Main Event
Day 2 Completed
2018 888poker LIVE Festival Bucharest
Main Event
Day: 2
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
Fabian Leads the Last 11 in Bucharest; Two 888poker qualifiers in Contention
Level 21
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
The first-ever 888pokerLIVE Festival in Bucharest saw 120 players out of a field of 469 entries return to the tables of the Grand Ballroom of the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel for Day 2 of the €888 Main Event and the goal to reach the official nine-handed final table within the scheduled ten levels of one hour each was narrowly missed as 11 hopefuls remain in contention. The event easily surpassed the initial guarantee of €288,000 and the top 54 spots earned a portion of the €360,192 prize pool.
Stefan Fabian thrones atop the counts with 2,460,000 and his fellow countrymen Madalin Cornel Petraru (1,450,000), Bogdan Diaconu (1,415,000), Marian Strachinescu (1,365,000), Andrei Racolta (1,225,000 ), Ferenc Csaba Pal (900,000), Catalin Pop (895,000), Radu Pitic (475,000) and Andrei Alecu (315,000) will aim to keep the trophy on home soil. Pop already knows how it feels to lift a trophy on the 888pokerLIVE circuit after winning the Main Event at the King's Casino in Rozvadov for €80,000 and emerging victorious in the €2,200 High Roller in Barcelona in 2017.
Only three countries are represented by the final 11, as the nine Romanians take on the two 888poker online qualifiers Krzysztof Chmielowski from Poland (2,000,000) and Sinisa Radovanovic from Serbia (1,590,000), who are second and third respectively in the overnight counts. Radovanovic qualified for the event after starting his journey in a $5 satellite, in which he won a seat to a $109 qualifier before securing the trip to the capital of Romanian, and he has already locked up €5,700 for his efforts.
Seat Assignments for the Final Day
| Seat | Table 2 | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds | Seat | Table 3 | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stefan Fabian | Romania | 2,460,000 | 82 | 2 | Ferenc Csaba Pal | Romania | 900,000 | 30 |
| 3 | Madalin Cornel Petraru | Romania | 1,450,000 | 48 | 4 | Marian Strachinescu | Romania | 1,365,000 | 46 |
| 4 | Radu Pitic | Romania | 475,000 | 16 | 6 | Sinisa Radovanovic | Serbia | 1,590,000 | 53 |
| 6 | Bogdan Diaconu | Romania | 1,415,000 | 47 | 7 | Krzysztof Chmielowski | Poland | 2,000,000 | 67 |
| 9 | Andrei Racolta | Romania | 1,225,000 | 41 | 8 | Andrei Alecu | Romania | 315,000 | 11 |
| 9 | Catalin Pop | Romania | 895,000 | 30 |
Action of Day 2
Within the first two levels, 40 hopes of securing a min cash of €1,800 vanished and among the early casualties of the day were Ran Azor, Manfred Sierke, Ozgur Arda, Dimitrios Kalaroutis, Marius-Alexandru Gicovanu and Iulian Iacob. The Pokerfest hosts and 888poker announced a bad beat promotion with shots of vodka as consolation and Iacob was the first to do so after his aces failed to hold up against the pocket queens of Ivan Stankov. Both big stacks heading into the day ended up on the rail before the money.
Romania's very own WSOP bracelet winner Alexandru Papazian also departed before the money bubble after a three-way all in and 888poker ambassador Natalie Hof lost a flip with ace-king versus pocket tens. Mihai Manole and Luca Moschitta were among those to leave the Grand Ballroom empty-handed as well, and 888poker Vivian Saliba all but sneaked into the money after losing a big pot with kings versus aces. On the money bubble it was all about Stefan Fabian, who was the first player above a million in chips after busting Aurel Iovan in a huge pot with queen-jack for flopped top two pair, then crowned Dorin Rauta as bubble boy minutes later when his jack-eight suited hit a runner runner straight against ace-queen.
Saliba had to settle for 53rd place and €1,800, and she was soon joined on the rail by such familiar names as Dan Murariu (46th place for €1,800), Tudor Purice (41st place for €1,800) and Ana Marquez (39th place for €2,150). Purice was ousted in a three-way all in when his massive isolation shove with ace-queen versus pocket eights was called by Ferenc Csaba Pal with king-jack suited. Marquez lost several flips, the final one being pocket sevens versus ace-queen.
Marius Pertea racked up several deep runs in the last few months and it all started here in Bucharest when he won the Unibet Open Main Event for €90,925 at this very venue. This time, the local businessman had to settle for 24th place and €2,850. The final three levels reduced the field from three to two tables and Fabian claimed the top spot after taking the entire stack of Radu Danut in the final two hands of the night.
€2,200 High Roller Draws 32 Entries so Far
The €2,200 High Roller with single re-entry drew a total of 32 entries thus far, of which 20 players bagged up after seven levels of 40 minutes each. Registration remains open until the restart at 12 p.m. local time and all new entries will receive 30 big blinds worth with upcoming blinds of 500/1,000 and a running ante of 100.
Among those that busted were Alexandru Papazian, Mihai Niste, Danut Chisu and Marius Pertea. Papazian re-entered successfully and bagged up 43,000. Leading the field into Day 2 is Razvan Bordei with 97,700, narrowly ahead of Narcis Gabriel Nedelcu (94,800). Nedelcu won the €230 Opening Event and cashed in 28th place in the Main Event before immediately jumping into the High Roller action.
