Maugini Leads The Way In MPP Open
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
| Rank | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blind |
| 1. | Vittorio Maugini | Italy | 921,000 | 77 |
| 2. | Voziianov Artem | Russia | 834,000 | 70 |
| 3. | Spyrou Spyros | Cyprus | 767,000 | 64 |
| 4. | Georgios Tsouloftas | Cyprus | 655,000 | 55 |
| 5. | Ali Hassan | Lebanon | 641,000 | 53 |
| 6. | Arutiun Saakian | Armenia | 600,000 | 50 |
| 7. | Sergei Sokharev | Russia | 532,000 | 44 |
| 8. | Fabrizio D'Agonstino | Italy | 519,000 | 43 |
| 9. | Ian Gascoigne | United Kingdom | 512,000 | 43 |
| 10 | Sari Haddad | Lebanon | 469,000 | 39 |
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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