Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2018 888poker LIVE Festival Bucharest
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2018 888poker LIVE Festival Bucharest
Buy-in
€888
Prize Pool
€360,192
Entries
469
Level
27
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000
Papazian, Pop and 888poker ambassador Saliba Among Big Stacks After Day 1a in Bucharest
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
The first of three starting days of the 888Live Poker Festival Bucharest €888 Main Event is in the books and Day 1a drew a total of 110 entries to put the tournament on track to meet and surpass the guaranteed prize pool of €288,000. The 888Live series was heading to the Romanian capital for the very first time and picked the perfect location for the event, the stunning JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel, in cooperation with Pokerfest Romania.
Within the first seven levels of 45 minutes each, plenty of players took advantage of the unlimited re-entry option and the eliminations kept coming at an alarming pace. The players busted so quickly that tournament staff decided to cut down the number of levels by one and bag up for the night after the end of level 11 already. At that point, only 27 hopefuls were still in contention with Nicolae Sorin Son soaring to the top of the leader board in the final level of the night.
Son took two pots of Florin Tatu to claim 203,000 to his name and edged into the top spot. 2017 WSOP bracelet winner Alexandru Papazian had to re-enter after failing with pocket deuces and three barrels on an ace-high board and the first ever Romanian to win the elusive gold bracelet ended up with a very healthy 162,000. Catalin Pop ended up second in chips with 185,500, narrowly ahead of Luca Moschitta with 185,000. Moschitta went from almost zero to hero in the later stages of the day when he first tripled up with pocket kings, then doubled through Pop and cracked pocket aces with pocket kings to score another big double.
Vivian Saliba was one of two 888poker ambassadors that took to the tables on Day 1a, and while Natalie Hof departed in unfortunate fashion, the Brazilian dominated her table with plenty of aggression. A nut flush over second nut flush setup gave the Pot-Limit Omaha specialist a shot at the overnight lead, but Saliba eventually lost queens to kings in the last hands of the night to settle for 146,500.
Other big stacks and notables through to Day 2 include Razvan Bordei (171,000), Cristian Tardea (158,000), Andrei Nodea (130,000), Carmen Zainescu (96,500), Dan Petrea (81,500) and Michael Teplitski (66,500).
Among those to enter once or more without advancing just yet were such familiar faces as Ran Azor, Federico Petruzzelli, Ozgur Arda, Silviu Baltateanu, 2017 Unibet Open Bucharest champion Marius Pertea, Pasquale Grimaldi, Viliyan Petleshkov and Florin Pandilica. Arda had to re-enter and ran with eights into kings, while Petleshkov flopped bottom set with deuces only to run into a set of jacks in the first attempt, then busted once more after the registration had just closed when his nines were no good against aces.
Most of those that busted on Day 1a are expected to join the action again on Day 1b as of 1 p.m. local time, as are the 888poker ambassadors Natalie Hof and Sofia Lovgren. Another 20 players won their seat in the Main Event satellite with the 21st place finisher taking home €194.
The €230 Opening Event was won by Narcis-Gabriel Nedelcu, who defeated fellow Romanian Eduard Norel in heads up to claim the first-place payout of €14,055, Norel took home €9,300 for his efforts. Last but not least, the €100+100+30 Bounty Event drew a field of 132 entries to create a prize pool of €11,880 and at the time of writing, only 21 players remained with 15 spots paid.
Tune back in tomorrow to follow the exclusive action right here on PokerNews!
Birthdays, Booze and Babes
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
End-Of-Day Counts (full)
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
203,000 | 8,000 |
|
185,500 | 40,500 |
|
185,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
173,000 | 38,000 |
|
171,000 | 41,000 |
|
170,000 | 30,000 |
|
166,000 | 1,000 |
|
|
163,000 | 65,000 |
|
162,000 | -28,000 |
|
161,000 | -34,000 |
|
158,000 | -12,000 |
|
|
157,000 | 42,000 |
|
146,500 | -3,500 |
|
135,000 | -8,000 |
|
130,000 | -2,000 |
|
96,500 | 11,500 |
|
|
83,500 | 18,500 |
|
|
83,000 | -22,000 |
|
81,500 | -1,500 |
|
|
78,000 | 42,000 |
|
|
76,500 | 76,500 |
|
71,000 | 71,000 |
|
66,500 | -3,500 |
|
|
66,000 | -26,300 |
|
|
59,000 | 19,000 |
Tatu Chip Leader No More
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Florin Tatu was miles ahead of the rest of the field not long ago but has since dropped back into the middle of the pack. Nicolae Sorin Son was responsible for the disappointing end of the day for Tatu after scooping two bigger pots.
The second hand saw Tatu defend his big blind and invest 20,000 on the 
turn before checking the 
river. Son used one time bank extension before betting 32,000 in the cutoff and Tatu called. Son turned over 
for a rivered full house and a quite upset Tatu flashed 
for a flush.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
195,000 | 95,000 |
|
|
143,000 | -127,000 |
Petrea Doubles in Last Six Hands of the Night
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Soon after the last six hands of the night were announced, Dan Petrea got his short stack of 35,500 in before the flop and Vivian Saliba looked him up with the superior stack.
Dan Petrea: 
Vivian Saliba: 
The 
board brought no upset and Petrea doubled his short stack, while Saliba dropped some.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
150,000 | -35,000 |
|
|
83,000 |
Neagoe Rivers Trips
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Vivian Saliba check-raised all in after a bet of 10,000 by Daniel Stoian on the flop of 
and the 888poker ambassador forced a fold to leave Stoian among the shorter stacks.
One table over, Darius Valentin Neagoe raised to 5,000 in the cutoff and Michael Teplitski called on the button. The 
flop and 
turn went check, check, and Neagoe bet the 
river for 15,500. Teplitski used one time bank extension but couldn't find a fold, then mucked when Neagoe turned over 
for rivered trips fives.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
185,000 | |
|
|
105,000 | 105,000 |
|
|
70,000 | -40,000 |
|
|
46,000 | 46,000 |
Down to Three Tables
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Ran Shahar, who peaked at some 160,000 earlier today, has become the latest casualty of the day and that reduced the field to just 27 players. Table four broke and the remaining players are now full ring at three tables.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Moschitta Cracks Aces; Alecu Wins a Flip
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Cornel Petrescu and Luca Moschitta clashed in a big preflop all in and both had very similar stacks with the former ending up as the player at risk.
Cornel Petrescu:
Luca Moschitta: 
The 
flop gave Moschitta top set, and the 
turn and 
river failed to restore the preflop order.
One table over, Andrei Alecu had a big flip for his last 78,000 with the and Catalin Liviu Gheorghe looked him up with 
for two over cards. The board came 
and Alecu doubled with a set.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
175,000 | 80,000 |
|
|
165,000 | 165,000 |
|
|
40,000 | -125,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Magda Left Short
Level 11
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
On the river of a board 
, Stefan Razvan Magda faced a bet of 25,000 by table neighbor Boaz Kolenbrener and reluctantly called, then mucked when being shown for a back door flush by Kolenbrener. That reduced the stack of Magda to a mere 35,000 and he will be under immediate pressure for the remainder of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
195,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
35,000 | 35,000 |