PokerListings, GNUF player joins pros in London

Justin Bonomo is sitting pretty so far during the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Day 1b.

Nothing is ever good enough for GNUF players, but a seat in the World Series of Poker Europe comes pretty close. The poker site teamed up with PokerListings.com to provide a seat for one lucky player.

So who was the player who took a seat at the table with the pros as the Main Event got underway this week? Lothar from Germany took the honor.

Lothar qualified to play for the WSOPE Main Event prize package, worth $25,000, by signing up at GNUF through PokerListings.com.

All he had to do after that was accumulate 25 player points during the week, which qualified him for a $1,000 freeroll for that week. The top 10 players in each freeroll running once a week from July 8 to Aug. 26 not only got their cash prize but were qualified to play in the WSOPE freeroll Aug. 31.

The final freeroll was limited to 80 players, all of which Lothar bested to claim his seat in London.

The tournament kicked off Monday with the playing field split between three casinos in London - the Casino at the Empire, the Sportsman and Fifty - and continues today as well with Day 1b split between the casinos.

Day 1a already saw a star-studded field take to the felt. The most spectacular entrance award goes to Phil Hellmuth.

Surpassing the spectacle he engineered for the Main Event in Las Vegas, Hellmuth arrived at the Casino at the Empire with 12 beauties dressed as cops escorting him. In Las Vegas, he had had 11 girls, one for every bracelet he'd won so far, as escorts. This time he added an extra as a "sign of things to come."

Just as big in the poker world but keeping a much lower profile upon entering Day 1a of the tournament were Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, William Thorsson, Erick Lindgren, Thor Hansen, Marco Traniello, Andy Bloch, Barry Greenstein, Ted Forrest, David Colclough, Humberto Brenes, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Liz Lieu, Paul Wasicka, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Freddy Deeb, Annie Duke and David Williams.

Jennifer Harman also made her appearance in the Main Event on the first Day 1. She nearly became the first World Series Europe bracelet winner last week when she made the final table of the H.O.R.S.E. event but was defeated heads-up by Thomas Bihl, a Betfair-sponsored pro player.

Bihl was also present on Day 1a, but was eliminated early on. At the end of the day Phil Hellmuth, Ram Vaswani and Brian Townsend were lurking near the top of the chip count, but it was Janne Lamsa who topped them all at the end of the day.

Day 1b brought a field of fresh players and more than a few more recognizable pros to the tables. Brief appearances were made by Alan Smurfit, David Levi, Doyle Brunson and EPT founder John Duthie before they were eliminated.

Also spotted today were Joe Sebok, Mark Vos, Alex Kravchenko, Phil Gordon, Daniel Negreanu, Alan Goehring, Jamie Gold, Andy Black, Steve Billirakis, Howard Lederer, Roland De Wolfe, Jeff Madsen, Erik Friberg, Max Pescatori, Patrik Antonius, Johnny Chan and more.

To see who's still in it and who's out, check out the PokerListings.com Live Tournaments Section where Owen and Art will be bringing you the best live updates, reports, interviews and photos available from the London series.

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