Day one of the TonyBet OFC World Championship Main Event witnessed 118 entrants whittle down to 12 by the time the day ended. Russia's Sergey Bagirov ended the day in the lead with 552,000 chips with his fellow country-mate Sergei Illarionov currently residing in second place with 472,000 chips.
The day witnessed many big names enter the event only to be eliminated before the money bubble broke including last year's Main Event winner Mikal Blomlie from Norway, last year's TonyBet OFC Championship High Roller event winner Jennifer Shahade from the USA, yesterday's high roller runner-up Evgeny Kocherov from Russia, and this year's Progressive Pineapple event winner and TonyBet Poker Ambassador Isabelle Mercier.
Also in attendance and eliminate from play today were Italy's Max Pescatori, Norway's Claus Carlsen, Russia's Sergey Rybachenko, and Norway's Claus Carlsen.
There were 40 players of the original 118 entrants to survive through dinner break. When play resumed, eliminations began fast and furious until Singapore's Yuanxi Chen - who came out to Prague just to play in the OFC events - was eliminated in 16th place.
Shortly afterwards, it was China's Ping Lin and last night's high roller winner Maxim Panyak from Russia eliminated in 15th and 14th places respectfully for €1,548.
Almost two blind levels passed before we saw the final elimination of the day, when Germany's Mario Kuhl was eliminated in 13th place for €1,548.
Play for the final 12 will resume at 15:00 CET when every player remaining is guaranteed a €2,009 payday. While Sergey and Sergei duo from Russia are in the best position to collect the €30,007 top prize and the championship belt, as we have seen earlier throughout the day, it only takes a chip and a chair to reverse fortunes.
We have now taken a break for the day with Mario Kuhl eliminated in 13th place for €1,548. Play will resume with the remaining 12 tomorrow at 15:00 CET. We will play down until there is a TonyBet OFC World Championship Main Event winner declared.
Russia's Maxim Panyak was eliminated in 14th place for €1,548. Despite not winning, he has reason to celebrate considering he won the TonyBet OFC World Championship High Roller yesterday for €110,000.
Play will be stopping for the day once one more player is eliminated from the field.
Sergey Rybachenko was just eliminated in 21st place, six spots away from the money. His girlfriend, Alexandra Usoltseva, appears to be in good shape to cash in today's tournament with a stack of 240,000 chips or enough for a 120 point swing until the level goes up.
Last year's Main Event champ won't get a chance at a repeat performance after exiting before the money. He was able to parlay his second bullet to 100,000 chips before going on a bad run right before the dinner break.
Jennifer Shahade has just been eliminated from the tournament, however, not at the hands of Maxim Panyak whose stack also took a hit. Sergey Baranov recently was added to their table, and immediately went on a run at the expense of both players.
One player to wait until after dinner break to join is Italian poker pro Max Pescatori. Pescatori made a deep run in last night's OFC High Roller, taking fourth place for €37,000.
The Italian's luck wasn't so great today as he was in and out in one hand on the table of Singapore's Yuanxi Chen. With late registration now close, Pescatori has left the tournament arena.
Isabelle Mercier was one of the players to not return from dinner break. She seemed disappointed that her second bullet was not successful after running it up to 100,000 before busting out of the tournament. Overall the TonyBet Ambassador appeared to have a good experience, winning her first ever OFC tournament in the Progressive Pineapple event on Sunday.
