Main Event
Day 1b Started
2015 partypoker WPT National Cyprus
Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 partypoker WPT National Cyprus
Buy-in
€1,800
Prize Pool
€300,312
Entries
172
Level
27
Blinds
25,000 / 50,000
Ante
5,000
Welcome to Day 1b of the partypoker WPT National Cyprus
The second starting day of the €1,800+200 World Poker Tour National Cyprus Main Event at the Noah's Ark Deluxe Hotel & Spa in Bafra gets underway at 13:00 local time. A total of nine levels of 45 minutes each will be played and all participants receive 30,000 in chips. All 74 unique entries of Day 1a are welcome to join the action once again as the bigger of two stacks of each starting day will be carried over to Day 2 on Sunday.
A single re-entry is allowed on each day and registration as well as the re-entry period remains open until the end of the third level on Day 2, allowing for a total of five bullets if required. The number to beat for the overall chip lead is Sergey Minaev's massive 193,300 chips and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi also bagged up a top five stack with 138,900 after one of his usual spectacular performances.
There were a total of 86 entries on Day 1a of which 41 advanced to Day 2 and the overall attendance may very well eclipse 200 entries. Dimitar Danchev and Paul-Francois Tedeschi are expected to re-enter today after bowing out last night and Chino Rheem was also spotted at the casino already as well.
The PokerNews team will bring you all key hands until the winner is crowned on Monday, bagging and tagging for today is expected to take place around 20:30 local time.
Slight Delay
The start of Day 1b is slightly delayed while the players gather in the tournament area. We'll keep you posted as soon as the action kicks off.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Back in Action
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Roman Pavliuk, Hassan Bittar, Alper Kostem and Atanas Kavrakov have all re-entered after being eliminated on yesterday's Day 1a.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
Early Entries on Day 1b
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Bendik also Back
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Jan Bendik is also among the players to show up rather early today and has taken a seat on table seven.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
Friendly Start
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Table eight already provides some early action and Hassan Bittar is involved as usual. The first hand saw a three-way pot of 3,500 to the flop of 
that was checked through. Toufic Saliba then bet 1,250 on the 
turn and was called by Khalil Tawil whereas Aristidis Theodoridis folded.
The 
river was checked through and the 
of Khalil were no good, as Saliba had spiked a straight with 
.
One hand later, Bittar raised to 500 in a "friendly hand" and half of the table laughed. Saliba called out of the blinds and check-raised the 
flop from 700 to 2,100. "You know, I want to raise you but I just call," Bittar said. Both the 
turn and 
brought no further action and Saliba won the pot with 
, Bittar only had top pair.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
34,000 | 34,000 |
|
|
26,000 | -4,000 |
Mikovic Joins
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Marko Mikovic, a regular on the Italian poker circuit, has joined the action and Fuat Tanindi as well as Amir Saeid re-entered after being eliminated on Day 1a.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 |
Setup Leaves Bittar Upset
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
After only 20 minutes of play, Hassan Bittar was sent to the rail in a rather cruel setup. It was a four-bet pot to 2,100 with Bittar and Alper Kostem calling to see the flop of 
. Kostem bet 5,000 and Bittar called whereas the other player got out of the way.
The on the turn now brought a fourth spade and Kostem check-called a bet of 5,000. After a 
river, Bittar had only 12,000 behind and Kostem put him all in to get a call from the Lebanese with pocket sixes for a full house. Kostem however had pocket queens for the higher full house!
Kostem also scooped another pot shortly after when making a runner-runner full house with 
and jumps up to more than double the starting stack.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
63,000 | |
|
|
Busted |