After some preflop action, Giuliano Bendinelli had gotten his stack of 89,500 in preflop against Fabian Bartuschk, while Cristian Espineira had folded his QxQx face-up.
Giuliano Bendinelli: J♦J♣
Fabian Bartuschk: K♠K♥
The board ran out an inconsequential 5♦6♣10♥8♥10♠. Bartuschk's kings held to eliminate Bendinelli, seeing the German pile up a mountain of chips.
Alessandro Adinolfo had opened in the hijack before he called big blind Gabor Winkler's three-bet of 22,000.
Winkler continued for 20,000 on the 7♣3♥Q♠ flop, being called by Adinolfo. He then pushed in his stack of 66,000 on the J♣ turn, receiving a snap-call from Adinolfo.
Gabor Winkler: J♠J♦
Alessandro Adinolfo : Q♥Q♣
Winkler did not hit the final jack in the deck on the 4♥ river as the cooler eliminated him from the Main Event.
The action was caught on a completed board of 3♠J♣7♥5♠9♥. Benjamin Bruneteaux made a bet of 13,000 into the pot of 20,000 from the big blind, which Karapet Alexanjan raised to 26,000.
Bruneteaux spent about five minutes mulling it over before he flicked in a calling chip.
"Good call, I have nothing," Alexanjan stated as he turned over A♥Q♦. Bruneteaux showed K♣J♠ for top pair and chipped up to a six-figure stack.
Dominik Panka had raised in the hijack when he was three-bet by Tomasz Wisniewski. Panka then four-bet jammed for 28,000, quickly being called by Wisniewski.
Dominik Panka: 10x10x
Tomasz Wisniewski: AxKx
Wisniewski made a pair of aces on the Ax7x2x6x3x runout, sending Panka to the rail.
The debut of the PokerStars Open could not have been more of a success. The PokerStars Open Campione €1,100 Main Event had set an ambitious guaranteed prize pool of €1,000,000, but that was smashed into smithereens when 2,139 entries were made during the four starting flights, making it the largest-ever standalone PokerStars Event at this buy-in. Late registration will remain open for the first level of Day 2, kicking off at 1 p.m. local time, giving the €2,092,800 plenty of room to grow further.
In total, 772 players made it through to Day 2. Darius Neagoe crushed Day 1a and ended with a stack of 417,000. His 348 big blinds are good for the overall chip lead, being followed closely by American Terrance Reid with 413,500. Day 1a produced the entire podium, as Sebastian Kotowicz sits in third with 398,600. Day 1c leader Tommaso Marangi is in fourth with 360,000 chips, while David Nir, who amassed the most chips on Day 1b, occupies fifth place with 347,400.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Darius Neagoe
Romania
417,000
348
2
Terrance Reid
United States
413,500
345
3
Sebastian Kotowicz
Poland
398,600
332
4
Tommaso Marangi
Italy
360,000
300
5
David Nir
Israel
347,400
290
6
Ioannis Salonikis
Greece
295,900
247
7
Samuel Mayet
France
271,700
226
8
Michael Simeon
Switzerland
271,000
226
9
Artem Komarov
Ukraine
256,100
213
10
Davide Cojaniz
Italy
255,600
213
Meanwhile, Gabi Livshitz (170,000), Alexandre Reard (168,000), Antonio Buonanno (166,300), Giuliano Bendinelli (132,800), Alessandro Pichierri (130,800), and Fabio Peluso (126,200) will all sit down with more than 100 big blinds as well.
Gabi Livshitz
Guillermo Sanz was the best-performing PokerStars Ambassador, having 98,700 chips in his bag. Fellow Red Spades Benjamin Bruneteaux (90,000), Barny Boatman (66,000), and Kerry-Jane Craigie (27,000) reserved a seat on Day 2 as well after battling through a starting day.
Their colleagues who have not survived a starting flight will have until the start of the second level of Day 2 to jump in, receiving the starting stack of 30,000 if they choose to do so. The blinds will restart in Level 12: 600/1,200 with a 1,200 big blind ante, after which a 25-minute break will be held to complete late registration, with unlimited reentries also being available until that time. Afterward, a break will be had after every two of the 75-minute levels, with a 60-minute dinner break scheduled after Level 16, around 8 p.m. local time.
How large can the PokerStars Open Campione Main Event grow? Stay tuned to find out, as PokerNews will provide updates straight from the tournament floor throughout the entire day.
