2014 PokerStars King's Cup Rozvadov: Thomas Fabian Leads Day 1b Field

A huge 337 players ended up entering on Day 1b in the form of 315 unique entries and 22 re-entries. With the field almost three times the size of Day 1a, the casualties flooded in throughout the day and with stack sizes swinging up and down like a yo-yo expert displaying their expertise, it wasn't until literally the very end of play that a clear chip leader was found.

That person is Thomas Fabian. The German knocked out two players with pocket tens against pocket sixes and ace-nine in one of the last hands of the day for what was a 150,000 chip pot. Fabian flopped top set and turned a full house to eliminate compatriot Marcel Tol and Czech player Petr Hejdanek. Fabian finished with 185,400, enough to lead but just over 5,000 short of Roman Mikus chip lead from Day 1a.

Other big stacks to make it through were Andreas Weiske (171,600), Erjat Balinca (162,600) Milan Stanislav (148,800) and Georgios Manousos (132,500). Manousos had been chip leader for much of the day but it was only at the end when several players overlapped him.

Team PokerStars Pro was once again represented by Christophe De Meulder. Yesterday the Belgian pro was unable to win a single pot, today it appeared that one big hand had made his day when he held aces against kings and sixes to give him an above-average stack, he finished with 65,800. He was not the only famous player on Day 1b though; former EPT Deauville winner Sotirios Koutoupas had also made an appearance alongside a band of Greek players but Koutoupas' day was cut short when he shoved blind only to find out he had , needless to say it did not work out for him.

In total, around 200 players busted in Day 1b, but they'll still have a chance to try out on Day 1c which begins shortly. The structure is exactly the same but the levels will only be 15 minutes long and it'll be a last chance to spin up a stack for Day 2.

Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team across on the Day 1c blog as we bring you the final starting day from this tournament! Meanwhile, a full chip count for this event will come as soon as we get our grubby hands on it.