button in Safari
€10,300 PLO Championship
Day 1 Completed
2025 PLO Grand Slam
€10,300 PLO Championship
Day: 1
Event Info
2025 PLO Grand Slam
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1
Buy-in
€10,300
Prize Pool
€1,880,000
Total Entries
191
Level
26
Blinds
200,000 / 400,000
Ante
400,000
Entries
136
Players Left
51
Players Left 1 / 191
Filter
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
It was a busy day at Arena Casino Tirana. No less than 55 players were seated at the start of the €10,300 PLO Grand Slam Championship hosted by Diamond Poker Series, with the clock reading 136 entries at the end of the night. Last edition's number of 128 has already been surpassed, but it is to be seen if the ambitious €2,000,000 guaranteed prize pool will be met during the remaining two levels of late registration.
When Day 1 finished, the biggest of the 51 bags belonged to Greek player Andreas Zampas, whose stack of 2,388,000 will be worth 240 big blinds when Day 2 starts. Zampas steadily grinded his 200,000 starting stack to seven figures throughout the day, a respectable stack for Day 2. However, during the final two hands of the night, he clashed with Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who had been one of the chipleaders up until that point. Zampas received a full double-up to more than two million while Jachtmann was left with just 107,000 at the end of the night.
Zampas' nearest contender is yesterday's €5,200 Opener champion Tom Vogelsang. Vogelsang had to fire a couple of bullets but was rewarded with a stack of 1,579,000 to bring to Day 2. Like Zampas, Vogelsang earned most of his chips in a late-night clash, in his case against Daniel Tordjman. Other chip millionaires include bracelet winners Dario Alioto and Amir Mozaffarian, as well as Andrew Ige, who sat with Vogelsang at the final table of the Opener.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andreas Zampas | Greece | 2,388,000 | 239 |
| 2 | Tom Vogelsang | Netherlands | 1,579,000 | 158 |
| 3 | Leon Freiholz | Germany | 1,514,000 | 151 |
| 4 | Dario Alioto | Italy | 1,251,000 | 125 |
| 5 | Michail Karapanos | Greece | 1,215,000 | 122 |
| 6 | Andrew Ige | United States | 1,084,000 | 108 |
| 7 | Amir Mozaffarian | Germany | 1,017,000 | 102 |
| 8 | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | 1,000,000 | 100 |
| 9 | Daniel Tordjman | France | 884,000 | 88 |
| 10 | Ronald Keijzer | Netherlands | 851,000 | 85 |
Plenty of other well-known Omaha crushers made it to the end of Day 1 as well. Ronald Keijzer bagged 851,000 thanks to a late surge as he is looking for his second final table of the week. Fellow PLO bracelet holders Ismael Bojang (316,000), Lautaro Guerra (375,000) and Tomas Ribeiro (638,000) bagged up as well, as did Diamond Poker Series serial cashers Giorgos Tsoupras (785,000), Youness Barakat (653,000), and Stanislau Melhui (241,000).
Meanwhile, the likes of Hossein Ensan, Nino Pansier, Elie Nakache, Nikolaos Lampropoulos, Robert Cowen, Joni Jouhkimainen, Blaz Zerjav and hometown hero Arjel Daci, the only player from Albania in the field, will have to try again tomorrow if they want a shot at the title.
Day 2 will restart at 4 p.m. local time tomorrow, January 28, and will have two more levels of late registration. The blind will begin at 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante, with the latest anyone can sit down with a fresh stack of 200,000 being the first hand of Level 12: 10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 big blind ante. Day 2 is scheduled to play down to the final two tables, but the tournament might proceed further if that point is reached early.
Tune back in to PokerNews tomorrow to find out who makes it into the money and will have a shot at becoming the second-ever PLO Grand Slam champion.
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Throughout the day, 136 entries have been made, and 51 of them are bagging up their chips.
Stay tuned for full chip counts and a recap of the first day.
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Michail Karapanos in the big blind and Manuel Fischer under the gun had created a pot of 200,000 when Karapanos checked the completed board of K♣10♠J♣6♦5♠ over to Fischer.
Fischer then went all in for 140,000, sending Karapanos in the tank. Eventually, he tossed in a call with the covering stack.
"You win," Fischer stated as he turned over Q♥Q♣10♦7♣ for a bluff with his queens. Karapanos opened K♠K♥5♣2♥ for top set, raking in the pot as a reward for his hero call.
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Three more hands will be played on each table before the remaining players bag up.
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Three-way to a turn of 6♦10♣5♥K♥, Amir Mozaffarian checked from the big blind to Robert Kaggerud in the hijack. He spent one time bank before choosing to bet 76,000 into the pot of 95,000.
Krasimir Yankov made the call in the cutoff before Mozaffarian quickly got out of the way. Kaggerud needed another time extension before he shoved his stack of 117,000 on the 10♥ river.
This sent Yankov into the tank as well, spending two time banks of his own before letting go of his cards and surrendering the pot.
Level 9
: Blinds 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante
Said Madani raised to 22,000 from early position and was called by Sami Karli in the cutoff. Lautaro Guerra three-bet to 96,000 from the small blind and was called by both players.
Guerra made a small bet of 25,000 on the Q♥A♦2♦ flop, to which Madani folded. Karli made the call, however, prompting Guerra to go all in for 83,000 on the 3♠ turn.
Karli spent some time in the tank but ultimately decided to muck his cards and leave himself around 13 big blinds.
Level: 9
Blinds: 4,000/8,000
Ante: 8,000
Level 8
: Blinds 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Cutoff Darko Konrad checked the 9♠5♦3♣8♣ turn to Amir Mozaffarian on the button. Mozaffarian then added 75,000 to the pot of 92,000, which Konrad called after some deliberation.
The river brought the 10♦, which Konrad checked. Mozaffarian put him all-in for 160,000, and Konrad sent his cards to the muck after spending some time banks and engaging in some table talk.
