Day 1 Recap of EPO2012 – Haque holds Commanding Lead

As expected, the 2012 English Poker Open attracted a sizable field of runners with 138 players buying into this tournament. 63 of these players will still be hunting for a piece of the £276,000 prize pool when Day 2 of the EPO starts today.

Mohammed Haque is looking for a big share of this money since he currently holds the lead with 178,000 chips. Haque stormed to the top of the chip count after having an outstanding run on Day 1B. His closest competitor, Igor Kurganov, is quite a ways back with 117,450 chips. The Russian, who’s just a few months removed from his EPT Grand Final victory, topped the chip count in Day 1A.

Another EPT champion who’s close to the lead is Mickey Petersen. The 2012 EPT Copenhagen winner finished Day 1B with 102,600 chips, which currently puts him in sixth place. Just behind Petersen is Matthew Frankland with 99,175 chips. Frankland is no doubt hoping to emulate his third place performance in the 2010 EPO (£77,400).

Swedish poker legend Chris Bjorin had a solid showing on Day 1A where he collected 86,575 chips to position himself in 10th place. Defending EPO champ Fabian Quoss will open the day right behind Bjorin with a stack of 81,850.

Both Neil Channing (13th, 78,875) and Sam Trickett (14th, 77,900) are faring quite well too. These popular British poker pros spent a lot of time building their stacks at the Day 1A feature table. There are plenty of other excellent players left in the tournament, which should make for a very exciting second day.

Watch the English Poker Open 2012 webcast at 2.30pm daily (UK time) for all the live action.