€10,300 PLO Championship
Day 1 Completed
2024 PLO Grand Slam
€10,300 PLO Championship
Day: 1
Event Info
2024 PLO Grand Slam
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1
Buy-in
€10,300
Prize Pool
€1,203,200
Entries
128
Level
27
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
500,000
Entries
96
Players Left
37
Players Left 1 / 128
Filter
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
It was another eventful day of four-card poker at Arena Casino Tirana. After the start of the €10,300 PLO Grand Slam Championship was delayed by an hour due to a lack of early interest, the following hours blew every expectation out of the water. Over the course of nine levels, 96 entries were made. The €1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool was almost surpassed already, with two more levels of late registration to go on Day 2.
At the end of the day, 37 players found a bag, and Alex Livingston was one of them. The two-time bracelet winner does not frequent European stops, but he made an exception for the first-ever Diamond Poker Series event. Livingston only needed one bullet today to increase his starting stack of 200,000 to 1,258,000, placing him second on the leaderboard only behind Harun Ertural.
Ertural bagged 1,488,000 at the end of the night, good for 149 big blinds at the start of Day 2. Not much is known about the German player as a min-cash would likely eclipse his registered total live earnings. Meanwhile, Spanish regular Ka Kwan Lau was the very first entry of the day and made full use of the many hands he played as he ended up in third with a stack of 1,200,000.
Daniel Montagnolli finished fourth in chips with 1,134,000 after a late-night surge, while €5,200 PLO Opener champion Aaron Pahlawani was the last player to bag a seven-figure stack on the hunt for his second trophy of the week. Finish poker legend Joni Jouhkimainen showed up for the first time this week today and immediately displayed his prowess as he also squeaked into the top ten.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Harun Ertural | Germany | 1,488,000 | 149 |
| 2 | Alex Livingston | Canada | 1,258,000 | 126 |
| 3 | Ka Kwan Lau | Spain | 1,200,000 | 120 |
| 4 | Daniel Montagnolli | Austria | 1,134,000 | 113 |
| 5 | Aaron Pahlawani | Austria | 1,019,000 | 102 |
| 6 | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | 911,000 | 91 |
| 7 | Vlado Banicevic | Montenegro | 886,000 | 89 |
| 8 | "Sie Pie" | 772,000 | 77 | |
| 9 | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | 750,000 | 75 |
| 10 | Vadim Zakharyan | Israel | 711,000 | 71 |
Others who made it through Day 1 include bracelet winners Oleksii Kovalchuk (455,000) and Nikolaos Lampropoulos (377,000), Norwegian high roller Tom-Aksel Bedell (256,000), and €5,200 Opener final tableists Hristo Bogdanov (464,000), Youness Barakat (399,000) and Stanislau Melhui (85,000).
Less lucky were the likes of bracelet winners Simeon Naydenov, Amir Mozaffarian, fromer soccer pro Max Kruse, PLO Opener runner-up Pavel Izotov, and Cesar Garcia. They made one or more attempts on Day 1 but fell short of finding a bag, with Garcia taking the title for most reentries, having fired no less than five bullets throughout the day.
The remaining players will return tomorrow, November 8, at 3 p.m. local time to play Day 2 of the event. As stated, late registration will be open for the first two 60-minute levels of the day and unlimited reentries are still available to everyone. The blinds will start in Level 10: 5,000/10,000 (10,000) and Day 2 is scheduled to play down to the final 16 players, who will then bag up and return for the final day of the event.
Tune back in to PokerNews tomorrow as the seven-figure guarantee is looking to get smashed on Day 2 of the first-ever €10,300 PLO Grand Slam Championship.
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,488,000
1,099,000
|
1,099,000 |
|
||
|
1,258,000
373,000
|
373,000 |
|
||
|
1,200,000
155,000
|
155,000 |
|
||
|
1,134,000
234,000
|
234,000 |
|
1,019,000
449,000
|
449,000 |
|
911,000
653,000
|
653,000 |
|
|
||
|
886,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
772,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
750,000
130,000
|
130,000 |
|
|
||
|
711,000
502,000
|
502,000 |
|
620,000
441,000
|
441,000 |
|
597,000
147,000
|
147,000 |
|
545,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
||
|
533,000
137,000
|
137,000 |
|
493,000
62,000
|
62,000 |
|
473,000
127,000
|
127,000 |
|
464,000
122,000
|
122,000 |
|
455,000 | |
|
|
||
|
432,000
27,000
|
27,000 |
|
405,000
205,000
|
205,000 |
|
400,000
198,000
|
198,000 |
|
399,000
26,000
|
26,000 |
|
377,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
|
||
|
376,000
176,000
|
176,000 |
|
360,000
155,000
|
155,000 |
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
The first day of the €10,300 PLO Grand Slam Championship has reached its end as all tables are bagging up.
Stay tuned for the chip counts a full recap of the day.
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
"Pie Sie" had raised to 22,000 in the cutoff and Tom-Aksel Bedell called in the small blind. Roman Verenko then jammed all in for 76,000 in the big blind, after which "Pie Sie" four-bet to 272,000.
Bedell spent some time in the tank before calling.
"Gamble, gamble, huh?" "Pie Sie" asked Bedell, to which the Norwegian smiled and nodded.
Bedell put "Pie Sie" all-in for 74,000 on the 10♦3♠3♦ flop and was snap-called to a three-way showdown.
Roman Verenko: A♣J♦7♥2♥ 
"Pie Sie": A♦7♦5♦4♥
Tom-Aksel Bedell: A♥Q♣J♣10♣
Bedell could not believe he had flopped best. The 6♥ turn gave "Pie Sie" a bunch more outs, however, and the 2♠ rive made him a straight to take down the massive pot during the final few hands of Day 1.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
776,000
341,000
|
341,000 |
|
165,000
645,000
|
645,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Three more hands will be played on each table before Day 1 of the €10,300 PLO Championship concludes.
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Arjel Daci had raised to 20,000 under the gun and was raised to 72,000 by Francisco Perez in the seat next to him. The action folded back to Daci, who decided to make the call.
The flop fell 2♥5♠7♠. Daci checked to Perez, who shoved in his remaining 38,000. Daci tanked for a while but eventually folded as Perez took down the pot without showdown.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
370,000
37,000
|
37,000 |
|
|
202,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Vlado Banicevic in the big blind and "Dan" in the cutoff had built a pot of 280,000 when the J♥6♥6♠2♠9♥ river hit. Banicevic made a bet of 125,000, which was eventually called by "Dan".
Banicevic tabled A♠Q♠6♣2♣ for a full house. "Dan" sent his cards into the muck as the large pot was awarded to Banicevic.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
880,000
80,000
|
80,000 |
|
|
625,000
175,000
|
175,000 |
