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Vladislav Fedoseev ended Day 1a of the $500 PokerNews Cup as the chip leader as 16 players survived from the field of 108 entrants at the 2022 Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party at the Merit Royal Hotel & Casino in North Cyprus. All surviving players have locked up a minimum cash and will return for Day 2 on Wednesday.
The Russian ended the day with 365,000 after over twelve hours of action. The other two big stacks were direct to the right of Fedoseev as him along with Ismail Kalkan (326,000) and Veselin Petrov (321,000) hoarded the chips. Also ending the day in the top five chip stacks was Viktor Utrobin (271,000) who enjoyed a late surge in the day as he went from small stack to big stack quickly after he scored a double knockout with pocket aces.
$500 PokerNews Cup Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vladislav Fedoseev | Russia | 365,000 |
| 2 | Ismail Kalkan | Germany | 326,000 |
| 3 | Veselin Petrov | Bulgaria | 321,000 |
| 4 | Viktor Utrobin | Russia | 271,000 |
| 5 | Konstantinos Nanos | Greece | 262,000 |
| 6 | Shakir Dadabaev | Uzbekistan | 226,000 |
| 7 | Gabriel Akiki | Lebanon | 215,000 |
| 8 | Gheorghe Butuc | Moldova | 199,000 |
| 9 | Elie Farah | Lebanon | 194,000 |
| 10 | Serge Noel | Canada | 182,000 |
Other notables who bagged included Konstantinos Nanos (262,000), Gabriel Akiki (215,000) and Bassel Moussa (120,000).
Gabriel Akiki was one of the big stacks throughout much of the day when his aces dominated Ismail Kalkan's ace-king in an 80 big blind pot which moved Akiki into the chip lead. However the tides turned and ultimately Kalkan ended the day with more chips.
Dimitrios Farmakoulis was the bubble boy as he lost a flip as his ace-nine couldn’t beat Ismail Kalkan’s pocket fives.
Those who didn’t make it to Day 2 will have more chances tomorrow where two more flights will be taking place. At 12 p.m. local time Day 1b will commence which will be a repeat of flight 1a with levels lasting 40-minutes in length. For those who would prefer a faster pacing Day 1c is a turbo flight with 20-minute levels which commences from 8 p.m. local time. Both flights start with 30,000 chips and blinds at 100/100.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all four days of action as the latest PokerNews Cup champion will be crowned on Thursday 1st September.
flop. The turn came the 
which gave Beg extra outs. The river came the 
which gave Beg a straight to earn a much needed double up.
and action checked around. The turn was the 
and it was certainly an action card. Players checked to Kalkan in the cutoff who put in a pot-sized bet of 31,000. While the small blind called, Beg called and Farmakoulis deliberated for nearly a minute before going all in for 82,000. Kalkan snap-called while beg sat there in agony, wondering what to do. The floor was eventually called and Beg folded 
face up.
arrived on the river, resulting in a chopped pot.
which gave little hope for Kalkan who was drawing dead on the 
. There was no drama as the turn came the 
and the river the 
board, Gabriel Akiki went all in from the big blind for 69,500.
.
for the win, eliminating Afsharorumieh, who was one of the flight's bigger stacks most of the day.
board and Afshin Afsharorumieh, from the hijack, put out a bet of 16,000 and placed his chips directly in front of Bernard Samaha, who sat directly to his left.
for third pair and took down the huge pot.
