Yazbeck Leads 57 Players Into Day 2 of the €2,200 PokerStars Festival Bucharest High Roller
Day 1 of the €2,200 PokerStars Festival Bucharest High Roller Single Re-entry saw no fewer than 94 unique players put up €2,200 each to try and capture PokerStars Festival glory. With 7 players opting for their single re-entry, the total number of entries ended up at 101, more than doubling last years number of 43. Late registration is open up until the start of Day 2 at 2 p.m. tomorrow, which will probably see some players take a last-minute shot at the already substantial prize pool.
Leading the way after eight levels of 40 minutes each is Georges Yazbeck (130,800). The number nine on the Lebanese all-time money list, who already amassed more than $1 million dollars in his decade-long poker career, topped the standings during the entire day.
Yazbeck was very active throughout the day and dragged a lot of pots, including a flush-over-flush-over-flush hand to propel him to the eventual end-of-day chip lead. Yazbeck is followed by Tom Givony (109,400) of Israeli origin. Givony won aces against ace-king, among other hands, to end up over 100,000 in chips.
One player that failed to make it to Day 2 was Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker. Moneymaker busted in the last level of the day, after being left short in chips in a hand against quad deuces earlier on. Moneymaker hasn't decided on re-entering yet but can opt to do so up until the start of Day 2. The 2003 World Champion is as popular as ever here in Bucharest, and Moneymaker took the time for photo ops and a chat with his fans.
Stefan Ivanov, Radoslaw Jedynak, Israel Avraham, Makram Saber, Daniel Tighe, and Ionel Anton all joined Moneymaker on the rail on Day 1. Notables who did make it to Day 2 were Lawrence Bayley (79,000), Niko Koop (60,500), Andreas Vlachos (57,300), Mihai Manole (37,300), and Andreas Klatt (17,900).
All remaining players will be back at 2 p.m. local time on Saturday, August 5th, to play levels of 40 minutes until a winner is crowned. The blinds will start at 500/1,000 with a running ante of 100. Late registration will close right at the start and the prize pool will be announced shortly after. Follow PokerNews throughout the day to not miss any of the excitement as we crown a new PokerStars Festival champion!