berggren and Norseman, Torstein Iversen all bit the dust early doors; barely having time to sit down before they were getting up again.

Bigger names soon followed; Peter Eichhardt, Alexander Stevic, Tom McEvoy, Johnny Lodden and Dave Colclough.

Welshman Iwan Jones ran his Jacks into Queens and Kings. Fortunately, he made the first raise in the pot and was pondering his options when re-raised (by the Queens).  However, when a third raise came in (with the Aces held by WPT Grand finalist Claus Nielsen), Jones made an automatic pass.

American Brent Wheeler was the first to surpass 100,000 in chips.  Wearing Chicago Bulls basketball attire he clashed on many occasions with Englishman Nick Slade and my good self on a table which had an abundance of chips and lots of action.

However things can change quickly and Wheeler failed to make the prize-paying positions – 40th or better.

Norway’s Jan Sjavik, eye-catching throughout, was a notable mover and another surpassing 100,000 chips relatively early.  He had a mountain as I brushed passed on my way to the cash desk where friendly Casino Copenhagen staff repeatedly tell you “you MUST tip.”

Meanwhile players were dropping like flies, a consequence of the blinds and antes relentlessly rising while the differential between ‘average chips’ and the size of the forced bets came ever closer.

On the feature table Nick Slade chipped up US legend TJ Cloutier with his pocket Kings meeting THE American’s Aces.  Slade was crippled and left shortly afterwards while TJ was to make the transformation from chip leader to ‘just another eliminated player’ in the space of 45 minutes.

Iwan Jones went out on the feature [televised] table as he classically raced his AK against pocket Jacks.  The home crowd cheered the Jack on the flop as the final two tables loomed.

John Shipley, who had managed a short stack incredibly well throughout the day was the last Brit to be eliminated, he succumbed to the blinds in 18th position.  Dane Johnny Ghassen followed in 17th and the unfortunately named Simon Mycock limped home in 16th.

The remainder of the field was made up as follows: Mark Scher Petersen (approximately 230,000 chips), Thomas Holm (320,000), Richard Toth (500,000), Anton Smolyanskiy (190,000), Ingemar Jönsson (230,000), Theo Jorgenssen (155,000), Bertrand Grospellier (180,000), Samir Shakhtoor (225, 000), Erik Lindberg (265,000), Alexandre Poulain (120,000), Cole Morrow (155,000), Tobias Persson (80,000), Anders Wijk (420,000), Magnus Peterssen (580,000) and Jan Sjavik (160,000).

It was desperate stuff with short stacks forced to play all-in poker as they could barely survive a few rounds of the table without committing all their chips.  

There were few miracles and four more players were eliminated before this long day was called to a close.