Already in the field early on Day 1A is French favourite Gaelle Baumann. Baumann, who famously finished as the 'Last Woman Standing' in two World Series of Poker Main Events (2012, 2016), recorded her best tournament score in a Winamax Poker Tour event back in February 2015 in Paris. She finished second for €65,000.
This summer Baumann was involved in a monster hand in the Main Event against Vanessa Selbst, where Baumann turned quads against the full house of Selbst to eliminate the Canadian.
Baumann is just $3,250 short of reaching $1m in lifetime cashes, and will be looking for a deep run here to propel her towards that goal.
Last night saw the conclusion of Day 1 of the Winamax Poker Open €1,200 High Roller. They will return today at 1 p.m. local time and are lead by 2017 bracelet winner Max Silver. Silver is the only player over one million in chips, but has a dominating chip lead over Adrien Delmas in second place (406,000) and Thomas Soderstrom in third place (398,000).
There is still a lot of French interest in the tournament among the 23 players remain from a starting field of 128. However, only 17 will make the money, with a min-cash worth €2,065 and first prize a cool €35,370.
We will keep you informed on the High Roller as they play down to a winner today, but our focus will be on the Main Event.
Slightly later than originally advertised, and after some brief pleasantries, the cards are in the air here at the Citywest hotel for Day 1A of the Winamax Poker Open Main Event!
Welcome to the 2017 Winamax Poker Open! The festival is already two days old, and the venue is already packed with pplayers enjoying all the fun that the Irish capital has to offer.
The festival has a new setting this year, which offers twice as much space, as well as its fair share of surprises. This is the 8th edition of the WPO and it is taking place at the Citywest luxury resort just outside of Dublin.
Today marks the start of the €550 Main Event, which was won last year by Antonin Teisseire, who took home €72,000 for his efforts.
Players will receive 50,000 chips, and will play 14 40-minute levels today before bagging up for Day 2. Players are allowed one re-entry per day 1, with late-registration and re-entry open until level ten, with the maximum number of bullets permitted being four.
Cards will be in the air around 12 p.m. local time, so stay tuned to PokerNews for all the live updates from Dublin.
