€1,700 NLH Main Event
Day 1a Completed
€1,700 NLH Main Event
Day 1a Completed
Europe's biggest poker arena at the King's Resort in Rozvadov was filled with poker enthusiasts from all over Europe, all staking their claim at potentially winning the elusive WSOP Circuit gold ring. The flagship tournament of the 2022 WSOP International Circuit in the Czech Republic kicked off and the event is off to a decent start thanks to 335 entries on the first of two starting flights.
This has put the marquee event with a buy-in of €1,700 half-way to meeting the €1,000,000 guarantee and Day 1b is expected to have another solid turnout. On top of that, players also have the chance to enter and re-enter during the first two levels on Day 2, which will take place on Sunday, January 23.
Valon Olluri ended the night atop the leaderboard with a stack of 552,500 after he gained most of the chips during a hot streak in the middle to late stages. Josef Huber almost caught up to that at the very end but fell just shy with 535,000 with the nearest follower, fellow Swiss player Silvan Boesiger (383,500) trailing by quite a margin.
Position | Player | Nationality | Chip count | Big Blinds for Day 2 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valon Olluri | Kosovo | 552,500 | 276 |
2 | Josef Huber | Switzerland | 535,000 | 268 |
3 | Silvan Boesiger | Switzerland | 383,500 | 192 |
4 | Sharon Ben David | Israel | 360,000 | 180 |
5 | Luc Ta | Germany | 355,000 | 178 |
6 | Abd El Ghanim | Austria | 347,000 | 174 |
7 | Chun Chang | Netherlands | 332,000 | 166 |
8 | Albert Hoekendijk | Netherlands | 318,500 | 159 |
9 | Majid Bozakraft | Netherlands | 309,000 | 155 |
10 | Steve Savio | France | 305,000 | 153 |
Other notables with big stacks include Albert Hoekendijk (318,500), Karol Konopka (214,500), Eyal Bensimhon (208,000), Stefan Drusca (200,000), Enrico Campanile (200,000), Narcis Nedelcu (184,000), and King's regular Marek Blasko (178,000). A handful of WSOP bracelet winners also took part and two of them made the cut on Day 1a in Sergiu Covrig (155,000), and Simone Andrian (143,000).
Dutchman Antoine Vranken, who won his maiden WSOP gold bracelet at the King's Resort a few months ago and added a circuit ring during the ongoing festival, was among those to bust and the same also applied for Emil Bise. Another big name to fall on the first of two starting days was defending champion Andrea Ricci, 2021 finalist Aliaksandr Shylko will also have to try again as well.
The father and son duo of Josef Gulas and Josef Gulas Jr failed to bag up chips for Day 2 just yet and can be expected to take another shot at the seven-figure prize pool. On top of the cash prizes, the top 12 finishers will also receive an entry into the 2022 WSOP Europe Main Event as well. This promotion by King's was partly responsible for setting a new attendance record and Gulas Jr turned his ticket into a seven-figure payday.
All those that came up short on Day 1a can re-enter on the second starting day, which will get underway at 2pm local time. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back then to provide as much of the action from the table as possible until a winner has been crowned.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Valon Olluri
|
552,500 | -22,500 |
Josef Huber (SUI) | 535,000 | 535,000 |
Silvan Boesiger | 383,500 | 83,500 |
Sharon Ben David | 360,000 | 10,000 |
Luc Ta | 355,000 | -85,000 |
Abd El Ghanim
|
347,000 | 27,000 |
Chun Chang
|
332,000 | 332,000 |
Albert Hoekendijk
|
318,500 | 318,500 |
Majid Bozakraft | 309,000 | 199,000 |
Steve Savio | 305,000 | -45,000 |
Florin Trifan
|
283,000 | 43,000 |
Gavril-Dorel Peter | 271,000 | 21,000 |
Dmytro Bystrovzorov | 265,500 | 265,500 |
Martin Paap | 251,500 | 156,500 |
Valerii Firstenko | 232,500 | 167,500 |
Martial Lavezzi
|
230,000 | 230,000 |
Mark Helou | 221,000 | 31,000 |
Michael Ugucctoni | 215,000 | 187,000 |
Karol Konopka | 214,500 | -55,500 |
Gianluca Cammarata
|
208,500 | 93,500 |
Eyal Bensimhon | 208,000 | -32,000 |
Matteo Cirillo | 207,000 | 42,000 |
Matteo Calzoni | 204,500 | 79,500 |
Enrico Campanile | 200,000 | 45,000 |
Stefan Drusca | 200,000 |
Just under one third of the field has survived the nine levels on Day 1a and punched the ticket for Day 2 on Sunday, January 23. Assorted counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.
Despite his double with quads only a few minutes ago, Yehuda Cohen fell short of making Day 2 and will have to try again on Day 1b.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Natale Albanese | Busted | |
Iman Ghashayar | Busted | |
Yehuda Cohen | Busted | |
Jan van der Stroom | Busted | |
Jonathan Rosenwasser | Busted | |
Gheorghe Butuc | Busted | |
Manoe Betrix | Busted |
During the final hands of the night, Gianluca Cammarata looked up the shove by a shorter-stacked Samuel Tebege and was in need of an ace or plenty of broadway cards to deal the final blow.
Samuel Tebege:
Gianluca Cammarata:
The runout brought no upset as Tebege scored a late double.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Gianluca Cammarata
|
115,000 | -90,000 |
Samuel Tebege
|
110,000 |
Out of a field of 335 entries, only 113 contenders remain in contention and they will be playing the final three hands for tonight.
Sihao Zhang called all-in on the heads-up turn of and turned over the top pair only to find himself in bad shape versus Gavril-Dorel Peter.
Sihao Zhang:
Gavril-Dorel Peter:
The river brought no help to Zhang and he joined the rail only a few minutes before the end of play.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Gavril-Dorel Peter | 250,000 | 90,000 |
Stefan Drusca | 200,000 | 50,000 |
Silviu Baltateanu | 190,000 | 140,000 |
Sihao Zhang | Busted |
Yehuda Cohen ended up at risk for 50,300 in the cutoff on a flop of and faced the of Mario Colavita in the big blind. Cohen locked it up right away on the turn with quads and the river was no longer significant.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mario Colavita | 150,000 | -50,000 |
Yehuda Cohen | 115,000 | 45,000 |
Carlo Wilhelm was all-in with and then faced the of Daridge Saidi as well as the of Pierre Trauer. On a board of , Saidi had the best of it with a set of treys and nearly tripled while Wilhelm hit the rail.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Daridge Saidi | 145,000 | 145,000 |
Pierre Trauer | 110,000 | -20,000 |
Carlo Wilhelm
|
Busted |