The 11th Season of the World Poker Tour opened post-World Series of Poker with a return to Kyrenia for the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic. A field of 169 players deposited their cash here at the all-inclusive resort, but by the end of the first day, over half of the field was lost with Maxim Panyak finishing as the Day 1a chip leader. The Russian won several big pots throughout the day, including knocking out Andreas Krause with versus . He finished the day with 255,800 – a healthy target for everyone playing Day 1b. Atzlan Gil was the only other player over the 200,000 mark, and he's in second place with 207,100.
Among those who played today was Gaelle Baumann, the somewhat unlucky 10th-place finisher from this year's WSOP Main Event. The Frenchwoman made it is as far as Level 5 before she held on a board against two-time WPT champion Tommy Vedes' in a three-bet pot.
Vedes himself didn't last too much longer, but we suspect he'll be re-entering tomorrow. Other big names who took a shot today and failed, but will probably be back tomorrow include Chris Moorman (got short stacked and lost with eights to queens), Dominik Nitsche (busted with top two pair against a set), Nicolas Chouity (made a big bluff and got called) and Zimnan Ziyard (top pair versus two pair).
However some big names remained as Toni Judet (101,000) Marco Neuman (63,300) and Stuart Fox (86,200) have all made it through to Day 2.
Tomorrow, an even bigger field is expected including all four of the Mizrachi brothers. We've also heard that both Daniel Cates and Chino Rheem may be in attendance. Day 1b will be starting from 1:00 PM local time once again, so you'd better tune in to get all the info from the PokerNews Live Reporting Team!
In the meantime, check out a beautiful tour of this WPT location from our very own Lynn Gilmartin.
Dominik Nitsche is not the sort of player to sit around nursing a 10 big blind stack for very long. Sometimes that works, other times not so much. This was one of the other times.
We joined his table to see sat in front of an all-in Nitsche and in front of Iraklis Kosmadahis.
Nitsche's lowly deuces stayed in front on a flop but the on the turn completely turned the hand around and left Nitsche drawing to two outs. Neither appeared on the river and with that Nitsche was eliminated.
"Will you be playing Day 1b?" we asked Nitsche.
"Of course!" came the reply.
We would no expect anything less! See you tomorrow Mr Nitsche.
Erik Cajelais already has a WSOP bracelet and if he continues to run as well as he has so far in this tournament, a WPT title cannot be too far away for the Canadian.
In one of the first hands back from the dinner break Önder Özdemirler open-limped from middle position and then called when Cajelais — two seats to Özdemirler's left — made it 1,700 to play.
The flop came down and Özdemirler immediately moved all-in for around 15,000 and Cajelais beat him into the pot with a call.
"Good game," said Cajelais as he turned over for a flopped flush, which was way in front of the that had only made top pair.
The turn and river ran out the and the respectively and Cajelais climbed to 81,000 and it looks like he is our chip leader here in Cyprus.
Nicolas Chouity will be back playing tomorrow if he wants to win WPT Cyprus. With over 22,000 already in the pot, his opponent checked across to him on the river of a board. Chouity pushed all in for about 15,000 or so but his opponent, after about 30 seconds made the call.
Chouity shook his head and incidentally threw his cards deep into the muck, leaving the table, his opponent winning the large pot with .
Chris Moorman wrote on his Twitter feed this morning that he was heading to the casino in search of his first WPT cash. Well, if he is to achieve that goal he is going to have to re-enter the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic Main Event on Day 1b as he has just busted out.
Moorman opened to 525 from early position only to see Andrei Taranu three-bet to 1,275 from the button in a carbon copy of this hand; only this time there was a completely different ending.
Moorman went into the tank for around 90-seconds before emerging with an all-in bet of 7,025 and he knew he was in trouble when Taranu beat him into the pot with a call.
Moorman:
Taranu:
The British superstar picked up a gutshot straight draw upon the arrival of the flop but when the turn and river were the and respectively, it was game over for Moorman. See you tomorrow sir.
Zimnan Ziyard is back to his starting stack and we think he may have got lucky on the river to do this.
Ziyard opened to 325 from UTG+1 and Ivan Tihov, three seats to Ziyard's left, called. As did Chadi Ojeil from the big blind.
Flop: - Ojeil looked resigned to mucking his hand and nonchalantly tapped the table and checked. Ziyard fired out a continuation bet of 625 and only Tihov called.
Turn: - Ziyard fired another bet. This time he increased the amount to 1,450 and again Tihov stuck around and made the call.
River: - Ziyard wasted no time in reaching for even more chips and this pot was starting to get large. Ziyard finally settled on a bet of 3,175 and Popov instantly called.
Ziyard immediately looked over at Tihov, sensing he was beaten but Popov could not beat the Ziyard turned over. Did Tihov have an overpair? I guess we will never know.
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. He finished the day with 255,800 – a healthy target for everyone playing Day 1b. Atzlan Gil was the only other player over the 200,000 mark, and he's in second place with 207,100.
in a three-bet pot.
sat in front of an all-in Nitsche and 
in front of Iraklis Kosmadahis.
flop but the 
on the turn completely turned the hand around and left Nitsche drawing to two outs. Neither appeared on the 
river and with that Nitsche was eliminated.
and Özdemirler immediately moved all-in for around 15,000 and Cajelais beat him into the pot with a call.
that had only made top pair.
and the 
respectively and Cajelais climbed to 81,000 and it looks like he is our chip leader here in Cyprus.
.
and 
respectively, it was game over for Moorman. See you tomorrow sir.
- Ziyard fired another bet. This time he increased the amount to 1,450 and again Tihov stuck around and made the call.
Ziyard turned over. Did Tihov have an overpair? I guess we will never know.