This sixth season kicked off just about 24 hours ago as the first flight of 129 players took their seats here in the Kyiv Sports Palace. At the end of seven levels, 93 of them bagged up their checks for a two-day soak in the cage. They'll have today off to see the sights of Kyiv before returning for the combined Day 2 on Thursday.
Today, then, the event will dawn with a new batch of runners, and the staff is optimistic for a stronger turnout than yesterday. The magic number seems to be 171; if we can manage that, we'll have assembled a respectably healthy field of 300 total entrants. Players are just now beginning to file into their seats as the dealers check the decks and stack out the chips.
With no opening ceremonies to get through, we expect to be underway a bit closer to the scheduled starting time today. Cards will be in the air just after noon local time, so go stretch your legs and get ready for Day 1b!
, and a bet of 500 from the small blind pushed Minieri out.
, Minieri continued with a bet of 450, and his opponent folded. 
. Lunkin's opponent had pushed out a bet of 2,500 from middle position. Lunkin, in the cutoff, thought for a minute before finally shrugging and letting his hand go. 
, and Stelmak checked. Deeb stacked out 2,125 chips and fired them into the pot in the direction of his opponent. After some consideration, Stelmak grabbed one chip of each color and made a rainbow check-raise to 6,625. Deeb shrugged his shoulders and put in the call.
and a bet of 8,500 from Stelmak. Deeb said something in the direction of Stelmak, but the Russian had his earphones in. "Huh??" he asked. "Nothing, nothing," said Deeb, going back to his deep thinking. After a minute or two, he splashed in the calling chips.
, and Deeb was proud to flip over his 
, that great call earning him a double up to 56,000.
