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Another day at the 2025 Mediterranean Poker Party means another starting flight of the $5,300 Main Event. Day 1c will begin at noon local time at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, being the last regularly structured starting flight of the event. However, two more turbo flights are in store for those unfortunate enough not to make it through Day 1c, with Day 1d starting up at 8 p.m. local time today, and the last-minute Day 1e being scheduled at noon tomorrow, a few hours before Day 2 will commence.
The collected prize money has reached just over half the $5,000,000 guarantee after Day 1a and Day 1b, with 582 entries registered, of which 143 have already punched their ticket to Day 2. Leading the pack is Day 1a chipleader Aren Bezhanyan, being the only person to eclipse 4,000,000 in the counts. The biggest stack on Day 1b, meanwhile, belonged to Dmitry Kataev, although with 3,400,000, he gathered significantly fewer chips than Bezhanyan, who ended Day 1a with 4,250,000.
Day 1a and Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aren Bezhanyan | Armenia | 4,245,000 | 142 |
| 2 | Dmitry Kataev | Russian Federation | 3,400,000 | 113 |
| 3 | Viktor Mukhin | Russian Federation | 3,060,000 | 102 |
| 4 | Iurii Okolovich | Russian Federation | 2,945,000 | 98 |
| 5 | Aleksandr Blokhin | Russian Federation | 2,825,000 | 94 |
| 6 | Anatoly Zlotnikov | Russian Federation | 2,785,000 | 93 |
| 7 | Artsiom Lasouski | Belarus | 2,780,000 | 93 |
| 8 | Ivan Govorov | Russian Federation | 2,595,000 | 87 |
| 9 | Nikolai Ivanov | Russian Federation | 2,570,000 | 85 |
| 10 | Roman Timergazin | Russian Federation | 2,360,000 | 79 |
All players who register for Day 1c will receive the starting stack of 300,000 and will have 12 levels of play to try and dethrone Bezhanyan in the counts. The first level will have blinds of 1,000/1,500 (1,500), and there will be ten 40-minute levels of late registration, during which players can make a single reentry.
The latest anyone can join the field is the first hand of Level 11, at which point the starting stack will be worth 15 big blinds, as the levels will increase to 50 minutes. The day will wrap up one level later, with blinds at 10,000/25,000 (25,000). Meanwhile, the turbo flights Day 1d and Day 1e will have 20-minute levels throughout the entire day.
Remaining Main Event Schedule
| Day | Date | Time | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1c | May 10 | 12:00 p.m. | 40 minutes (10 levels) + 50 minutes (2 levels) |
| Day 1d | May 10 | 9:00 p.m. | 20 minutes |
| Day 1e | May 11 | 12:00 p.m. | 20 minutes |
| Day 2 | May 11 | 6:00 p.m. | 50 minutes |
| Day 3 | May 12 | 12:00 p.m. | 60 minutes |
| Final Day | May 13 | 12:00 p.m. | 60 minutes |
PokerNews will be on the floor to report the entirety of Day 1c, while Day 1d and Day 1e chip counts will be posted before the live coverage will recommence at the start of Day 2. Keep your eyes peeled on this page for exciting poker action as Day 1c is expected to be the biggest starting flight yet.
