Down to 22

The usual spate of exits have swiftly followed the arrival of the money, but there's a few mixed stories to tell as players make their exits.

We're down to 22 players and three short-handed tables just two hours in, thanks to a familiar combination of bad beats, coolers and short stack plays.

Online qualifier Mounir Benali must have felt good getting his chips in with A♠K♠ but his short stack ended up falling into the hands of Aces, sending him out in 26th.

"Obviously I'm disappointed to have gone out but there was no way I could play the hand any differently, it's just poker!"

He was swiftly followed by Luis Fernando in 25th and Alexander Weber in 24th, with the latter lamenting his late night play as well as the river beat that ended his day.

"The big stack opened and I found KK, so I shoved my 40k stack and a player behind me came over the top with JJ, only to hit his Jack on the river.

"It happens but I'm in the money so it's fine. I had a big stack yesterday but I made some mistakes when I was tired. If you play poker though, you want to win."