Registration is now closed, and the numbers therefore official. Day 1a of this year's Snowfest has drawn 180 players - that's a significant drop from last year, when Day 1a drew 270 players. We're not sure what's brought about this change, although we suspect that the draw of several other tournaments in Europe this week, as well as excellent skiing conditions here in Hinterglemm this week, have all contributed.
John Duthie just squeezed a good amount of value out on the river of a 
betting 1,500 in a blind on blind tussle against Aleksey Tkachenko.
The Russian called but mucked when he couldn't beat Duthie's 
Alex Kravchenko might be scary to most, but Nikolai Senninger manage to best the Russian just now when he called Kravchenko's preflop raise to 525 out of the small blind.
Kravchenko fired 525 again on the 
and Senninger called before both checked the 
turn. The 
river saw Senninger now fire out 1,150 and Kravchenko counted out the chips with one hand before passing with the other.
Ireland's John O'Shea has just lost a decent sized pot but still managed to force a smile, maybe because he still has 41,000 chips.
We caught up with the hand with O'Shea heads up against Andrey Mitlyansky on a flop reading 
and picked up as O'Shea bet 700 then called a raise to 2,000 from the Russian.
The turn brought the 
into play and this time O'Shea checked then called a bet of 2,500 from Mitlyansky. The river was the 
and again O'Shea checked and was sent into the tank when his opponent tossed a solitary yellow 5,000 chip into the pot. After around a minute O'Shea folded and Mitlyansky mucked.
James Mitchell, the 2010 Irish Open Champion, is climbing up the chip counts after winning a nice pot from Andrey Gulyy.
With the board reading 
Gulyy check-called a 2,600 bet from Mr Mitchell. The 
popped up on the river and once again Gulyy checked and was met with a large bet of 6,325 from Mitchell. This was enough to send Gulyy into the tank for almost two minutes and when he emerged he made the call, creating a 22,000 pot.
However, the pot was shipped in Mitchell's direction as he turned over 
for a flopped set. Gulyy quickly mucked so we will never know what he held.
Level: 4
Blinds: 150/300
Ante: 0
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
55,000
21,000
|
21,000 |
|
||
|
44,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
|
||
|
40,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
39,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
30,100
6,100
|
6,100 |
|
|
||
|
28,000
8,750
|
8,750 |
|
28,000
7,800
|
7,800 |
|
|
||
|
27,200
8,800
|
8,800 |
|
|
||
|
24,200
5,800
|
5,800 |
|
|
||
John O'Shea, who made two side event finals at EPT Prague late last year and made the last three tables at EPT London, is looking in pretty good shape to go deep in this Main Event after picking up a decent-sized pot with the precious pocket aces.
We got there in time to witness Constantin Meyer check-calling a bet of around 2,000 from O'Shea on the turn of the 
board. Meyer check-called again on the 
river, but we never got to see his hand. He mucked as soon as O'Shea had revealed his rockets, and the Irishman is up to 51,000.
Kristijonas Andrulis opened preflop to 425 before Pascal Lefrancois made it 1,100 from middle position. Andrulis then 4-bet to 2,675 and Lefrancois looked a little unsure briefly but then made the call.
The flop was 
and Andrulis fired 2,000 and Lefrancois made the call to see a turn where Andrulis fired a second time, betting 5,800. Lefrancois took longer to think about his hand this time but then called once more.
The river was the 
and now Andrulis bet 13,700 and Lefrancois thought even longer before finally making the call leaving himself just 8,000 behind.
The Lithuanian showed 
for an unlikely rivered straight while Lefrancois rolled his eyes in disbelief.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
72,000
22,000
|
22,000 |
