2016 WSOP Circuit Rozvadov: Francisco Arce In the Lead After Day 1a
The first of two starting days of the 2016 WSOP Circuit €1,650 Main Event at King's Casino in Rozvadov attracted a field of 298 players. Thirty-three players opted for a reentry after they busted, which brought the total number of entries to 331. After 12 levels of 45 minutes each, 146 players bagged up chips and advanced to Day 2 on Sunday.
In one of the last hands of the day, a gigantic pot between Alexander Lakhov and Francisco Arce saw the latter take the chip lead off the former. From the button, Arce called a raise before Lakhov put in a three-bet to 11,000 while saying "six" from the blinds. The dealer told Lakhov it was a raise to 6,000 due to the verbal announcement, but Lakhov claimed he was talking about the "six position" with another player.
The floor got called over and ruled the verbal announcement as binding. Getting a great price, both the player in middle position and Arce called to see a flop. The flop came ace-king-four with two spades and all players quickly checked. On the offsuit seven-turn, Lakhov checked. The player in middle position bet 12,500, Arce called, Lakhov check-raised to 35,000, and only Arce called the raise.
The river was an offsuit jack and Lakhov moved all in without hesitation. Arce, with a healthy stack of 120,000 behind, suddenly had a decision for his tournament life. The Spanish pro sized up his opponent, considered it for 20 seconds, then flicked in a call.
Arce made a huge call with ace-three for just a weak pair of aces and got rewarded, as Lakhov had turned his pocket queens into a bluff and mucked. With the gigantic pot, Arce ended the day as the chip leader with 317,800. Despite losing that huge pot, Lahkov still starts Day 2 with 89,300 in chips.
Other notables to finish Day 1a with above-average stacks included Martin Slajer (204,900), Miroslav Forman (202,300), Matas Cimbolas (140,000) and Dominik Panka (38,000). The top 10 is as followed after Day 1a:
| # | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francisco Arce | Spain | 317,800 |
| 2 | Dejan Divkovic | Croatia | 219,400 |
| 3 | Miroslav Forman | Czech Republic | 208,300 |
| 4 | Martin Šlajer | Czech Republic | 204,900 |
| 5 | Gerhard Brimmers | Germany | 167,300 |
| 6 | Eddy Scharf | Germany | 147,000 |
| 7 | Patrick Wagner | Germany | 146,700 |
| 8 | Ondřej Drozd | Czech Republic | 146,100 |
| 9 | Roel Elisa Van Gestel | Belgium | 141,400 |
| 10 | Henning Wendlandt | Germany | 141,000 |
Players who failed to make Day 2 included Martin Staskzo, Tobias Peters, Bart Lybaert, Dan Murariu, Pierre Neuville, Johnny Hansen, Petr Jelinek and Martin Kabrhel.
Day 1b will be open for players who bagged a stack after Day 1a as well in case players would like another shot in this tournament. After two starting days, they can carry over the bigger stack to increase their chances at taking home a portion of the €1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.
The second starting day gets underway at 2:00 p.m. local time on Saturday. The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be back at the tables to cover another huge starting day.
* Photo: Tomas Stacha, King's Poker Room Rozvadov
A former professional poker player with a background in sports marketing and journalism. Yori has been a part of PokerNews since 2016 and manages the content team.
