Alex Kulev Leads Day 1b Field as 19 Advance in $10,400 Premiere

The action continued today at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, as the Onyx High Roller Series moved into its second starting flight of the $5,000,000 guaranteed $10,400 Premiere. Day 1b once again offered players the chance to secure their place in the money and advance to Day 2, with 125 entrants coming through the doors to try and do just that.

Play continued until just 15 per cent of the field remained, and when the bubble burst, leaving just 19 players, they each bagged their chips for Day 2, all having locked up a payday in the process.

Leading the 19 survivors is Alex Kulev, who has already amassed nearly $7,000,000 in tournament earnings in 2026 alone, according to The Hendon Mob. A significant portion of that haul came from his victory in the inaugural European Poker Tour (EPT) €250,000 Super High Roller in Monte-Carlo, where he collected more than $3,250,000.

Cutting a cool, calm and collected figure at the table, Kulev spent much of the day receiving a massage and engaging in conversation with his tablemates. When it came to business, however, Kulev was all focus, finishing the flight with 1,840,000.

Closest to Kulev is 'Tommy G', the only other player to finish the flight with a seven-figure stack, having accumulated 1,680,000. The final spot on the podium is shared by Austria's Daniel Montagnolli and Iraq's Ali Al-Kubasi, who both finished on 990,000.

Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Alex Kulev	Bulgaria	1,840,000	74
2	Tommy G	San Marino	1,680,000	67
3	Daniel Montagnolli	Austria	990,000	40
4	Ali Al-Kubasi	Iraq	990,000	40
5	Johannes Lehner	Austria	900,000	36
6	Oliver Weis	Germany	870,000	35
7	Cristinel Dumitru	Romania	765,000	31
8	Sergio Aido	Spain	655,000	26
9	Enzo Enzo	United Kingdom	605,000	24
10	Lars Kamphues	Germany	525,000	21

There is plenty of pedigree among those advancing alongside the chip leaders, including World Series of Poker bracelet winners Oliver Weis (870,000), Sergio Aido (655,000) and Dietrich Fast (240,000). Weis is also no stranger to success around these parts, having won the EPT Cyprus Main Event in 2024.

High Roller regular Aliaksandr Shylko (510,000) also made it through, spending much of the latter part of the day seated beside chip leader Kulev and chatting away at the table.

Further down the counts, Manuel Fritz (335,000), Geoffrey Mooney (285,000) and Selahaddin Bedir (215,000) also remain in contention.

While plenty of big names will be returning for Day 2, the same cannot be said for a host of familiar faces who fell short during the flight. Among those to hit the rail were Ravid Garbi, Jamil Wakil, Daniel Rezaei, Dominik Panka, Adrian State, Andrey Pateychuk, Mehdi Chaoui, Nicolas Chouity, Simone Andrian, Aleksejs Ponakovs, Jessica Teusl, Manig Loeser and Arsenii Karmatckii.

It was always going to be the case that one player would play the whole flight, right to the last hand, but not make the money or bag any chips.

When the tournament reached the stone bubble and hand-for-hand play began, there was very little drama. Dietrich Fast was all in and at risk, but holding a higher pocket pair than his opponent, he was never in much trouble, improving to a full house survive comfortably.

A few hands later, Bogdan Jontulovic was the second player at risk of bubbling, but unfortunately for him, he didn't survive the encounter. Having moved all-in holding ace-king, he ran into the pocket kings of Lars Kamphues, and with the hand going Kamphues' way, all Jontulovic could do was watch on as the other players bagged their chips for Day 2.

Fortunately for Jontulovic and all those who failed to make it through, there are still two more starting flights available. Day 1c gets underway at 1 p.m. local time tomorrow, Sunday, August 9, followed by the turbo Day 1d flight at 9 p.m., with 20-minute levels.

With unlimited reentries permitted across both remaining flights, there is still plenty of time for those players to make their way into Day 2.