Schemion Still in the Race to Become First 2-Time MCOP Champion
Day 1a of the Master Classics of Poker attracted a field of 96 players to Amsterdam. Some of the biggest players locally visited Holland Casino, as did a small legion of internationally renowned players. After nine 60-minute levels of play, 54 players bagged chips. They'll return on November 21st, as the Main Event goes on a small hiatus before Day 1b gets underway on Tuesday.
Dutchman Daan Mulders, who recorded 2 nice cashes in Barcelona this year, finished up top. He built his 30,000 starting stack into an empire of chips worth 159,000. Mulders skyrocketed to the top of the leaderboard early on after calling November Niner Jorryt van Hoof down with king-nine for a flopped two-pair. Van Hoof was bluffing the river, knowing his aces weren't good anymore. Mulders wasn't folding and was up to almost 100,000 before half the field had even taken their seats. Mulders dropped down all the way back to starting stack after losing with full house over full house. Mulders wasn't so sure he would survive, he said, but it turned out his worries were unjustified. In a short period of time, he took a tablemate's complete stack winning aces against ace-king and ace-queen against king-queen.
Day 1a was full of extraordinary hands, with Sander van Wesemael suffering the most cruel one. He got it in with a backdoored ace-high flush on an unpaired board, only to find out his opponent Marc MacDonnell had made runner runner straight-flush. Van Wesemael bounced back though, bagging 71,800, while MacDonnell would finish the day with just 9,200 in chips.
Ole Schemion, arguably the biggest name to enter the event on Day 1a, had an excellent day at the tables. He doesn't play as frequently as he used to, but the MCOP in Amsterdam probably isn't a tournament Schemion plans on missing anytime soon. Schemion won the Main Event here back in 2012 (€286,200) and won the Super High Roller here last year (€160,875). While his aces got cracked by five-deuce at one point today, he ended the day with a solid 96,100.
Other big stacks to finish the day are Marijn van Puffelen (144,400), Wim Anne Wesselink (102,500), Orpen Kisacikoglu (95,800) and Jan Eric Schwippert (90,900).
Play in the Main Event resumes at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, November 21st. For the first time this year, a turbo Day 1c is scheduled for 10 p.m. that day. Players have the option to reenter once per flight, and once more before the start-of-play on Day 2. So even those who have busted, like Govert Metaal, Claas Segebrecht, and November Niner Michiel Brummelhuis, still have plenty of options to try and become the next MCOP champion.
On Saturday, the €25,500 Super High Roller starts. PokerNews.com will be on the ground to cover that event from start to finish, so keep your eyes out for updates from that event this weekend.
and Van Wesemael bet 1,800. Both of his opponents called. 
hit the turn, MacDonnell bet 5,600. Vranken folded, Van Wesemael called.
completed the board and MacDonnell bet 15,000 with 30,500 behind. Van Wesemael shoved and MacDonnell snap-called.
for the ace-high flush, but it turned out to be no good. MacDonnell tabled 
for the straight flush and collected the giant pot.
(2 spades), 
, 
.
for nothing much, Ensan tabled 
for 4th pair.
turn. This time, Helppi bet 6,000. Wesselink shoved for around 21,000 and Helppi called.
and Stegeman bet 3,500. De Vries called, Roovers folded.
turn, betting 7,500. De Vries called once more.
for the second nuts, De Vries mucked but was forced to show his 
since it was an all in and call situation.
turn and MacDonnell called once more.
saw the big blind check. Arends shoved and the big blind tanked for a bit before he called.
. Arends was left with 2,500 after the hand.
