Three players saw a flop appear, with action on Uri Gilboa. The Israeli bet 550, Paolo Niri called on the button, and Serbu Elisar folded from the blinds. Gilboa bet 950 on the turn and got another call.
The river was the and Gilboa check-called a 3,000 bet from Niri. Niri had whiffed with and Gilboa took it down with .
Chris Moneymaker raised to 300 from under the gun, Marius Dunca called from the cutoff, Miroslav Forman called on the button, Daniel Portiansky called from the small blind, and Ezequiel Lebed called from the big blind. The five players all checked the flop.
Portiansky led 450 on the turn, Lebed folded, Moneymaker called, Dunca called, and Forman folded. On the river, Portiansky checked, Moneymaker bet 2,000, Dunca called, and Portiansky folded.
The Team PokerStars Pro tabled for a king-high flush, Dunca grimaced, flashed for a lower flush, and mucked his hand.
The €2,200 PokerStars Festival Bucharest High Roller has begun! 29 players have taken their seats at the start; a lot more are expected as the evening progresses.
The start has been delayed by fifteen, allowing the dealers to count out the stacks and the players to take their seats in relaxed fashion. Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker is one of the players here at the start, as promised earlier today.
At 8 p.m. local time, cards will be in the air for the €2,200 PokerStars Festival Bucharest High Roller Single Re-Entry. The Festival in the Romanian capital, affectionally known as "Little Paris", is in full swing and the poker room in the stunning JW Marriot Bucharest Grand Hotel is packed with poker enthusiasts from around Europe and Israel.
Last year, during the inaugural Eureka Poker Tour Bucharest Festival, the €2,200 High Roller consisted of 43 entries. After two days of playing, Mihai Niste stood tall after chopping heads-up with Petre Chiriac. Niste received €23,960 and the honors, Chiriac walked away €24,000 richer. The PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event already shattered last year's attendance figure, and a sizable field is expected for the High Roller as well.
Since its inception in 2016, eight PokerStars Festival High Rollers have been played. The following players have won a PokerStars Festival High Roller event.
PokerStars Festival High Roller history
Year
PSF Stop
Buy In
Entries
Prize Pool
Champion
Prize
Prize (USD)
2016
New Jersey
$2,200
16
$31,040
Jack Duong
$15,520
$15,520
2017
London
£2,200
178
£345,320
Joe Johnson
£59,912
$74,525
2017
Rozvadov
€2,200
118
€228,920
Boris Kuzmanovic
€37,791
$40,319
2017
Chile
$3,300
15
$43,650
Leo Fernandez
$20,950
$20,950
2017
Marbella
€2,200
184
€ 353,280
Oriol Vaquero
€78,200
$87,283
2017
South Korea
KRW 4,350,000
62
KRW 240,560,000
Boyuan Qu
KRW72,160,000
$64,195
2017
Lille
€2,200
151
€289,920
Olli Autio
€69,600
$81,081
2017
Manila
PHP215,000
47
PHP9,118,000
Peter Plater
PHP3,100,000
$61,520
In Bucharest, all players will receive 25,000 in chips and levels will be 40 minutes throughout the tournament. Day 1 will feature eight levels of 40 minutes before chips are bagged and tagged for the night. Late registration will be open up until the start of Day 2. All surviving players will return at 2 p.m. on Saturday, August 5th, and play down until a winner is crowned.
High Roller Day 1 Level Structure
Level
Duration
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
40 min
50
100
2
40 min
75
150
3
40 min
100
200
25
4
40 min
150
300
25
5
40 min
200
400
50
6
40 min
250
500
50
7
40 min
300
600
75
8
40 min
400
800
100
The PokerNews live reporting team will be covering this event from start to finish until the first PokerStars Festival Bucharest High Roller winner is crowned on Saturday night. The High Roller will be running side-to-side with the Main Event. Click here for live updates of the Main Event.