Other notables in contention include Ana Marquez (74,400), 888poker ambassador Sofia Lovgren (65,400), Ran Shahar (58,100), Marius-Alexandru Gicovanu (49,800) and €230 Opening Event runner up Eduard Norel (29,300). Lovgren celebrated her birthday during the festival and was presented flowers and champagne by 888poker before the restart of the Main Event Day 2.
The High Rollers will be back in action as of 1 p.m. local time and the 11 Main Event finalists take their seats at 12.15 p.m. local time. The action recommences in level 22 with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and a running ante of 5,000 and the PokerNews live updates will be published right away before switching over to a 30 minutes delay according to the live stream with commentary and hole cards displayed once the official final table is set.
End-Of-Day Counts (full)
Level 21
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
2,460,000 | |
|
2,000,000 | 200,000 |
|
1,590,000 | 390,000 |
|
1,450,000 | |
|
1,415,000 | -35,000 |
|
1,365,000 | -135,000 |
|
1,225,000 | -75,000 |
|
900,000 | -300,000 |
|
895,000 | 170,000 |
|
475,000 | -125,000 |
|
315,000 | -255,000 |
Radu Danut Eliminated in 12th Place (€4,900)
Level 21
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
In the last hand of the night on the outer table, Stefan Fabian raised to 55,000 first to act and radu Danut moved all in for what appeared to be 450,000 out of the small blind. Fabian quickly called and the cards were turned over.
Radu Danut: 
Stefan Fabian: 
Danut had some chop outs on the board of 
, but ultimately the kicker problem would send him to the rail in 12th place for €4,900. All remaining 11 players are now bagging up and will be back tomorrow at 12.15 p.m. local time to play down to a winner. A recap of today's action is to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,460,000 | 510,000 |
|
Busted |
Last Three Hands; Danut Gets Short
Level 21
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
The last three hands of the night were announced and there was some action in the penultimate hand of the outer table. Radu Danut raised to 48,000 and Stefan Fabian called in the cutoff, as did Bogdan Diaconu in the big blind. The 
flop was checked to Fabian and he bet 75,000, which only Danut called. After the 
turn, Danut checked and called another bet of 170,000 by Fabian.
The 
river was checked through and Danut checked, Fabian checked behind and was shown 
by Danut. Fabian had that beat with the 
and chipped up to almost two million.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,950,000 | 550,000 |
|
|
490,000 | -335,000 |
Diaconu Chips Up
Level 21
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
Radu Pitic's stack has taken a toll over on the outer table while the other players were all quite deep with 11 hopefuls remaining. On the three-way flop of 
, Madalin Cornel Petraru bet 53,000 and Bogdan Diaconu called on the button, Andrei Racolta folded from the big blind. Petraru checked the 
turn and Diaconu's bet of 175,000 won the pot uncontested.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,450,000 | -250,000 |
|
|
1,450,000 | -320,000 |
|
|
1,300,000 | |
|
|
600,000 | -300,000 |
Bogdan Geanaliu Eliminated in 13th Place (€4,900)
Level 21
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
Down to just 10 big blinds over on the feature table, Bogdan Geanaliu pushed all in for 240,000 out of the small blind and Marian Strachinescu called in the big blind.
Bogdan Geanaliu: 
Marian Strachinescu:
The board came 
and Geanaliu was eliminated in 13th place for €4,900.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,500,000 | 360,000 |
|
Busted |
Chmielowski Takes from Pop
Level 21
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
Catalin Pop raised to 50,000 from under the gun with the 
and Krzysztof Chmielowski called out of the small blind with the 
. On the 
flop both players checked and Chmielowski bet the 
turn for 77,000, Pop called.
On the 
river, Chmielowski made it 175,000 to go and Pop quickly called before seeing the bad news.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,800,000 | 234,000 |
|
|
725,000 | -375,000 |
More for Danut
Level 21
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
Stefan Fabian's preflop raise was called by Ferenc Csaba Pal and the latter check-called a continuation bet on the 
flop. On the 
turn, Pal checked and a bet of 160,000 did the trick for Fabian.
On the next hand, Radu Danut raised to 53,000 and Fabian defended the small blind. On the 
flop, Fabian checked and called a bet of 50,000 by Danut before the fell on the turn. Fabian checked once more and Danut's second barrel for 165,000 did the trick.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,400,000 | -150,000 |
|
|
1,300,000 | 100,000 |
|
|
1,200,000 | 250,000 |
|
|
825,000 | 225,000 |
Andrei Gabriel Roscan Eliminated in 14th Place (€4,400)
Level 21
: 12,000/24,000, 4,000 ante
Andrei Gabriel Roscan raised to 55,000 in early position and Krzysztof Chmielowski in the cutoff three-bet to 150,000. Roscan four-bet all in for 615,000 and Chmielowski called with the slightly superior stack.
Andrei Gabriel Roscan: 
Krzysztof Chmielowski: 
The board ran out 
and Roscan had to settle for a payday of €4,400 for his 14th place finish.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,566,000 | 663,000 |
|
Busted |