July 6, 2010 (Las Vegas, Nevada) – The World Series of Poker action continued well into the night at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Both Petter Northug and Marcus Hellner continued to play conservatively and during one break in the action, Hellner explained his overall strategy saying, “I’m playing slow. The goal is both to beat Northug and to stay in the competition past today.” That might cause some logistical issues for the Swedish skiing star, who told us earlier that he hadn’t counted on doing well beyond the first day and had already booked a flight home on Friday.

Northug says he always planned to go as far as he could in the event, but admitted that the tournament is definitely not easy on his nerves. “I’m more nervous for this event than starting a World Cup,” quipped the Norwegian star.

While Northug and Hellner are here in Vegas, two other Swedish stars, Bjorn Lind and Peter Larsson, are just finishing up an exciting series of multi-sport races in China. It seems like exotic adventures are in vogue this year with many top skiers heading abroad in search of interesting activities and warmer climates. One might wonder if Europe has suddenly become boring but Northug certainly doesn’t think so. “I’ve been looking forward to this trip for a long time, and I invited Marcus as there was the chance to get in some good training and play some cards. We’re looking at this adventure as a bit of a vacation before heading back to work at home.”

We caught up with Alex Øystå, Editor in Chief of Vi Menn Magazine, Northug’s sponsor and the financial backer for this event, who agrees with him. “This event has been a huge success, especially in Norway, where Northug is one of the country’s biggest celebrities,” said Øystå during a break in the action.

But along with the acclaim has come criticism from some in the Norwegian media who say that Northug is setting a bad example for younger skiers in his home country, especially given that gambling for money is illegal there. Øystå countered those arguments by saying that it’s also important to remember that Northug is a free man, behaving as a he pleases. “Peter knows that gambling is dangerous, and it’s important for families to understand that and to teach this to their kids. But people like who Peter is, and want to see him do what he likes to do. They’re really liking it, this is big news for them.”

His comments are bolstered by the presence of Annette Obrestad, Norway’s top female poker player who is making here debut at the WSOP. She started playing poker online at a young age, but her parents taught her not to gamble for money. To this date, she claims to have never spent any money on poker that she did not win from it, having moved her way up through the ranks of free online tournaments and eventually earning herself berths at bigger events. Øystå said this event has been such a success that he hopes to repeat others like it with Northug. “It’s just a matter of thinking about the process, and how to make something like this happen along with his training,” added Øystå.

Meanwhile things began to heat up at Northug’s and Hellner’s tables as the day wore on. Both players started to play more aggressively, winning bigger hands, but also losing some. All players started the day with 30,000 in chips, and by around 9pm local time the average tournament chip stack was roughly 40,000 chips, with both Northug and Hellner behind, and roughly equal at around 30 000 chips.

Northug won a number of hands in a row to bring him close to the tournament average, but then had a stretch of bad luck and dwindled back to around 20,000. By 11pm the average was over 41,000, as more players were bumped out of the running. Hellner stayed consistent at around 25,000 chips, but Northug made a very bold move against another player going ‘all-in’ and won, more than doubling his own chips.

Perhaps buoyed by a visit from his girlfriend, Rachel Nordtomme, Northug’s luck continued for the rest of the evening. As the day ended at midnight, both players had survived and looked forward to continuing play later in the week.

There is no poker action on Tuesday for them as another group of players will take over the Amazon room to decide their places in the first round of the WSOP. However, Tuesday is the much anticipated rollerski show-down at the Palms Hotel and Casino. The event kicks off at 9am local time (PST) and we’ll be there to catch all of the actionŠ stay tuned for results and more new from Vegas.