Marian Ivanov Bags Half the Chips on Day 1a of the PokerNews Cup Main Event
The first of four opening flights of the 2019 PokerNews Cup Kulata €550 Main Event at Finix Casino is in the books after 18 blinds levels of 30 minutes each.
Day 1a attracted 24 entrants including four reentries, all of which were from Bulgaria and Greece. By the end of the day, the field was trimmed down to just four players, each of which will enter Day 2 already in the money with each flight playing down to 15 percent of the field.
Bulgaria's Marian Ivanov bagged almost half the chips in play and will head to Saturday's Day 2 with a big stack of 580,000 in chips. The other three players to bag chips were all from Greece including Christina Orfanidou with 324,000, Symeon Marvakis with 148,000, and Savvas Baltiras with 132,000.
| Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| Marian Ivanov | Bulgaria | 580,000 |
| Christina Orfanidou | Greece | 324,000 |
| Symeon Marvakis | Greece | 148,000 |
| Savvas Baltiras | Greece | 132,000 |
By the time late registration closed at the end of Level 10, just 13 players remained. Among the players not to make it this far was Sotirios Koutoupas, who also bubbled the High Roller earlier in the evening and immediately fired two bullets into the Main Event.
The action was reduced to a single nine-max table after S.A., Hristo Bogdanov, Vadood Namvar, and Pavel Pavlov all hit the rail.
Gkotsa Tseisvili, Georgios Farmakis, Georgios Kamas, and Georgios Efthymiadis were all eliminated in succession to set-up the Day 1a bubble.
A blind level later the bubble broke. Georgi Ignatov jammed with pocket nines before Orfanidou called with king-queen after tanking for a couple of minutes. It looked like a clear board for Ignatov until a king spiked the river to dash the Bulgarian's hopes.
Ignatov, who was adding some fun to the table, congratulated all the players before they bagged and tagged chips for the day.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will not only be back to cover Day 1b of the Main Event at 4 p.m. EEST but also cover the final day of the PokerNews Cup €1,100 High Roller at 3 p.m. with Greece's Marios Tzakos currently in the driver's seat with six players left to win the €28,100 top prize.
came on the flop and after the 
came on the turn. That all changed after the 
spiked the river to give Orfanidou top pair to send Ignatov out on the bubble.
came on the flop and Efthymiadis called.
came on the turn to give his opponent a flush. The 
completed the board on the river and Day 1a was on the bubble after the hand with five players left and four bagging chips and guaranteed at least a min-cash in the tournament.
.
and he is on a permanent break for the day versus the rest of the players who will be back in 15 minutes.
for 10,000 before he called a jam of around 40,000 from Georgios Farmakis from middle position with 
.
.
completing the board on the river to award Ivanov a monster pot.
board.