It was the turn of the players on table 36 to hold their breath, as the shortstack on the other table was at risk this time. Andrej Racek raised under the gun to 32,000, with the shortstack simply nodding at the dealer before moving his last 41,000 over the line. Action folded around to the big blind, who made the call. Racek sarcastically considered folding, before putting in the call, as the table joined him in a chuckle.
Racek led the flop for 100,000 and, after picking up an immediate fold from the player in the big blind, tabled for top two pair. The player at risk revealed , which was in very poor shape, requiring running cards to stay alive. The landed on the turn, and it was all over. Racek dragged the pot, declaring "I am the great Andrej from Slovakia!" as he gave his best front double biceps pose.
That meant that, after a gruelling eight-hour grind, our 16 finishers were paid out €250 in cash chips, before confirming their chip-counts with the floor staff and leaving the tournament area one by one.
We are down to our final 17, which means we need to lose just one more player in order to conclude play for the day.
Our two tables are now hand-for-hand, which meant everyone from the other table was crowded round during an all-in from the shortstack in the big blind. The player in the hijack raised to 35,000, with the player on the button 3-betting to 75,000. The big blind stuck his last 31,000 in, with the hijack making the call.
The two players checked down the sidepot on a runout, with the big blind triumphantly throwing over his . All eyes looked hopefully at the two other players involved, who both shrugged and both tabled king-high, with the button's superior dragging the sidepot, as 16 players sighed and play continued.
The blinds have reached their cap, at 8,000/16,000, so now all there is left to do is lose four more players until we close the curtain on an eventful Day 1.
Leading the way as things draw to an exciting close is Yans Wang. After raising to 100,000 in the face of a 33,000-chip bet on , Wang moved all-in when the turn paired the . His opponent reluctantly folded while Wang dragged in the pot, becoming the first player today to clear the one million mark.
We're down to our last three tables, and are looking for just 10 more players to bust before we stop the clock for the day while our survivors bag up chips to take through to Day 2 on Sunday.
It doesn't look like there's any trust between players on table 35, as the player in the small blind check-called a bet of 35,000 on the turn, on a board reading before leading out on the river for 80,000. His opponent thought for close to two minutes, having counted out the chips to call and placing them back on his stack several times, before finally arriving at a fold.
The player in the small blind seemed disgusted that he wasn't 80,000 chips better off. "Were you thinking of calling with ace high?!" he inquired.
"Something like that," came the response.
"I had you beat pre, on the flop, on the turn, on the river! I thought you'd put me on a busted draw!" boasting the best hand and threatening to show it, before deciding instead to slide it into the muck and pick up the pot.
![[user344984]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop for 100,000 and, after picking up an immediate fold from the player in the big blind, tabled 
for top two pair. The player at risk revealed 
, which was in very poor shape, requiring running cards to stay alive. The 
landed on the turn, and it was all over. Racek dragged the pot, declaring "I am the great Andrej from Slovakia!" as he gave his best front double biceps pose.
runout, with the big blind triumphantly throwing over his 
. All eyes looked hopefully at the two other players involved, who both shrugged and both tabled king-high, with the button's superior 
dragging the sidepot, as 16 players sighed and play continued.
, Wang moved all-in when the turn paired the 
before leading out on the