Aaron Pahlawani was seen making a bet from the big blind on a flop of 5♦Q♣A♠. His opponent was Tina Bajric in the cutoff, who raised to 36,000. Pahlawani tossed in a call, after which Bajric sized down to 22,000 on the 2♠ turn.
Pahlawani matched the bet once more before checking a third time on the J♣ river. Bajric responded by sliding in a pot-sized bet worth over half of Pahlawani's remaining stack.
The defending champion mulled things over but eventually found a fold, seeing Bajric chip up to nearly three starting stacks.
Youness Barakat and "eee" got their stacks in the middle preflop, with "eee"s 200,000 chips being at risk.
"eee": A♥A♦7♦6♣
Youness Barakat: A♠A♣9♣8♠
Both players improved on the 7♣J♦4♣5♥8♣ runout, but the straight of "eee" was no good against the flush of Barakat, who knocked out his opponent and soared to over three starting stacks.
Tom-Aksel Bedell and defending champion Aaron Pahlawani had raised the button when Aaron Pahlawani made it 7,500 to go from the big blind. Bedell made the call and did so too when Pahlawani continued for 10,000 on the A♥K♠7♣ flop.
The K♥ turn saw Pahlawani double the bet to 20,000, with Bedell sticking around with another call. The Austrian then slowed down on the J♥ river and checked to Bedell.
The Norwegian high roller fired 50,000, enough to force a quick fold from Pahlawani and take down the pot.
The PLO Grand Slam hosted by Diamond Poker Series held its first-ever edition last November at Arena Casino Tirana. After a successful week of four- and five-card action, the festival returns to the Albanian capital for another round. This time around, the guarantees across all tournaments have been increased from €3,000,000 to a staggering €5,000,000 to attract even more players.
The schedule underwent some changes, but the flagship events remain mostly unaltered from last time. The €5,200 PLO Grand Slam Opener starts today with Day 1a and again guarantees a prize pool of €1,000,000. The €10,300 PLO Grand Slam Championship also returns, but has doubled its guarantee to an eye-watering €2,000,000. PokerNews will be on the floor again to live report both tournaments.
2025 PLO Grand Slam Live Reporting Schedule
Date
Starting Time (CET)
Event
Fri 24 Jan
4 p.m.
€5,200 PLO Opener Day 1a
Sat 25 Jan
4 p.m.
€5,200 PLO Opener Day 1b
Sun 26 Jan
2 p.m.
€5,200 PLO Opener Day 2 (Final)
Mon 27 Jan
5 p.m.
€10,300 PLO Championship Day 1
Tue 28 Jan
4 p.m.
€10,300 PLO Championship Day 2
Wed 29 Jan
2 p.m.
€10,300 PLO Championship Day 3 (Final)
Last time, the Opener drew 210 entries, breaking the European record for a PLO tournament at that price point but barely missing the guarantee. It was conquered by Aaron Pahlawani from Austria, who took home €176,100 after striking a deal with his heads up opponent Pavel Izotov. Izotov, meanwhile, was awarded the biggest bag with a score of €194,400.
Aaron Pahlawani
Day 1a will kick off at 4 p.m. local time and is the first of two starting days for this event. Day 1b starts tomorrow at the same time while the tournament will conclude with Day 2 on Sunday, January 26. As with every event this series, players who register before the start of play will receive ten percent on top of their starting stack of 200,000. All players who register during level one, 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante, also get bonus chips, but they are halved to five percent.
Day 1a will play 11 levels of 45 minutes, ending with 6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 big blind ante, after which the surviving players bag up for Day 2. A 45-minute dinner break is scheduled after Level 7, around 8:30 p.m. local time, while the end of the day will be reached around 1:30 a.m. local time. Players can register and reenter throughout the day as the late registration will remain open until the start of the second level on Day 2.
€5,200 PLO Opener Day 1a Structure
Level
Duration (min)
Small Blind
Big Blind
Big Blind Ante
1
45
500
1,000
1,000
2
45
1,000
1,500
1,500
3
45
1,000
2,000
2,000
Break
15
4
45
1,000
2,500
2,500
5
45
1,500
3,000
3,000
Break
15
6
45
2,000
4,000
4,000
7
45
2,000
5,000
5,000
Break
45
8
45
3,000
6,000
6,000
9
45
4,000
8,000
8,000
10
45
5,000
10,000
10,000
11
45
6,000
12,000
12,000
Only on Day 1a will the two players with the most entries be awarded a free ticket to the €10,300 Championship, assuring plenty of action. So stay tuned to PokerNews as a new edition of the PLO Grand Slam gets underway.
