Day 1b of Event #7: $2,200 Warm Up Completed; Rheem Remains
Day 1b of Event #7: $2,200 Warm Up from the Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party has been completed with all remaining players in the money.
After 18 levels on Day 1b, it has come to a close with 258 entrants (including 50 reentries) sitting down throughout the day. Only 39 of them will return with chips for Day 2. It’s worth mentioning, that for those that did make Day 2, there will be an enforced 30-second shot clock in play. Players will have time extension cards they can use during the day's play.
Some great and well known players came and went today, including Pavlo Veksler, Florian Duta, Melika Razavi, Dzmitry Urbanovich, and two-time bracelet winner Manig Loeser just to name a few.
Some of of the most notable players returning with chips for Day 2 are Chino Rheem (237,000), Pavel Plesuv (980,000), and Artur Martirosyan (401,000).
Simon Higgins (870,00) busted his first bullet and then with what seemed like a blink of an eye, span his 50,000 starting stack after reentering to almost 500,000 at one point. Rheem had some good fortune midway through the day after he went on a busting spree, getting three of them in quick succession. Ian Gascoigne also enjoyed an excellent second half of the day, returning with 368,000 chips.
$2,000 Warm Up Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pavel Plesuv | Moldova | 980,000 |
| 2 | Milos Skrbic | Serbia | 974,000 |
| 3 | Simon Higgins | United Kingdom | 870,000 |
| 4 | Denis Vitchenko | Russia | 822,000 |
| 5 | Chady El Ojeil | Lebanon | 541,000 |
| 6 | Erdal Gulseven | Turkey | 530,000 |
| 7 | Ihar Soika | Belarus | 457,000 |
| 8 | Denis Pisarev | Russia | 456,000 |
| 9 | Andrey Litvinov | Russia | 435,000 |
| 10 | Abdullah Alajmi | Lebanon | 421,000 |
The bubble ended when the field went down from 42 to 39, with three players apparently busting in one hand to take all the remaining players to Day 2.
With a $2,000,000 guarantee, it looks highly likely that will be smashed as there are still two flights remaining and they’ve already had 440 entrants. Anyone that busted Day 1a or Day 1b can jump back into the action (and reenter once per flight) for Day 1c and 1d, which will both run on Saturday, August 27.
PokerNews will bring you all the Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party updates live from the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Casino in North Cyprus.
benefitting Plesuv, as he held up to send Veksler to the rail. The man that sits atop the Moldova all-time money list has increased his stack to a very healthy amount. He will be certainly one to watch if he makes it to Day 2 with a stack like he currently has. His fellow compatriot, Dragos Trofimov (who sits second on that list) was pictured next to Chino Rheem earlier today, but has since bust.
, the hijack bet 17,000 and was called by Ian Gascoigne in the big blind, but the bet garnered a fold from the player in middle position. 
completed and paired the board. The hijack bet 26,000 but was met with a raise of 56,000 from Gascoigne. The hijack who was enjoying a massage looked disgusted with the raise, shaking their head in disbelief. 
for the flush. Gascoigne has gained an above-average stack.
. His opponent went deep into thought taking a chip and rubbing it against his forehead.
, Chino Rheem bet 15,000 from the hijack and was called by Panayiotis Vassiliou who was under the gun. 
fell on the turn and Rheem fired a bet of 30,000. Vassiliou went deep into the tank for over two minutes before moving all of their chips across the betting line for 93,000. Rheem immediately called. 
completed the board to send the Cypriot to the rail and Rheem claims another victim and huge pot.
, Chino Rheem had bet 13,000 from early position into Dragos Trofimov on his direct left. Trofimov made the call and they saw a turn. 
brought an all in from Rheem for about 45,000, which was approximately a pot-sized bet. Trofimov almost beat him into the pot, but not with chips, as his two cards hit the muck very quickly facing the jam.
