Jordan Woodall Leads the Way, Boris Kolev Sits Second as 16 Advance From Day 1b of $25,500 Main Event

The Onyx High Roller Series was back in action today inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, with the second starting flight of the $25,500 Main Event attracting another 106 entries. After the action continued until the bubble burst, just 16 players secured their passage through to Day 2, joining the 17 survivors from yesterday’s opening flight.

With two starting flights now in the books, the final chance to advance is already underway, with Day 1c drawing 36 entries. The turbo flight will play down to just five survivors, who will then join those already through to Day 2.

Leading the way into Day 2 from Day 1b, Jordan Woodall claimed the top spot on the leaderboard after sitting among the chip leaders throughout the day. The German bagged 3,935,000, putting the bubble to good use as he applied pressure to the shorter stacks, giving his stack a late-night surge that ultimately saw him finish on top.

Just behind the chip leader, Boris Kolev will be looking to keep his hot streak in Cyprus going after already taking down the $10,400 Mystery Bounty earlier this week. Kolev bagged 3,700,000 to finish the flight just a few big blinds behind Woodall.

Completing the top three, Ravi Sheth bagged 2,300,000 and was another player who found joy from applying plenty of pressure during the bubble period.

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Jordan Woodall	Germany	3,935,000	98
2	Boris Kolev	Bulgaria	3,700,000	93
3	Ravi Sheth	United Kingdom	2,300,000	58
4	Matthias Lipp	Austria	1,900,000	48
5	Caner Gunes	Turkey	1,895,000	47
6	Sergio Aido	Spain	1,580,000	40
7	Aram Sargsyan	Armenia	1,450,000	36
8	Mikalai Vaskaboinikau	Belarus	1,055,000	26
9	Alexey Borovkov	Russian Federation	880,000	22
10	David Coleman	United States	630,000	16

Fresh from a fifth-place finish in the $10,400 Premiere, Sergio Aido registered the opening flight of the Main Event and made it deep into the day before falling in 20th, just short of the 17-player bubble. Returning for another shot on Day 1b, the Spaniard made sure there would be no repeat disappointment, bagging 1,580,000 to secure his place in Day 2.

Alexey Borovkov also enjoyed a productive day, finishing with 880,000, while David Coleman (630,000), Dmitry Gromov (575,000), Aleksejs Ponakovs (280,000) and Matthew Wantman (200,000) are also among those still in contention.

It was a different story for several other high-profile names, however, with Eelis Parssinen, Selahaddin Bedir, Mikita Badziakouski, Artur Martirosian, Timur Margolin, Alex Kulev, Nacho Barbero and Tom Middleton among those who fell foul of the deck.

Day 1b Bubble

Although the bubble lasted roughly 45 minutes, there was very little drama. Ponakovs put himself at risk on more than one occasion, moving all in, but each shove went uncalled, while the shorter stacks largely kept their chips safe behind the betting line, each seemingly keen to avoid being the player who burst the bubble.

Then, when the first all-in and call finally came, that was all it took to burst the bubble. Aysar Batayneh moved all-in from under the gun for just three big blinds, with Kolev making the call in the big blind. Batayneh had Kolev dominated, but the cards fell Kolev's way, sending Batayneh to the rail and putting the remaining 16 players into the money.

The surviving players of all three starting flights will return for Day 2 at 1 p.m. local time on August 13, with the structure moving to 60-minute levels. The field will play until the final table is reached, with the remaining players then returning for the final day at 1 p.m. on August 14 to battle for the $25,500 Main Event title.