Iurii Suvorov opened 80,000 under the gun, and Baris Caliskan shoved 715,000 from a couple of spots to his left. Edgard Raffoul was in the big blind and piled his stack of 910,000 across the line as well, and Suvorov made the call.
Baris Caliskan: A♠K♣
Edgard Raffoul: A♦K♥
Iurii Suvorov: Q♣Q♥
Suvorov was in great shape until the K♠9♦5♥ flop hit the felt, pairing the king for both of his opponents. The board completed with the 6♣ on the turn, and the A♣ on the river, improving Caliskan and Raffoul to two pair.
Patrick Brooks opened 80,000 in the cutoff before Szabolcs Solymosi jammed his stack of about 650,000 across the line from the small blind. The big blind quickly folded, and Brooks made the call.
Szabolcs Solymosi: A♣K♦
Patrick Brooks: K♥K♠
Solymosi whipped his cards face up in anger as he saw the kings of Brooks, and as the dealer fanned the 8♠4♣3♠ flop, he started to walk away from the table. The dealer completed the board with the 9♣ turn, and 8♣ river for Brooks' kings to hold and Solymosi was eliminated from the tournament.
All of the chips went in the middle before the flop, and it was Sinan Unlu at risk for roughly 600,000 against Edgard Raffoul.
Sinan Unlu: K♣J♣
Edgard Raffoul: A♠A♥
It was bad timing for Unlu as he ran into the best hand in the deck, and the Q♣7♠3♦ flop wasn't looking promising. The 6♣ turn gave him a sliver of hope as he picked up a flush draw, but the 9♦ river was no help as he exited the table in 17th place.
16 players remain as they bag their chips for Day 2 on Saturday, May 4th.
After 17 levels of play that took players until 12:00 a.m. local time to sort through, the first flight of Event #1: $1,100 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty at Mediterranean Poker Party from the beautiful Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Casino has concluded.
Just 16 players remain from a starting field of 107, which includes 16 reentries that took to the tables in Northern Cyprus for their chance at a massive first-place prize. The current players will take their stacks to Day 2 which continues on Saturday, with four more Day 1 flights to be played prior to. All players remaining have made the money, but those who did not can enter each of the next flights twice each, giving plenty of opportunity for players to pounce on a chance at the $1,000,000 guarantee.
At the end of the day, it was United Kingdom’s Patrick Brooks bagging the chiplead with an impressive stack of 3,600,000. He managed to win a couple of hands late in the day, including when his pocket kings held against the ace-king of Szabolcs Solymosi to send him to the rail. Following closely is Petros Georgiou bagging a total of 3,275,000, and with more than a million chips less, is Fausto Tantillo who finished the day with 2,010,000 to round the top three stacks.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Patrick Brooks
United Kingdom
3,600,000
2
Petros Georgiou
Iran
3,275,000
3
Fausto Tantillo
Italy
2,010,000
4
Edgard Raffoul
Lebanon
1,975,000
5
Damir Gabdullin
Russian Federation
1,965,000
6
Ivan Zabiyakin
Russian Federation
1,775,000
7
Aleksandr Pustovoy
Russian Federation
1,330,000
8
Murat Ozcoban
Turkey
1,060,000
9
Baris Caliskan
Turkey
910,000
10
Colin Gillon
United Kingdom
815,000
Romain Retiere
There were plenty of notables who entered the first of five flights, but not all were fortunate to survive the day including, Romain Retiere, Katherina Aristotelos, and Sinan Unlu. However, they still have plenty of chances as three more flights commence over the next two days.
Day 1b is currently underway at the time of writing, with registration still open and 121 entries tallied thus far to bring the total number to 212.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of this €1,100 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty here at the Mediterranean Poker Party.
