BY TOM SOMACH

Action continued Tuesday at the Main Event of the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) in London, England, and after two days of play, several big names have been knocked out of the tournament.

Sent packing were Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, Scotty Nguyen, Alex “The Mad Russian” Kravchenko, Jeff Madsen, Ted Forrest, Liz Lieu, Scott Fischman, Mark Vos, Joe Sebok and Tom “The Pokermeister” Bihl, who won Event #1 of the WSOPE.

Also busting out were Freddy Deeb, Robert Mizrachi, Mike MacDonald, Heather Wells, Dave Williams, Mike Binger and Ted Lawson.

Among those surviving the first two days of Main Event action were Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr., Annie Duke, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan, Jamie Gold, Dan Shak, Howard “The Professor” Lederer and Andy Black.

Also surviving were Kirk Morrison, Allen Cunningham, Phil Gordon, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, Paul Wasicka, Barry Greenstein, John Juanda, Todd “Son of Doyle” Brunson, Pamela “Daughter of Doyle” Brunson, Mike Mizrachi, Jen Harman, Jeff Lisandro, Erik Seidel, Gus Hansen, Humberto “El Wacko” Brenes and Beth Shak.

More than 350 poker players paid 10,000 British pounds (about $20,000 U.S.) to enter the WSOPE Main Event, a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament.

The total prize pool is in excess of 3.5 million British pounds (about $7 million U.S.).

The tournament is expected to last a week.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)