Tomasz Krzesinski Bursts Bubble to Finish as Main Event Day 1a Chip Leader
Day 1a of the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Main Event at the 2026 Onyx High Roller Series wrapped up inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa after 54 entries took to the felt on the opening flight.
After a marathon of a day, play was paused with 18 minutes remaining in Level 17, with just eight players left, each bagging a stack and locking up a spot in the money and a return for Day 2.
Top of the counts was Tomasz Krzesinski, who finished the night with 3,800,000 after bursting the bubble. Second on the leaderboard is Artur Martirosian on 3,320,000, helped along by a well-timed hero call on the soft bubble. Krzesinski and Martirosian are the only players to have crossed the 3,000,000 chip mark, and both hold a comfortable gap over Dennis Weiss, who sits third on 1,685,000.
Day 1a Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tomasz Krzesinski | Poland | 3,800,000 | 76 |
| 2 | Artur Martirosian | Russian Federation | 3,320,000 | 66 |
| 3 | Dennis Weiss | Germany | 1,685,000 | 34 |
| 4 | Espen Sandvik | Norway | 1,465,000 | 29 |
| 5 | Oswin Ziegelbecker | Austria | 1,460,000 | 29 |
| 6 | Sondre Stormyr | Norway | 1,025,000 | 21 |
| 7 | Martin Dam | Denmark | 735,000 | 15 |
| 8 | Youness Barakat | Italy | 5,000 | 1 |
When cards went in the air just after 2 p.m., eight players were seated and it didn’t take long for the first exit. Mads Amot lost a few chips early before calling off his stack on the river against Klemens Roiter’s triple barrel in a four-bet pot. Roiter showed the nut flush, sending Amot straight to the re-entry desk.
Once late registration closed and the field was confirmed at 54 entries, the eliminations began to rack up. Imad Derwiche, Raphael Schreiner, Lautaro Guerra, and Thomas Eychenne were all knocked out before the end of the day, while Marcel Grubinger’s run ended at the final two tables after he got it in with aces, only for Martirosian to spike a flush on the river.
Late on, Martirosian was involved in a big pot, calling for his tournament life on the river with a baby flush. Martirosian must have felt instant relief, as Sondre Stormyr immediately said “good call” and turned over nothing more than the nut-flush blocker. That pot pushed Martirosian further up the counts, and he followed it up by busting Roiter on the soft bubble to lock up a top-three stack by the end of play.
With one more player set to leave empty-handed, Youness Barakat was hanging on by a thread. The shortest stack in the room, Barakat three-bet all but a single T-5,000 chip preflop. Krzesinski made the call and, after checking it down to the river, Krzesinski won the pot with a straight, leaving Barakat with the purest form of a chip and a chair, just a tenth of a big blind.
On the very next hand, with Barakat about to be forced all-in in two hands, Liviu Ignat limp-raised Krzesinski with aces. The chips went in on a low flop, with Krzesinski spiking two pair on the turn and holding through the river. Ignat was eliminated as the bubble boy, while Barakat somehow slid into the money with the smallest stack imaginable. As Barakat himself summed it up at the table, “I’m a genius.”
The action now moves on to the next starting flights, with Day 1b following the same structure and starting at noon, then the Day 1c Turbo offering a faster route forward later in the evening. All remaining players from the opening flights will reconvene for Day 2 to play down to the final table.
Remaining $25,000 PLO Main Event Schedule
| Day | Date | Time | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1b | February 10th | 12 p.m. | 40 minutes |
| Day 1c Turbo | February 10th | 8 p.m. | 20 minutes |
| Day 2 | February 11th | 1 p.m. | 60 minutes |
| Day 3 Final Table | February 12th | 1 p.m. | Hands-per-level |
Stay with PokerNews for continued coverage from the $5,000,000 guaranteed Pot-Limit Omaha Main Event, as the four-card event rolls on at the 2026 Onyx High Roller Series.