Matthias Rauscher Finishes On Top of Day 1b in Hamburg
Day 1b of the 2017 PokerStars Festival Hamburg €1,100 Main Event is in the books and the tournament is well on the way to reach and surpass the guarantee of €500,000. After 118 entries for the first starting day, the cap of 200 entries was reached this time around and further 201 players took to the felt at Casino Schenefeld to boost the attendance to 319 entries in total.
Once the 12 levels were done and dusted, it was Matthias Rauscher who emerged at the top of the counts with 241,000. On the way to the lead, Rauscher scored a big pot with pocket aces against the ace-queen of Jamila von Perger, who busted right after, and won another big pot with a straight against two pair. The 38-year old hotel director from Munich, who currently lives in Hamburg, shot to the top of the counts in the last levels of the night and narrowly missed out on taking the overall lead after two of the four starting days.
An additional 63 players advanced to Day 2 and other big stacks and notables that bagged up today include [Removed:321] Qasim (232,700), Michal Lubas (222,000), Giuseppe Caridi (195,000), Johannes Wassmuth (180,500), Roberto Manfredi (157,000), Ali Sameeian (145,500), WSOP bracelet winner Adrian Apmann (136,700), €2,200 High Roller runner-up De-Han Kim (125,700) and Jesper Hansen (92,700).
A host of familiar faces that failed to bag up and will have to re-enter on Day 1d include €2,200 High Roller champion Andre Haneberg and third-place finisher Martin Wendt, Hans Kersebom, Waldemar Kopyl, Bahadir Kilickeser, Jay Tse, Aleksandar Tomovic, Mick Graydon, Jan Timo Jobmann and Florian Fuchs.
Graydon was among the first casualties of the day when his flopped set of deuces ended up second-best to the set of nines by Tim Becker. Jobmann lost his entire stack within two hands against Walid Abdi Ali and Kopyl was ousted in a three-way all in with pocket sevens against the ace-four suited of Dalius Balciunas and the pocket jacks of Glaeser. However, Glaeser also failed to make it through the day and busted in the last level of the night.
On the way to bagging up a top ten stack, Johannes Wassmuth cracked pocket aces with six-five suited after flopping trips sixes. Mike Teske check-called two barrels and shoved the river to bow out. The very same table provided further fireworks soon after when Michal Lubas was all but gone, getting his stack in with pocket jacks versus pocker aces. However, the Pole got there on the flop and Aleksandr Skryabin went from hero to almost zero, busting a few hands later.
With the satellite kicking off simultaneously and awarding 13 seats, all tables were in use and the casino was buzzing, giving everyone a taste of what is to expect tomorrow when Day 1b with levels of 30 minutes kicks off at 1 p.m. and the turbo re-entry heat 1d starts at 8 p.m. local time. Only those unfortunate enough to have busted in one of the three previous flights are allowed to fire the optional second bullet.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action until a winner is crowned, so make sure to tune back in regularly.
, Michaelis checked and called a bet worth 5,100 by Apmann before check-calling a second barrel of 6,800 on the 
turn.
river paired the board and Michaelis checked the third street in a row. Apmann moved all in and Michaelis called it off for his last 26,500. Apmann turned over the 
and Michaelis nodded. As it was an all in showdown, his cards were revealed to be the 
and he stood up from the table, ready to leave the tournament area.
, Samardzic, the big blind, and Caridi checked. Offen bet 8,200, the cutoff folded, Samardzic called, the big blind folded too. Caridi shoved for 72,000. Offen asked for a count and the dealer confirmed the amount. Offen checked his own stack and realized he would be left with about 13,000 if he lost the hand. He still decided to call. Samardzic folded but showed that he had 
.
and the river completed the drama with the 
so Caridi doubled up.
flop gave Kopyl top set, while Glaeser regained the lead with the 
completed the board and Glaeser sent two opponents to the rail.
, Kim bet 8,000 from the small blind and Karayvan moved all in from the big blind. Both players had near identical stacks and Kim verified with the dealer that a re-entry is possible in the final starting day tomorrow.
on the river gave Kim a full house and the stacks were counted, Kim had 27,350 and Karayvan was covered by a mere 50 chips to join the rail. "So that's how you get far in High Roller tournaments?" Andre Haneberg joked, sitting on the other side of the table. It was Haneberg that defeated Kim in heads up in the early morning hours and they may be back at it in the Main Event as well.
turn for 3,800 with Montagnolli tossing in the chips for the call.
river, Hansen bet 4,000 and Montagnolli raised to 13,700. Hansen gave it some thought and called to see Montagnolli roll over 
, again Witter and Samardzic checked. Now Offen opened to 5,500. Witter folded but Samardzic called.
and Fredrik Andersson was getting up from his seat. The dealer was counting the stacks of Patrick Lorenz and Christoph Cajochen as their stacks were pretty even. It seems that they all had gone all in at some point in this hand. 
