Decent Start for Day 1a of the 2022 WSOP International Circuit Main Event at King's Resort
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.
Top 10 Chip Counts €1,700 Main Event Day 1a
| 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.
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.
flop, Narcis Nedelcu bet 38,000 out of the blinds. Kestutis Rusys jammed for around 55,000 and Nicolas Bokowski moved all-in over the top for 112,300. Nedelcu asked for a count and called that, too.
turn and 
river ended the run for Rusys on Day 1a for now.
were good for the nuts on the 
flop the action checked around and the 
for the top set while Kovac was hoping for a five or ten, holding 
for the open-ender. The 
flop, Gulas Jr checked and Donnini bet 5,200 to take it down.
river improved Wattenberg to a flush and he doubled for 54,000. "Well, you definitely have some balls," Johann Roesnick said in table chat to which neighbor Wattenberg replied "I was sucked out so badly in the last tournament".
