Elena Yasyuchenya Top Chip Counts at End of Day 1b of the PokerNews Cup
Elena Yasyuchenya bagged big as she ended Day 1b of the $500 PokerNews Cup chip leader as 21 players joined the 16 players who survived from flight 1a yesterday for Day 2 at the 2022 Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party at the Merit Royal Hotel & Casino in North Cyprus.
They will also be joined by the 13 surviving players from the turbo flight 1c which will finish late into the night. The total numbers of the field was 332 meaning that 50 players will return for Day 2, where all players will be in the money.
Yasyuchenya failed to bag on Day 1a but returned today for Day 1b where she ended the day with 485,000. Yasyuchenya had a healthy stack all day and was never grinding a short stack. Yasyuchenya became one of the biggest stacks in the room when she eliminated Radoslaw Kopec with a straight where he flopped two pair.
Other players who were at the top of the chip counts included Ozcan Barut (382,000) and Celine Zimmermann (376,000); who was also returning from yesterday’s flight.
$500 PokerNews Cup Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elena Yasyuchenya | Russia | 485,000 |
| 2 | Ozcan Barut | Turkey | 382,000 |
| 3 | Celine Zimmermann | Spain | 376,000 |
| 4 | Ercan Hasan | Turkey | 338,000 |
| 5 | James O'Brien | Ireland | 300,000 |
| 6 | Mehdi Chaoui | France | 272,000 |
| 7 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | 267,000 |
| 8 | Arnaud Enselme | France | 222,000 |
| 9 | Nikolay Fal | Russia | 203,000 |
| 10 | Menedimoas Dimitriou | Cyprus | 200,000 |
Other notables who will return for Day 2 tomorrow include Nikolay Fal (203,000) who’s had success at Merit tournaments before winning the $3,000 Main Event earlier this year in North Cyprus for $326,153 as well as Dmitry Gromov (267,000) who’s also a veteran of the Merit Poker circuit. WSOP bracelet winner Arnaud Enselme (222,000) also survived to Day 2.
Reinis Reinbergs ended up being the bubble boy when he shoved his final eight big blinds with ace eight suited only to be eliminated at the hands of Dmitry Koleznev with his ace ten suited. Other notable hands throughout the day included Stefan Drusca hero calling with king high against Argery Argyrou which allowed Drusca to survive the day and make it to day 2.
Day 2 will resume from 12 p.m. local time where the final 50 will battle it out to go deep in the tournament. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the remaining action as the latest PokerNews cup champion will be crowned on Thursday 1st September.
which was no help for Reinbergs. The turn was the 
and the river was the 
to ensure the bubble burst via Koleznev's elimination. 
and Kopec continued for 12,000. Yasyuchenya made the call.
turn, Kopec took about 45 seconds before he fired a second barrel for 15,000. Yasyuchenya needed a little more than a minute herself before raising to 35,000. Kopec would take over a minute before making the call himself.
and Kopec took a little over a minute before leading all in for about 58,000. Yasyuchenya snap-called.
for the straight.
, adding further pain to Aslan as he lost one of his three queen outs.
, which gave Erkman the flush and the win and Aslan was drawing stone dead.
completed the board and Aslan was left with just 9,000 chips behind.
and the big blind continued for 20,000. Mehrabian moved all in for 75,000 effective. His opponent went into the tank before folding in which she said "Show one." Mehrabian accepted her request and showed 
as he took in the chips.
turn, Mehrabian fired in a bet of 4,000 and was quickly called.
for top two pair, which drew a loud scoff from the button as Mehrabian scooped the pot.
and Drusca fired again, this time for 7,500 and got his opponent to fold.
