SHANE Warne is making a strong impression at the World Series of Poker Main Event, outshining one of the world’s best players and winning the admiration of another who had no idea he was a sporting superstar.

Warne described day two of the $AUD80 million Las Vegas event as “one of the toughest days of tournament poker I have played” but dominated a table which included world No.4 Ole Schemion from Germany.

The Australian spin bowling legend sits in 46th spot with 247,000 chips heading into day three, giving him a realistic chance of reaching the final table.

Warne ended the day with the table chip lead, coming out well on top of Schemion, who has won 10 European titles and more than $8 million in career winnings.

Schemion was eliminated on day two but Warne just got stronger as it went on, beating the German to one big pot and almost doubling his stack with a huge knockout play against another player late in the final session.

It wasn’t just Warne’s play that won him respect, with amateur player John Kugelman left impressed by the cricket superstar’s demeanour and down-to-earth nature after spending the day at the same table.

Kugelman, from Virginia, had no idea Warne was “a somebody” until cameras keep coming to their table. He then used Wikipedia to learn Warne was one of the great bowler’s off all time. Then he looked up what a “bowler” was.

“I was impressed at how down to earth he was. Just happy and friendly and a really nice guy. He didn’t come off like a celebrity, aside from having his name sewn on his jacket,” Kugelman told foxsports.com.au.

“He’s a really solid player. He’s tough and aggressive like good players are.”

The $US10,000 buy-in No Limit Hold ‘Em World Series of Poker Main Event is the world’s longest-running poker tournament and this year’s winner will pocket over $AUD10 million.

Warne said it took him time for find his rhythm on the second day.

“Playing the first few hands was like walking out on the MCG for the first over of the Boxing Day test, I felt nervous and excited at the same time,” Warne said.

After catching a few hands in the early going, he settled into the table before hitting “the zone” after dinner.

“I had complete ownership of the table and was dominating,” he said.

“I continued my aggressive play, and eventually had the whole table fearing me like it was day five of a Test on a raging turner.”

“… All in all, I felt like I played the best poker of my career to far and am buzzing as I write this. I have 247,000 in chips, which should put me in the top 10 per cent of the field going into day three ready to make a deep run and hopefully make the final table.”

Warne’s massive play late in the day came when he hit a full house with pocket 8s and emptied an opponent who got caught with KK.

For the poker buffs, here’s Kugelman’s take (in his own words) on Warne’s knock-out hand.

“Raise and two callers see a 664 flop. EP raiser bets large and both players call. Shane is the second caller.

“The turn is an 8. The raiser shoves in really quickly for 60K, which is a huge shove. 50BB and more than the pot size for sure.

“At this point a camera crew shows up and starts taping. The guy who shoved is joking around kinda nervously about “oh no I’m in trouble”

“The next guy tanks for a long time, 3 or 4 minutes at least. He’s shaking his head, very upset. It’s for all his chips. I almost call clock

“He finally very reluctantly folds. Shane then snap calls and the shover goes “oh s**t I’m in trouble” and flips up KK. Shane shows 88.

“That nearly doubled Shane up and got him to his huge 240k stack he now has.”

Warne is competing in his ninth WSOP main event. He once had a top 700 finish but is yet to collect any prizemoney at the event.