Main Event
Day 1a Started
2012 World Poker Tour Merit Cyprus Classic
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2012 World Poker Tour Merit Cyprus Classic
Buy-in
$4,000
Prize Pool
$1,212,694
Entries
329
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000
Welcome To The WPT Merit Cyprus Classic Main Event!
Hello and welcome to sunny Cyprus where in a few short hours time some of the best poker talent the world has to offer will be sitting down for the first World Poker Tour Main Event of Season 11.
The Merit Crystal Cove Hotel & Casino is the venue for the $4,400 buy-in Main Event and what a stunning venue it is; and not just because it is an all-inclusive resort either! The sun is shining brightly in the cloudless sky, people are frolicking in the three swimming pools and everyone is just kicking back, relaxing and having fun.
The only thing hotter that the blistering heat here should be the poker action. At 1:00 PM local time, renowned tournament director Matt Savage will utter those immortal words of "Shuffle up and deal," and as soon as he does so, the cards will be in the air, the chips riffled and Season 11 of the WPT in full swing.
Who is your favorite to walk away with the lion's share of the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool? Can PartyPoker sponsored pro "Mad" Marvin Rettenmaier follow up his epic win in the WPT World Championship with another under the sun in Cyrpus? Or will Dominik Nitsche, fresh from winning his first World Series of Poker bracelet and a player who tears up tournaments in Cyprus be the man with all the chips at the end of the event? Or is your money on Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi who has flown all the way from the States to participate in this spectacular event. Whoever your favorite player is, be sure to read about how they are getting on during the next few days here on the PokerNews Live Reporting pages.
As mentioned, play gets underway at 1:00 PM local time (GMT+3) and the initial plan is to play out 10 hour-long levels. Players and readers are reminded that WPT Merit Cyprus Classic is played with a re-entry format so if the unthinkable happens and a player loses their 30,000 starting stack, they can simply return to the casino for tomorrow's Day 1b and buy back in again.
Hold onto your hats and put on some extra sun screen because this should be a fantastic curtain raiser for the new WPT season.
The Plan For Today
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Tournament director Matt Savage his indicated that the plan for today will be as follows. We'll be playing ten levels with 15 minute breaks every two levels with a scheduled one hour dinner break at 7.30pm. End of day's play should be at around 12.45am.
Delay
At the moment, it doesn't look like we'll be starting on time, none of the players are in their seats just yet.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Shuffle Up And Deal
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Matt Savage has instructed the dealers to shuffle up and deal and WPT Merit Cyprus Classic Main Event is underway.
Players start with 30,000 chips, blinds and antes are 50/100; let's get this show on the road!
Who's In The House?
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
||
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
||
Quaaaaaaaads For Alexander Lavachev
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Some poker players like to get involved early in a tournament in order to settle any nerves they may be harbouring. Alexander Lavachev is one such player.
From UTG+1 Amirpasha Sadineyad opened the betting with a raise to 250, whcih put the action onto Yury Gruzdev. He paused for a few moments before putting in a three-bet to 700. The rest of the active players folded in turn, until the action reached Lavachev in the big blind, who called.
The 
contained more diamonds than Jennifer Lopez's jewellery box and it was no surprise that the three players tapped the table and checked. The board became even worse when the 
landed on the turn to put a possible boat out there. Again, all three players checked.
The fifth and final community card was the 
and now Lavachev tested the waters with a bet of 1,250. Sadineyad immediately reached for chips but pondered all of his options for close to a minute before making the call. Gruzdev mucked his hand and the dealer asked for the cards of the active players to be revealed.
Lavachev: 
for quads
Sadineyad: mucked
"Nice start," said Peter Ockenden. Nice start indeed.
A Couple More Faces
Whilst doing our rounds of the tournament area we saw WPT Barcelona champion Lukas Berglund looking like he means business (not a good sign for his opponents we can tell you), whilst Lebanese superstar Nicolas Chouity has also graced us with his presence.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
||
Early Photos
Here's some early photos of the players involved today.
