After twelve levels, Day 1a of the 2024 Mediterranean Poker Party $5,300 Main Event came to an end, here at the beautiful Merit Royal Diamond Hotel in Northern Cyprus. A total of 349 entrants were recorded on this first flight of the event, but only 88 players managed to reach the end of the day.
During the last hands, a player who prefers to be nicknamed "Ali G" asked a few times if he was the chip leader. And it seems like he was, as he ended up the day with 3,300,000 chips. He is followed by Georgios Tsouloftas (2,740,000), George Panagides (2,700,000 and Ermanno Di Nicola (2,690,000) while Raimonds Ozolins, who held the biggest stack for a long moment today, lost chips at the end of the day to finish with 2,230,000.
$5,300 Mediterranean Poker Party Main Event Top 10
| Place | Player | Country | Chip count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ali G | - | 3,300,000 | 110 |
| 2 | Georgios Tsouloftas | Cyprus | 2,740,000 | 91 |
| 3 | George Panagides | Cyprus | 2,700,000 | 90 |
| 4 | Ermanno Di Nicola | Italy | 2,690,000 | 90 |
| 5 | Samuel Kabelitz | Austria | 2,350,000 | 78 |
| 6 | Jovan Kenjic | Serbia | 2,260,000 | 75 |
| 7 | Raimonds Ozolins | United Kingdom | 2,230,000 | 74 |
| 8 | Kemal Aslan | Turkey | 2,195,000 | 73 |
| 9 | Dawid Smolka | Poland | 2,190,000 | 73 |
| 10 | Konstantin Held | Germany | 2,070,000 | 69 |
EPT Monte-Carlo finalists Jovan Kenjic (2,260,000) and Boris Angelov (835,000) or Kemal Aslan (2,195,000) also bagged chips, as well as WSOP bracelet winners David Miscikowski (2,035,000) and Alex Keating. The American player won a three-way all in and call situation today to build a 2,030,000 chip-stack.
With 1,945,000 chips, Kuljinder Sidhu made his way to Day 2, followed by France's "Three Musketeers" Cedric Schwaederle (1,630,000), Romain Retiere (1,285,000) and Clément Meunier (1,205,000). Merit Poker regular player Roman Gadzhiev (1,115,000) or Erdal Gulseven (1,025,000) also secured a spot on Day 2, and the same goes for Sergi Reixach (1,015,000).
Runner-up of the $10,400 MPP LO High Roller last night for $105,600, Stefan Lehner jumped in Day 1a today, but he ended the day with only 350,000 chips, just a few blinds more than the starting stack.
However unlike Lehner, some notable players who entered Day 1a will have to come back on Day 1b to qualify, like Jessica Teusl, Jack Sinclair, Niall Farrell, Dominik Nitsche, Ankit Ahuja, Felipe Ketzer or Hassan Nashar.
The $5,300 MPP Main Event picks up again tomorrow, May 08 with Day 1b starting at noon local time. Stay tuned for more coverage as PokerNews brings you all the action from the remainder of the festival along the shores of the Mediterranean in North Cyprus.
