PokerStars.fr EPT Deauville High Roller Day 1: Czuczor Leads Record-Breaking Field
The 2014 PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville High Roller saw records broken on Day 1 with 113 entries into the tournament so far in the form of 95 unique players and 18 reentries. This number could climb even higher before play kicks off on Day 2 with registration open until 15 minutes before the start of play (12 p.m. local time). However, it has already been a large increase on the 85-runner field that played in this same event 12 months ago.
Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marton Czuczor | 274,600 |
| 2 | Dario Sammartino | 251,700 |
| 3 | Adrian Mateos Diaz | 236,600 |
| 4 | Martin Schleich | 207,100 |
| 5 | Konstantin Puchkov | 184,500 |
| 6 | Eric Sfez | 181,600 |
| 7 | Marcin Wydrowski | 177,800 |
| 8 | Ondrej Vinklarek | 167,300 |
| 9 | Julian Thomas | 163,300 |
| 10 | Dmitry Yurasov | 160,900 |
After the first 10 levels, just 53 players survived. Leading at the end of Day 1 was Marton Czuczor with 274,600 in chips. The Hungarian battled with Global Poker Index Italian Player of the Year Dario Sammartino for the chip lead, but came out on top thanks to a particularly large pot where he knocked out David Vamplew with aces versus kings.
That was the second bullet for Vamplew, the first having gone the way of Lebanese player Albert Daher. Vamplew had put most of his chips in by the turn of the KxJx6xAx board with Qx10x, but Daher's Ax6x boated up on the river when another 6x fell and that's when the remaining chips went in.
The Scottish pro was one of several former EPT champions who went crashing out on the first day.Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Jake Cody were both eliminated during the day. Grospellier lost a coin flip holding pocket sixes against Steve O'Dwyer's AxJx, while Cody was knocked out right at the end of the day when his pocket jacks couldn't catch up with Julian Thomas' aces. This left Alex Kravchenko (84,600) as the sole representative of Team PokerStars going into Day 2, though both of the others still have the chance to buy-in for a second time before the start of play.
Other players who made it through included Rookie/Spanish Player of the Year Adrian Mateos Diaz (236,600), as well as former EPT winners Toby Lewis, Davidi Kitai, Jannick Wrang, Kent Lundmark, Michael Tureniec, and Kevin MacPhee.
MacPhee advanced on his second bullet after the first was lost against Russian Konstantin Puchkov who flopped top set against MacPhee's middle set.
With over half the field eliminated inside 10 levels, the bustouts came thick and fast. Niall Farrell was knocked out in one of the very first hands of the day after his opponent tried bluffing him on the flop in a four-bet pot only to backdoor into two pair. His opponent in that hand, Aleksandr Denisov, would not put the chips to good use, though, as he was one of several players who fired two bullets unsuccessfully at this tournament. Others who also tried this included Pho Truong, Roger Hairabedian, and Jean-Noel Thorel.
Many, though, had seemingly decided to simply take a single shot like Anton Wigg or Ludovic Lacay — the Frenchman one of several victims of Sammartino. However, it is very possible that they might see that half the field has already gone and decide to take a second shot with a 50,000-chip starting stack (which would be worth 25 big blinds at the start of Day 2).
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be back at 12 p.m. local time on Friday for the penultimate day of this tournament, so stay tuned to find out who will be the next EPT Deauville High Roller champion!
Don't forget, the EPT Deauville Main Event is also ongoing, and currently down to 16 players advancing to Day 5. You can follow the coverage of that event by clicking here.
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