$1,100 NLH MPP Open Day 1b | 2022 Mediterranean Poker Party

$1,100 NLH MPP Open

Day 1b Completed

08-21-2022 03:25 UTC+3

Maugini Leads The Way In MPP Open

Chris Bean

Level 18 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

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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08-21-2022 03:02 UTC+3

End of Day Chip Counts (full)

Chris Bean

Level 18 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Vittorio Maugini	921,000

Voziianov Artem	834,000 302,000	302,000
Spyrou Spyros	767,000 562,000	562,000
Georgios Tsouloftas	655,000 115,000	115,000
Ali Hassan	641,000 337,000	337,000
Arutiun Saakian	600,000 250,000	250,000
Sergey Sokharev	532,000 277,000	277,000
Fabrizio D'Agostino	519,000 425,500	425,500
Ian Gascoigne	512,000 436,500	436,500
Sari Haddad	469,000 419,000	419,000
Georgios Skarparis	421,000 69,000	69,000
Iurii Brechalov	357,000 -23,000	-23,000
Dmitry Gromov	355,000 145,000	145,000

Jihad Bejjani	344,000 344,000	344,000
Aktag Firat	328,000 52,000	52,000
Koray Korkmaz	327,000 -43,000	-43,000
Nazim Kilic	327,000 -59,000	-59,000
Antonio Failla	288,000 288,000	288,000
Mikhail Zavoloka	280,000 280,000	280,000
Motokatsu Uhara	272,000 272,000	272,000
Edgard Raffoul	265,000 -118,000	-118,000
Andrea Radicchi	262,000 234,000	234,000
Vyacheslav Pak	230,000 -85,000	-85,000
Cengiz Kagan	202,000 202,000	202,000
Ravil Khamatgareev	189,000 189,000	189,000

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08-21-2022 02:36 UTC+3

Zhugralin Bubbles Day 1b

Toogood32

Level 18 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

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.

Player	Chips	Progress
Vittorio Maugini	921,000 636,000	636,000

Denis Vitchenko	115,000 115,000	115,000
Damir Zhugralin	Busted

Tags: Damir Zhugralin Denis Vitchenko Vittorio Maugini

08-21-2022 01:54 UTC+3

Short Break

Chris Bean

Level 18 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

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.

08-21-2022 01:46 UTC+3

Korkmaz Sends Habib To The Rail

Chris Bean

Level 18 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

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.

Player	Chips	Progress
Koray Korkmaz	370,000 200,000	200,000
Michel Habib	Busted

08-21-2022 01:34 UTC+3

Drokin Doubles Through Brechalov

Toogood32

Level 18 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

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.

Player	Chips	Progress
Iurii Brechalov	380,000 -270,000	-270,000
Volodymyr Drokin	134,000

08-21-2022 01:27 UTC+3

Barraj Triples Up

Chris Bean

Level 18 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

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: