Markus Sturz Leads WSOPC Rozvadov Main Event Day 1b
It was a busy day at King's Casino Rozvadov for the second starting flight of the €1,650 WSOPC Main Event. With 480 players in total, including 84 re-entries, the total number so far - late registration and re-entry is still open until the start of Day 2 - got up to 742, smashing the €1,000,000 guarantee.
By the end of 12 levels, it was Markus Sturz (lead photo) who was the grateful beneficiary of a late surge in chips to bag 368,700 in chips, comfortably ahead of Alexander Romme (310,500) who bagged the Day 1a chip lead.
Other big stacks included Cem Eryigit (230,500), Iman Gazorishadiz (213,300) and Andre Haneberg (193,000).
Also still in with a shot of WSOPC glory are Martin Kabrhel (162,300), Jaroslaw Sikora (133,300), Michael Sklenicka (80,000), Philipp Zukernik (78,300), Abdelhakim Zoufri (62,900), Yehuda Cohen (50,300).
Several well-known players entered the Main Event early on, including Bart Lybaert who jumped into an early chip lead, albeit on his second bullet on Day 1b. Also chipping up early was Abdelhakim Zoufri, who's looking for a third consecutive big-field cash here in Rozvadov; Zoufri finished 27th in the WSOPE Main Event in November and followed that up last month with a 47th place finish in the partypoker MILLIONS Germany Main Event.
It wasn't until Yves Sergeant sent Miika Toikka to the rail with aces vs. fours that one player held a real chip lead, with that pot taking Sergeant to the brink of a 100,000 stack.
Martin Kabrhel, fresh from his third-place finish in last night's €2,200 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller, would bust and re-enter, building a healthy stack on his second bullet in his own innovative fashion. Also still in at this stage were big names Vojtech Ruzicka, Pierre Neuville, Carlo Savinelli, Georgios Koliofotis and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.
Martin Staszko was eliminated, bluffing his chips off to Anes Peckovic with a missed flush draw, but he would re-enter almost immediately. Soon after that, the makings of a real Day 1b chip leader contender began to emerge when Markus Sturz's Aces held against the nine-five of Mikhail Vilkov. Vilkov flopped trips, but the ace on the turn gave Sturz a full house, and the pair proceeded to get the rest of their chips into the middle on the river.
Sturz would add further chips to his stack as the final level ticked away to bag 368,700 ahead of Day 2 which gets underway at 2 pm local time.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the WSOPC Rozvadov live updates from here at King's Casino, Rozvadov.
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
