€1,100 High Roller
Day 1a Started
2019 PokerNews Cup Casino Finix
€1,100 High Roller
Day: 1a
Day 1a of the 2019 PokerNews Cup High Roller Kicks Off Today
It has been almost two years since the last time that a PokerNews Cup festival was organized and it is time for the well-known event to return. This time, the PokerNews Cup will come with some changes, as the festival features a lot more events than its predecessors, which are highlighted by the High Roller and the Main Event. Finix Casino in Kulata, Bulgaria is hosting the 2019 PokerNews Cup and the games already started since last Thursday.
The High Roller will start today with Day 1a and it will run until Thursday, May 16th, when the winner will be crowned. Meanwhile, the Main Event will start its own Day 1a in Wednesday, May 15th and it will run until Sunday, May 19th, when the new champion of PokerNews Cup will be crowned.
The High Roller event will feature a €1,000 + €100 buy-in with a guaranteed prize pool of €100,000 and 10 levels of 45 minutes each scheduled for each starting flight. Each player will find in his seat 100,000 chips having to work his way through the day with those, and anyone who loses his stack during Day 1a can re-enter up to two times for each starting day.
All players that will travel in Kulata to take part in the event, would want to follow the footsteps of Holger Bansner, the winner of the previous PokerNews Cup Main Event, who defeated a 617-entry strong field at the King's Casino in Rozvadov to take home €24,098 after a 4-way deal.
The PokerNews live reporting team will follow the progress of the players and bring you the latest updates during both the High Roller and the Main Event.
Level: 1
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 200
Play Started at 4 Tables
Level 1
: 100/200, 200 ante
The High Roller event started with 4 tables and 23 players in the field. Here are some names from today's field.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
100,000 | 100,000 |
|
100,000 | 100,000 |
|
100,000 | 100,000 |
|
100,000 | 100,000 |
|
|
100,000 | 100,000 |
More Names
Level 1
: 100/200, 200 ante
25 players in the field so far, with Greece and Bulgaria dominating as represented countries. The only other country in the field for now is Israel, in Kfir Yamin.
The first level gets close to its end and here are some more names from the field.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
100,000 | |
|
100,000 | |
|
|
100,000 | |
|
|
100,000 | |
|
|
100,000 |
First Blood
Level 1
: 100/200, 200 ante
Fourty minutes were enough for the first player-out into Day 1a of the High Roller. The hand was between Rosen Symeonov and David Reef with the board reading 
when we reached the table.
Reef was the one who announced all-in and Symeonov called being covered from his opponent.
Symeonov: 
Reef: 
Symeonov was drawing very thin and the 
on the river ensured that the pot will go to the Israelian player.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
230,000 | |
|
|
Busted |
Level: 2
Blinds: 200/400
Ante: 400
Cut in Half From the Beginning
Level 2
: 200/400, 400 ante
Georgios Zarogiannis entered late in the High Roller and he went in Table 1 which apparently is a very aggressive table. This resulted in him losing more than half his stack in one of his very first hands.
David Reef raised to 1,500 chips from under-the-gun, Emil Trenkov called from the next seat and Marcel Galustov was the third player in a row to act, announcing a raise in 10,000 chips. The hand was folded to the big blind, where Zarogiannis was seated and he raised to 21,000. Reef and Trenkov folded, Galustov announced all-in and Zarogiannis snap-called by throwing a chip in the middle of the table.
Galustov: 
Zarogiannis: 
The board ran out 
and Galustov managed to double up, having the shortest stack between the two players. The dealer counted his chips and found out they were 67,600 with Zarogiannis paying the lost hand to his opponent.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
140,000 | 140,000 |
|
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
Two Missed Bluffs for Dimitros
Level 2
: 200/400, 400 ante
Dimitrios Dimitros tried twice to steal in the river and both times he was playing against Andreas Halkiadakis. Both times Dimitros had king-high while Halkiadakis was holding ace-high and bottom pair, respectively.
The two players know each other and Halkiadakis was very excited with his calls, standing from his seat, and yelling "i could call you all night!"
The aggressive style doesn't work well for Dimitros so far since he is down to 30,000 chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
80,000 | -20,000 |
|
|
30,000 | -70,000 |
Level: 3
Blinds: 300/600
Ante: 600