Luca Benali got his stack of 30,500 in from under the gun against Michele Falcone in the seat next to him.
Luca Benali: K♠K♣
Michele Falcone: A♠A♦
Falcone left Benali with just running outs after the 2♠A♥3♣ flop. The 8♠ turn had him drawing dead, with Benali saying his goodbyes as the 7♣ river completed the board.
Luca Delrio had raised to 2,400 in early position, after which the action folded to Otto Richard in the big blind. Richard jammed in his stack of 21,000, and Delrio called after a small tank.
Otto Richard: A♥5♠
Luca Delrio: 10♠10♥
Richard flopped a pair of fives on 5♣8♣4♠ but received no further help on the 9♣4♣ runout and quickly headed towards the exit.
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.
