Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2017 PokerNews Cup King's Casino Rozvadov
Main Event
Day: 1a
Vytautas Milbutas Bags Monster Chiplead After PokerNews Cup Day 1a
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 500 ante
The first flight of the 2017 PokerNews Cup attracted 87 entrants, and after 15 levels of play today only 15 will be advancing to Day 2 this coming Sunday 20th August.
There were a host of familiar names at the King's Casino in Rozvadov, amongst them chiKKita banAAna, Sebastian Langrock and Philipp Zukernik, but at the end of play it was Lithuanian player Vytautas Milbutas who bagged up the chiplead of 696,000.
Twice today Milbutas eliminated two players in a single hand, including one where he eliminated local favourite chiKKita banAAna when Milbutas' tens cracked his opponent's jacks. However, Milbutas achieved an even more astounding feat earlier in the day, in a hand which demonstrated his psychic abilities.
Milbutas played the role of psychic in a pot where he had another player at risk. The player asked him whether he held sevens, and Milbutas replied: "No, I have a straight flush draw." Milbutas showed 
and his opponent showed 
. The board ran out 
giving a straight flush to Milbutas only moments after he said that he had a straight flush draw.
At the end of the night Milbutas reflected on the day.
"I ran pretty well," he said, laughing about the straight flush hand. "It's like Negreanu, he says all sorts of things while he is playing, but people only remember the stuff and his predictions where he was right.
"It was funny to do that then; I got lucky. For me it was pure fun!"
Asked whether he had run this well in a tournament, Milbutas said he had been playing a lot recently, especially in Cyprus.
"For the last three years I've played so many tournaments. I like how I play, but the big thing is that I'm really talkative at the tables. Because of that people tend to underestimate me, or overestimate themselves. But I've never run quite like that!"
A full list of players left after Day 1a is posted below.
Day 1b starts tomorrow Friday the 18th August at 5 p.m. local time. Join the PokerNews team live from Rozvadov for all the updates from the second flight of this year's PokerNews Cup.
End-Of-Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 500 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
696,000 | 146,000 |
|
297,000 | -33,000 |
|
280,000 | |
|
239,500 | 141,500 |
|
175,000 | 175,000 |
|
153,500 | |
|
125,500 | 45,500 |
|
118,000 | 118,000 |
|
108,000 | -2,000 |
|
|
108,000 | 8,000 |
|
100,000 | -10,000 |
|
|
92,500 | |
|
79,500 | 35,500 |
|
64,500 | 30,500 |
|
23,000 |
Ciakas Busts; Morlet Triples
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 500 ante
Deividas Ciakas got his last 29,500 in with the 
and BigKing777 called with the 
out of the small blind. The board came 
and Ciakas was eliminated.
In the last hand of the other table, Jonathan Morlet was all in and Ronald Van De Linde as well, while Philipp Zukernik looked up both short stacks.
Jonathan Morlet: 
Ronald Van De Linde: 
Philipp Zukernik: 
"I am live," Van De Linde said and improved to a pair of queens on the 
flop. The 
turn was a blank, but the 
on the river gave Morlet trips jacks to win the big side pot and leave Van De Linde with fumes.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
280,000 | 40,000 |
|
|
153,500 | 43,500 |
|
|
92,500 | 57,500 |
|
|
23,000 | -112,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Three More Hands
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 500 ante
The clocks have been stopped with 10 minutes left in the level and three more hands will be played for tonight.
Thaler Busts to BigKing777
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 500 ante
Irakli Kemularia raised to 8,000 and was called by DUPLO in the hijack and BigKing777 on the cutoff. Alexander Thaler shoved from the button or 29,000 and the action folded back to BigKing777. After more than a minute of consideration, he said "that's really close," then sighed and tossed in chips for the call. "Let's see what you got there," he added before the cards were turned over.
Alexander Thaler:
BigKing777:
The board ran out 
and jack-high was good enough to scoop the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
240,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Milbautas Extends his Chiplead
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 500 ante
Vytautas Milbutas raised to 6,000 from under the gun. The player in the cutoff called and chiKKita banAAna three-bet to 25,500. Timothy Weltner moved all in for his last 26,500 from the small blind and the big blind folded.
Milbutas raised to 66,000 and the cutoff folded. chiKKita banAAna moved all in and Milbutas flicked in a chip for a call and tabled 
. With a triumphant cry chiKKita banAAna tabled and Weitner 
.
"Please no bad beat," said chiKKita banAAna in German, but there was a ten in the window of a 
flop. "Spades!" he said as the turn came the . "Nine!" he said, but the river was the 
and chiKKita banAAna was sent grumbling into the night after this bad beat. Weitner was also packing up his things after failing to improve.
Milbutas now sits on over half a million chips with the end of the day approaching.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
550,000 | 100,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Level: 15
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 500
Some Late Tidbits
Level 14
: 1,500/3,000, 500 ante
On the heads-up turn of , [Removed:401] bet 21,000 into a pot of 26,000 and Yaron Kuznik check-raised all in for 60,000. The clock was called on Magnifico and his one minute ran down without a move, the hand was declared dead.
One table over, Ronald Van de Linde bet the 
river for 25,000 and Jörg Kunz check-called out of the small blind. Van De Linde only had 
for a bluff and Kunz claimed the pot with 
.
Kunz's stack rocketed to more than 350,000, but he paid off the 15,500 by Ronald Mielenski on the 
river to get shown for a straight flush by Mielenski in the big blind.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
330,000 | 120,000 |
|
|
135,000 | -65,000 |
|
|
110,000 | 25,000 |
|
|
110,000 | 40,000 |
|
|
100,000 | -10,000 |
[Removed:401] Chips Up
Level 14
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 500 ante
Rokas Barzdzius raised to 7,000 and picked up no fewer than four callers. The flop came 
and [Removed:401] in the big blind bet 6,000, which just Yaron Kuznik called. On the turn, [Removed:401]'s bet of 6,000 was called once more before the river saw a bet of 11,000 by the Belgian and a fold by Kuznik.
"Clubs?" he asked and Kuznik shook his head. "I wanted the ten on the river," Kuznik replied.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
110,000 | 91,000 |
|
|
70,000 | -25,000 |
|
|
55,000 | -11,500 |