Vladimir Bednar Bags Day 1a Chip Lead of Pokercode Festival Bratislava Main Event
The inaugural Pokercode Festival is off to a hot start at Banco Casino Bratislava with the first of three opening flights of the €125,000 guaranteed Pokercode Bratislava €550 Main Event attracting 75 entries.
Slovakia's Vladimir Bednar bagged the Day 1a chip lead with a stack of 421,500, which will be good enough for 105 big blinds to start Day 2 on Saturday with two more opening flights set to take place on Friday, Sept. 10.
Bednar was cruising most of the day before his chip stack catapulted to over 400,000 near the end of the day when his aces held against the ace-nine suited held by Darren Chandler.
Also bagging top five chip stacks on Day 1a were Maksym Ronshyn, Fehim Hajdari, Konstantin Hammermueller, and Sebastian Schulze.
Pokercode Festival Bratislava Main Event Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vladimir Bednar | 421,500 | 105 |
| 2 | Maksym Ronshyn | 305,500 | 76 |
| 3 | Fehim Hajdari | 298,500 | 75 |
| 4 | Konstantin Hammermueller | 273,500 | 68 |
| 5 | Sebastian Schulze | 244,500 | 61 |
| 6 | Kate Scisel | 228,500 | 57 |
| 7 | Raffael Crose | 214,500 | 54 |
| 8 | Vladimir Kostka | 204,000 | 51 |
| 9 | Hannes Jeschka | 193,000 | 48 |
| 10 | Christoph Rapf | 190,000 | 48 |
Pokercode Co-Founder Kate Scisel Living the Dream
Kate Scisel is one of the co-founders of Pokercode along with Fedor Holz and Matthias Eibinger. While Holz and Eibinger were on the sidelines today, Scisel was in action from the start and was having a good time all day long at the same table as Ruurd Nauta.
Scisel didn't know anything about poker a few years ago but that all changed once Pokercode came to life as she shared with PokerNews during one of the breaks that she felt like she had to learn in order as part of involvement with Pokercode. Scisel's learning curve was apparent as she held her own throughout the day and bagged one of the largest stacks of the day.
This should come as little surprise as she has at her disposal not only the amazing resources at Pokercode but also direct access with the incredible talent behind the training site.
Scisel was involved in perhaps one of the most fun hands of the day against Nauta where she called off with queen-jack suited against her opponent's rockets during preflop action. Nauta genuinely wished Scisel good luck and to everyone's surprise, Scisel flopped a flush and never looked back.
"This is not something to be proud of," said Scisel. "But we are still friends."
Pokercode couldn't be any happier to meet many of their community along with many others that traveled from near and far to play at the inaugural Pokercode Festival.
Holz and Pokercode Head of Marketing Milko van Winden not only joined the Pokercode crew in welcome all the players they could one-on-one but also shared this short video.
Be sure to return to the PokerNews coverage tomorrow, Sept. 10 for Day 1b at 12 p.m. CEST.
flop. Scisel bet 13,000 and Crose folded before Bajmoczi three-bet shoved for 59,000. Scicel called and was in good shape after the cards were turned over.
board to eliminate Bajmoczi near the end of Day 1a.
flop gave her a flush. The 
turn and 
river completed the board for Scisel to crack Nuata's rockets to stay alive.
flop. The 
rolled out on the board and Zehetleitner will have to try again on one of the other opening flights or before the first level ends on Day 2 if he wants to have a chance to lift the inaugural Pokercode Festival Main Event trophy.
flop. Milan Bajmoczi jammed and Shelukhin called off for about 50,000.
turn followed by the 
river sealed his fate.