Kurganov Bags the Day 1 Chip Lead at the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Europe $100k Triton High Roller
Day 1 of the Triton 100K Super High Roller is a wrap at the 2019 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Europe in the King's Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. A small but loaded field got over from Triton London to compete in the largest buy-in tournament of the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Europe, and by the end of the night, registration landed at 28 entries made by 21 unique entrants.
The plan was to play ten 45-minute levels on Day 1 but the tournament staff decided to cut the day short one level after starting 1,5 hours later than scheduled. Registration is still open until the end of the first level on Day 2, which kicks off at 1 p.m. local time, with a start-to-finish live stream on PokerGO showing all the action as well. Blinds will start at 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 big blind ante and registering at the last moment will give you a fresh stack of 200,000 which will be 20 big blinds at the start of level 11.
Out of the 18 that made it through, Igor Kurganov ended the day as the tournament chip leader after a late-night surge. Kurganov was sitting at about 150,000 chips right before the end of Day one but he managed to bag 743,000 at the end of the night to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field.
Michael Addamo (552,000) finished the night second in chips, followed by Charlie Carrel (440,000), Wai Kin Yong (432,000), Paul Phua (418,000), partypoker team pro Sam Trickett (350,000), Phil Ivey (341,000), and Tony G (321,000). Other notable names that ended the day with a bag are Ben Heath (313,000), Orpen Kisacikoglu (300,000), Martin Kabrhel (248,000), Vladimir Troyanovskiy (229,000), and partypoker team pro Kristen Bicknell (218,000).
Cary Katz (170,000), Chin Wei Lim (155,000), Kahle Burns (146,000), Michael Chi Zhang (132,000), and Choon Tong Siow (96,000) all finished the day with less than the starting stack of 200,000. Jason Koon and Tom Dwan were confirmed to make an appearance for the event but have yet to show up.
18 players made it through the first day, and the only players eliminated who did not re-enter were Ole Schemion, Richard Yong and Teun Mulder. Kurganov, Burns, Phua, Katz, and Carrel all re-entered once, while Kisacikoglu reentered twice.
Kisacikoglu’s second bullet was mostly eaten up in a hand with Heath. Kisacikoglu ended up left with just a five big blind stack after taking a cooler, with his trip nines losing to Heath’s eights full. Kisacikoglu was eliminated shortly thereafter, but after rebuying for his third entry of the tournament ended up with chips to go into Day 2.
Play will resume at level 10 on Tuesday, August 13 at 1 p.m., with the blinds at 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 big blind ante.
Follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team as the $100k Triton High Roller plays to a winner. The live stream is broadcasted by PokerGO, so make sure to sign up to not miss any of the action! For a limited time, save $10 off the Annual Pass with promo code MILL19.
to 12,000 and he was called by Cary Katz with 
from the next seat. All the other players folded and they went heads-up to the flop. 
flop down and both players checked. The 
gave Katz a set and Addamo lead out with a bet of 26,000. Katz then raised to 75,500 and he was called. 
river killed the action and both players checked behind as Addamo won the pot.
. Kisacikoglu thought it over for awhile before leading out for 55,000. Heath went all in, and Kisacikoglu called.
for the full house, besting Kisacikoglu's 
. Kisacikoglu had Heath barely covered, and the los left him with just 28,000 chips with the blinds at 2500/5000/
and Cary Katz called from the hijack with 
. Michael Addamo called from the big blind as well and the three went to the flop. 
and Addamo checked to Kurganov who checked as well. Katz bet 17,000 and Addamo got out of the way. Kurganov put his last 111,500 in the middle and Katz quickly called. 
turn. The river was the 
, Ole Schemion checked from the small blind, and Kristen Bicknell went all in for her remaining 64,000 chips. 
and he was contemplating a call. He eventually called for his tournament life after using a time bank chip but Zhang tabled 
, and Michael Chi Zhang sat in the cutoff with 
. Charlie Carrel called from the big blind as well with 
and the 
flop was dealt. 
turn was dealt. Carrel checked to Zhang who fired a bet of 15,000 and he was called by Ivey before Carrel folded. 
river. 
. Carrel called to see the