Vitchenko Leads and Rezaei Toward the Top After Day 1a of the $5,300 Main Event
Day 1a of the $5,300 Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party Main Event has reached the end of the day after eight one-hour levels of play here at the pristine Merit Royal Diamond Hotel on the northern shores of North Cyprus.
The day attracted a total of 132 entries, 114 of which were unique entries and 18 were reentries. Well over half of those entries remained at the end of the day as the deep structure allowed 71 players to find a bag.
Leading the surviving players was Denis Vitchenko who bagged an impressive 538,500, most of which he accumulated in the middle part of the day and then again at the end.
Top 10 Day 1a Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Denis Vitchenko | Russia | 538,500 | 269 |
| 2 | Daniel Rezaei | Austria | 516,500 | 258 |
| 3 | Mehdi Chaoui | France | 498,500 | 249 |
| 4 | Alexandre Vuilleumier | Switzerland | 495,500 | 248 |
| 5 | Chakib M'hiri | Tunisia | 395,500 | 198 |
| 6 | Charbel Ibrahim | Lebanon | 391,000 | 195 |
| 7 | Eduard Bargsegyan | Russia | 373,000 | 186 |
| 8 | Luca Stenavato | Italy | 348,500 | 174 |
| 9 | Giovanni Giuduce | Italy | 346,500 | 173 |
| 10 | Ondrej Drozd | Czech Republic | 325,500 | 163 |
Daniel Rezaei of Austria was next as he bagged 516,500. He was spotted at the very end of the last level with a huge stack as the majority of his wealth came in the final few hands of the night. Rezaei is certainly a player to keep an eye on moving forward as he has amassed $1.6 million in career earnings thus far.
Mehdi Chaoui was another player to bag a big stack with 498,500 and Alexandre Vuilleumier was right on his tail with 495,500.
Well-known Brazilian high roller regular Pedro Garagnani was one of the players to make an appearance today and he was able to advance to Day 2 with a healthy stack of 272,000. Andrea Ricci (207,000} and Ryan Yu (118,500) were also among the group to bag their stacks at the end of the day.
Another player to advance to Day 2 was none other than Espen Jorstad, who has made his presence here in North Cyprus felt already. The Norweigan will have to make a move on Day 2 as he bagged slightly under starting stack with 95,000.
The 71 players who advanced to Day 2 will return to action Thursday September 1 at 12 p.m. where they will join up with the survivors of Days 1b and 1c, which will take place over the next two days.
PokerNews will continue coverage of the Main Event tomorrow at 12 p.m. local time for Day 1b.
and O'Dwyer bet another 14,000.
fell on the turn. He checked and O'Dwyer continued for 48,000. Vuilleumier then shoved all in and O'Dwyer quickly called for around 150,000.
for top pair, while Vuilleumier showed 
for straight and flush draws. The 
on the river improved O'Dwyer to two pair, but it completed Vuilleumier's straight as O'Dwyer made a quick walk to the exit near the end of the night.
flop but improved no further as the board ran out 
, sending him to the exit.
for a boat, which crushed Tuna's holding of 
as Zhugralin gathered a double.
and Zakharov bet 10,000, getting rid of Tuna and leaving him heads-up with a chance to bust Chobineh.
for top pair. Chobineh had 
for two pair before handing over the pot.
for ace-high. Giudice slammed down his 
on the turn. Andrei Kaigorodtcev made a small bet of 1,200 into a pot of around 7,000 from early position. 
