Jose Scarano Dominates Opening Flight of PLO Grand Slam €5k Million
The PLO Grand Slam Prague, hosted by the Diamond Poker series at the All Inn Casino, kicked off with an action-packed opening flight in the €5,200 Million. Day 1a drew 50 entries, and after ten levels, 14 players managed to put chips in a bag and advance to Day 2.
Whereas poker tournaments can often have wild swings that see players go from big stack to short stack and vice versa in the blink of an eye, this couldn't be further from the truth for Jose Scarano today. Scarano doubled up in the very first hand he played after eliminating Sebestyen Balint and from there, he never looked back. Scarano was at or near the top of the counts throughout the day, ending with 1,621,000, good for the Day 1a chip lead and 162 big blinds going into Day 2. Balint also managed to find a bag after reentering, finishing the night in the middle of the pack with just over 700,000.
Day 1a Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Scarano | Brazil | 1,621,000 | 162 |
| 2 | Ying Kan | China | 1,271,000 | 127 |
| 3 | Juha Helppi | Finland | 1,174,000 | 117 |
| 4 | Karel Mokry | Czechia | 986,000 | 99 |
| 5 | Carlo van Ravenswoud | Netherlands | 885,000 | 89 |
| 6 | Youness Barakat | Italy | 883,000 | 88 |
| 7 | Csaba Fenyvesi | Hungary | 767,000 | 77 |
| 8 | Joachim Haraldstad | Norway | 759,000 | 76 |
| 9 | Sebestyen Balint | Hungary | 726,000 | 73 |
| 10 | Veselin Karakitukov | Bulgaria | 430,000 | 43 |
| 11 | Jonas Kronwitter | Austria | 340,000 | 34 |
| 12 | Nino Pansier | Netherlands | 331,000 | 33 |
| 13 | Jeremy Trojand | Germany | 267,000 | 27 |
| 14 | Dominykas Karmazinas | Lithuania | 171,000 | 17 |
Closely following Scarano is Ying Kan, who woke up with aces at the right time to take a massive pot off of Jonas Kronwitter and finish the night in second place. Finnish poker legend Juha Helppi rounds out the top three, and alongside Scarano and Kan is the only other player to end the night with a seven-figure stack.
Out of all the players to advance today, none have had as much success in previous editions of this event as Youness Barakat. The inaugural edition of this event in Tirana in 2024 saw Barakat finish third. Barakat went on to finish fourth in the second edition in Tirana, before winning the event outright when the PLO Grand Slam came to Tallin a few months later. Most recently at the PLO Grand Slam in Malta Barakat almost made a fourth consecutive final table in this event, falling in 15th.
Barakat got off to a rocky start this time around, losing his first bullet just a few hands into Level 1. Midway through the day, Barakat's third bullet went down in flames after getting his chips in with the nut-straight, only for Ole Schemion to turn a full house. The fourth time turned out to be the charm, with Barakat finally gaining momentum after making a full house of his own on the river to eliminate Lucas Vendenbelt late in the night and eventually finish the night just outside the top five.
Some notable players who played today but fell before the end of the night include bracelet winners Schemion, Dario Alioto, Dennis Weiss, and Cesar Garcia.
The second and final starting flight begins tomorrow, December 02 at 1:00 p.m. local time, featuring the same structure as today. Late registration will remain open until the end of Level 13 on Day 2. Stay tuned to Pokernews as we continue to bring you all the action from the All Inn Casino in the Czechian capital.