Master Classics of Poker Amsterdam: De Jonge Leads, Ruijs Close Behind
Day 1A of the €4,300 Main Event at the Master Classics of Poker in Holland Casino Amsterdam is in the books. For the first time in the 27 years of existence, they played the tournament with a big blind ante.
The first of two starting flights attracted a total of 75 entries. Just 31 players managed to bag chips at the end of the day. The next starting flight, Day 1B, will be on Tuesday, November 27.
Sebastiaan de Jonge stands at the top of the leaderboard after nine 60-minute levels. De Jonge managed to end up with 176,400 in his bag after they all started with 30,000. He’s closely followed by Joris Ruijs (159,300) (lead photo) and Firoz Mangroe (158,700).
Master Classics of Poker Top 5 Chip Counts After Day 1A
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastiaan de Jonge | Netherlands | 176,400 |
| 2 | Joris Ruijs | Netherlands | 159,300 |
| 3 | Firoz Mangroe | Netherlands | 158,700 |
| 4 | Max Lehmanski | Germany | 152,500 |
| 5 | Alberto Stegeman | Netherlands | 115,200 |
Other notable players that managed to find a bag are Max Lehmanski (152,500), Tobias Peters (99,900), defending champion Claas Segebrecht (94,500), Ioannis Angelou Konstas (82,500), Juha Helppi (48,900), 2012 MCOP Main Event winner Ole Schemion (28,500), and Steven van Zadelhoff (28,000).
Per Munksgaard also managed to find a bag at the end of the day. Munksgaard probably saw one of the sickest flops in his life when he was playing queen-jack of clubs. The flop came down ace-king-ten, all clubs, as he flopped a royal flush. He managed to get all the chips of Bill Asafiati who was playing ace-ten. Munksgaard ended the day with 78,600; just above the average stack of 72,581.
Dutch TV host Alberto Stegeman is also still in the running. Stegeman ended the day with 115,200 which earns him the fifth place on the leaderboard. He managed to finish in eighteenth place in last year’s Master Classics of Poker Main Event. He's looking to improve on the €12,189 score with a bigger cash this year.
Players that were less fortunate today were Timur Margolin, Daniyar Aubakirov, Jan Bendik, and Rob Hollink. Bart Spijkers and Rens Feenstra both fired two bullets, as one reentry is allowed per flight, but they both didn’t bag any chips.
Another player that didn’t find a bag is Uri Reichenstein, despite his stellar start in the tournament. Reichenstein managed to double up after only eight minutes. He played a huge 600 big blind pot against Andrea Ricci where Ricci was playing pocket aces, holding an overpair to the board, but Reichenstein had the nut flush. Ricci went for the reentry and managed to bag 104,100. Reichenstein can still try his luck on Day 1B of the tournament, or he can enter the tournament before the start of Day 2.
Day 1B of the tournament will take place on Tuesday, November 27, at 2 p.m. local time and the field will combine on Day 2 on Wednesday, November 28. They will play down to a final table on Thursday, November 29, and the winner of the €4,300 Master Classics of Poker Main Event will be crowned on Friday, November 30.
While the Main Event is on hiatus till Tuesday, there's still enough follow along with in Amsterdam. The €25,500 Super High Roller starts on Saturday. PokerNews will be on the ground to cover that event from start to finish, so keep your eyes out for updates from that event this weekend.
Milko van Winden has been a part of the poker media corps since 2017. Starting out as [I]PokerNews[/I] contributor and live reporter, Milko is now the Digital Media Manager at [i]PokerNews[/i].
