David Lappin checked the J♥5♠9♥ flop from middle position to Andrea Matta on the button. Matta made a bet of 5,500 into the pot of 8,500, after which Lappin jammed all in for 39,200.
Matta asked for a count, mulled it over, and put in a call with the covering stack.
David Lappin: A♣J♣
Andrea Matta: Q♠J♦
Lappin's ace kicker won him the pot on the K♣6♥ runout, doubling him up to an above-average stack.
Andrea Volpi had gone all in for 18,300 from the cutoff. Gaspare Sposato called in the small blind before Marco Gemma called all-in for 17,500 in the big blind as well.
Marco Gemma: A♥K♠
Andrea Volpi: 3♠3♦
Gaspare Sposato : 9♥9♦
Sposato was looking for a double knockout, and the 10♠4♠7♥ flop and 8♥ turn helped neither of his opponents. The K♦ river saw Gemma make a higher pair, however, and he tripled up while Volpi was sent home.
The overwhelming popularity of the first-ever PokerStars Open (PSO) Campione knew no bounds on Day 1c of the €1,100 Main Event. Over 300 players had registered before the kickoff, which meant that the €1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool was surpassed before the cards were in the air.
Over the next 13 hours, tables were opened out of thin air, waiting lists of several hundred people were cleared, and every nook and cranny of Casino di Campione was filled with poker players. At the end of the night, Day 1c tallied a whopping 1,124 entries. Turbo flight Day 1d added 208 more, bringing the total across all starting flights to 2,139 entries, surpassing the record for the largest-ever standalone PokerStars event at this buy-in level. The prize pool stands at €2,092,800, including the Day 2 entries that have already been made.
At the end of Day 1c, 410 players still had chips. Among them were PokerStars Ambassadors Guillermo Sanz, Benjamin Bruneteaux, and Kerry-Jane Craigie. Sanz performed best and bagged 98,700, more than three starting stacks and 82 big blinds at the start of Day 2. Bruneteaux followed his colleague closely with a stack of 90,000, while Craigie battled valiantly throughout the day but ended up with less than a starting stack, 27,000.
Kerry-Jane Craigie
None of them could touch chipleader Tommaso Marangi, however, as the Italian player bagged a big lead with 360,000 chips. Frenchman Samuel Mayet came closest to Marangi with a bag of 271,700, while Swiss player Michael Simeon completed the podium with 271,000 chips. Also in the top ten at the end of the night were regulars Mykhailo Demydenko (234,700) and Nuno Duarte (227,000).
End of Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Day 2 Big Blinds
1
Tommaso Marangi
Italy
360,000
300
2
Samuel Mayet
France
271,700
226
3
Michael Simeon
Switzerland
271,000
226
4
Artem Komarov
Ukraine
256,100
213
5
Davide Cojaniz
Italy
255,600
213
6
Vincenzo Di Coste
Italy
239,200
199
7
William Mancini
Italy
237,000
198
8
Mykhailo Demydenko
Ukraine
234,700
196
9
Marco Perra
Italy
234,200
195
10
Nuno Duarte
Portugal
227,000
189
Other notables making it through on Day 1c include EPT winners Antonio Buonanno (166,300), Giuliano Bendinelli (132,800), Grzegorz Glowny (63,000), and Dominik Panka (19,000).
Dominik Panka
Meanwhile, Day 1d saw 113 players progress, led by Italian Giacomo Geracitano, who amassed 146,800. Gregory Grech squeeked into the top ten of Day 1d with 107,600, while Ermanno Di Nicola (52,800) and Jamie Walden (36,200) were among the other notables in the turbo flight.
End of Day 1d Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Day 2 Big Blinds
1
Giacomo Geracitano
Italy
146,800
122
2
Esteban Ismailov
Switzerland
144,100
120
3
Franco Polidori
Italy
133,500
111
4
Joaquim Da Costa
Portugal
130,000
108
5
Feliciano Rosano
Italy
119,100
99
6
Martino Pozzi
Italy
115,000
96
7
Francesco Pirondini
Italy
109,800
92
8
Gregory Grech
France
107,600
90
9
Franco Bini
Italy
106,000
88
10
Tayfun Rodoplu
Turkey
101,100
84
As for who did not find a bag, Adam McKola had his aces cracked by quads and could not recover, falling shortly after his fellow podcast host Rory Jennings. Sam Grafton and Alex Romero did not have any success either, but these Red Spades will have more chances at glory as the late registration will remain open for the first level of Day 2.
Day 2 will get underway tomorrow, March 14, at 1 p.m. local time. Blinds will restart in Level 12: 600/1,200 (1,200), which is also the last level for entries and reentries. The length of the levels will be increased to 75 minutes, and a break is scheduled after every two levels.
Tune back in to PokerNews tomorrow to find out just how big PSO Campione will grow on Day 2 of the Main Event.
