Damir Gabdullin Secures Chip Lead as $10,400 Premiere Final Table Is Set

After roughly 12 hours of action at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, the start-of-day field of 76 players in the $10,400 Premiere has been reduced to the final table, with just nine players now in contention to become the Onyx High Roller Series latest champion.

The 507-entry field created a $4,765,800 prize pool, with all 76 returning players already guaranteed a payday after the four starting flights played into the money. Shortly after play began, the full payouts were announced, revealing that the eventual champion would walk away with a seven-figure score, with $1,000,000 awaiting the winner.

Returning to the felt closest to that target, Damir Gabdullin claimed the overnight chip lead as the only player to bag an eight-figure stack. Gabdullin enjoyed a late surge to finish on top after scoring the final knockout of the day, securing his position at the head of the counts heading into the final table.

Following close behind, Italo Modena was a mainstay near the top of the leaderboard throughout the day and will return with 7,400,000. Completing the podium is anonymous player 'Goofy', who sits just a couple of big blinds behind Modena with 7,050,000.

Final Table Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Damir Gabdullin	Russian Federation	11,225,000	70
2	Italo Modena	Italy	7,400,000	46
3	Goofy	United States	7,050,000	44
4	Oshri Lahmani	Israel	6,200,000	39
5	Mikita Badziakouski	Belarus	5,450,000	34
6	Giorgiy Skhulukhiya	Georgia	4,400,000	28
7	Ravid Garbi	Israel	3,775,000	24
8	Sergio Aido	Spain	3,750,000	23
9	Artsiom Lasouski	Belarus	1,275,000	8

Still in contention further down the counts is Mikita Badziakouski, whose nearly $70 million in lifetime tournament earnings, as per The Hendon Mob, makes him one of the biggest names remaining. The Belarusian is no stranger to final-table battles and will return right in the middle of the pack with 5,450,000.

Onyx High Roller regular Giorgiy Skhulukhiya sits just behind Badziakouski with 4,400,000, while two World Series of Poker bracelet winners, Ravid Garbi (3,775,000) and Sergio Aido (3,750,000), are close behind.

Day 2 Action

When the prize pool was announced shortly after play began, it was also made clear that the penultimate day would conclude once nine players remained and the final table was set. With that target in sight, the players began to jostle for position, each looking to build a stack capable of making a run at the million-dollar payday.

As the field began to thin, some of the big names in the room were unable to make their move. Dietrich Fast (71st), Aren Bezhanyan (70th) and Aliaksandr Shylko (60th) were among the early casualties, before a further wave of eliminations claimed Oliver Weis (48th), Artur Martirosian (46th), Boris Kolev (45th), Timur Margolin (39th), Fahredin Mustafov (28th), Mehdi Chaoui (24th) and start-of-day big stack Alex Kulev (22nd).

With the field reduced to its final few tables, it was Badziakouski who began to make the biggest move. He first sent Sorel Mizzi to the rail in 18th place before quickly claiming another scalp, eliminating Andrey Pateychuk in 17th. Not long after, Badziakouski struck again, removing Danilo Velasevic to bring the field down to 13, just four eliminations away from the final table.

An unfortunate set of circumstances then helped remove Tom Middleton in 12th place. After first being three-outered by Parahat Nurmuhammedov in a substantial pot, he then lost a flip shortly afterwards, sending him to the rail. Nurmuhammedov then promptly followed him out the door, bringing the field down to the final-table bubble.

It seemed like it would take something special to burst the bubble and bring the day to a close, and that was exactly what happened. Gabdullin turned a flush to crack the aces of Sinan Unlu, propelling him to the top of the counts while leaving Unlu helpless to watch as the other nine players bagged their chips and prepared to return for the final table.

The final day will kick off at 1:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, August 11, and will return on Level 24, with blinds of 80,000/160,000 and a 160,000 big blind ante. Rather than playing with a tournament clock, the final table will play a certain number of hands per level, with that number yet to be specified.

The final table will also be streamed, allowing viewers to enjoy the action as the players battle until just one remains. The streaming schedule is yet to be confirmed, but is expected shortly after cards go in the air.