2022 Mediterranean Poker Party

Day 1b has come to a close after 14 hours of intense poker action the $1,000 Event #1 MPP Open at the beautiful Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus.

A total of 256 players entered Day 1b and 38 have moved forward to Day 2 which will be played on Monday August 23rd.

Italy's Vittorio Maugini is the Day 1b chip leader and amassed a colossal 921,000 chips. Maugini also claimed the elimination of bubble-boy Damir Zhugralin after the Italian's pocket jacks held.

It was a rollercoaster of a day for Zhugralin who at one point reached 653,000, which was double the average stack at the end of play, however, the Kazakhstani was the last player to exit the field but will most certainly play Day 1c.

Russia's Voziianov Artem is in second place with 834,000 and the sharp-dressed Cypriot Spyrou Spryos is in the third place with 767,000.

$1,000 Event #1 MPP Open Top Ten

Highlights of the Day

Ian Gascoigne gained a double-up on the bubble against Arutiun Saakian. The Armenian Saakian was moving all in every hand as the bubble neared and Gascoigne prospered when their pocket Queens beat Saakian's ace-rag.

After a strong performance at the World Series of Poker, Aylar Lie showed impressive form but failed just short of the money after their pair of queens succumbed to a set of jacks.

Ali Fkih was the beneficiary of a misclick after the small blind intended to break Fkih's 5,000 chip when the action was on the small blind. The floor ruled that it would be classed as a raise. Francesco Vitali tried to take advantage of this error by making a raise to 9,000 but Fkih moved all in. Fkih won the pot with pocket aces which beat Vitali's pocket tens.

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Damir Zhugralin moved all in from the hijack for his last 142,000 and next to act Vittorio Maugini called next to act. It then folded to the big blind Denis Vitchenko who went deep into the tank for several minutes, asking the floor the if he would chop a min-cash if he called and busted in the same hand as Zhugralin, to which the answer was no. Eventually he let it go showing .

Damir Zhugralin:
Vittorio Maugini:

The board ran out to send the much covered player Zhugralin to the rail in 39th, putting everyone else into the money and ending Day 1b.

A full recap of the days action including chip counts will be available shortly.

Players have exited the tournament floor for a short ten-minute break.

Only 40 players remain meaning only two eliminations are needed to end play for the day.

Michel Habib moved all in from the button for 80,000 and was called by Koray Korkmaz in the big blind.

Michel Habib:
Koray Korkmaz:

Habib was ahead but the board of produced an eight on the flop to give Korkmaz the win and sends Habib to the exit just short of the money.

With action folding around to the short stacked Volodymyr Drokin, he moved all in from the small blind for 62,000 and was quickly called by Iurii Brechalov in the big blind.

Volodymyr Drokin:
Iurii Brechalov:

It was a cooler and the run out kept Drokin ahead with a straight, giving him a much needed double.

Three players were all in preflop with Bilal Barraj on the button at risk for 84,000 and Andrea Radicchi in the cutoff for 112,000. Dmitry Gromov in middle position covered both players.

Bilal Barraj:
Andrea Radicchi:
Dmitry Gromov:

A dream scenario for Barraj as their opponents canceled each other out. However, there was a sweat for Gromov on the flop giving them a flush draw.

The board ran clean however for Barraj as was put on the felt and scored a massive triple-up.

Players are on a 15-minute break, after which 44 players will return and play down to the final 38 before the day ends.

Blinds will be 5,000 / 10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante when players are back to it.