Drozd Leads After Day 1b as Seven-Figure Guarantee is Met Once More
The 2022 WSOP International Circuit at the King's Resort in Rozvadov is one step closer to crowning a champion, yet it is a long way to go for poker enthusiasts from near and far in Europe's biggest poker arena. One thing is for certain already, though. The crown jewel of the festival has once again covered the €1,000,000 guarantee as the €1,700 Main Event has attracted a field of nearly 700 entries so far.
On Day 1b, a total of 361 entries emerged and 136 players advanced, joining all Day 1a survivors the following day. Several contenders were gunning for the top spot until the very end and it was Ondrej Drozd who held the edge after claiming 460,000 to his name. Cecil Moagi would have had by far more if it wasn't for an unfortunate split pot via runner-runner in a three-way all-in, as he ultimately made it through with 389,000.
Among the notables in the top ten are also Gheorghe Butuc and Michael Strauch, the latter of which finished runner-up in a bracelet event during the 2021 World Series of Poker Europe.
| Position | Player | Nationality | Chip Count | Big Blinds for Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ondrej Drozd | Czech Republic | 460,000 | 230 |
| 2 | Cecil Moagi | Germany | 389,000 | 195 |
| 3 | Marco Rebergen | Netherlands | 350,500 | 175 |
| 4 | Laviniu David | Romania | 321,500 | 161 |
| 5 | Angelo De Marco | Italy | 314,500 | 157 |
| 6 | Gheorghe Butuc | Moldova | 311,500 | 156 |
| 7 | Joachim Beilharz | Germany | 296,500 | 148 |
| 8 | Gordon Hegner | Germany | 277,500 | 139 |
| 9 | Michael Strauch | Germany | 270,000 | 135 |
| 10 | Romain Hamouche | France | 267,500 | 134 |
Just outside of the top ten is Josef Gulas, who bagged up 259,000. His son, 2021 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Josef Gulas Jr, also advanced albeit with a far smaller stack of 70,500. After failing make it through Day 1a, defending champion Andrea Ricci (189,500) and 2021 finalist Aliaksandr Shylko (226,000) also made the cut this time around.
Notables that will have to re-enter on Day 2 in order to take a shot at the seven-figure prize pool are Uri Gilboa, Tobias Peters,
Andrea Cortellazzi, David Taborsky, Emil Bise, Yehuda Cohen and Tom Dingenen as they all busted throughout the nine levels of 60 minutes each.
The late registration and re-entry period remains open for another two levels on Day 2, which gets underway at 2pm local time. Returning blinds then will be 1,000-2,000 with a big blind ante of 2,000. Once more, nine levels are scheduled and that will lead the field towards and beyond the money bubble. After the first break, live stream action of three feature tables will commence as well on the King's Twitch channel.
Another three days remain to crown a champion as the €1,700 Main Event will play down to a winner on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor until the river card has been dealt.
with some 55,000 already in the pot, Laviniu David checked and Gordon Hegner bet 30,000. Nasredine Talah moved all-in and David folded while big stack Hegner called.
turn and 
river completed the runout.
flop for 5,000 and earned calls from Moncef Karoui and Ilija Savevski. On the 
turn, Dafina bet another 11,000 to get called by Savevski only and then fired a hefty bet of 85,000 for all his orange chips on the 
river. Savevski snap-folded the 
to surrender.
flop, Giorgio Soceanu was already at risk and called by Cecil Moagi. The latter had accidentally exposed his cards already only to have them turned over again. Min Sung Lee was the only one still to act and he then called all-in as the shortest stack.
turn and 
of Feliciano Rosano. Post flop, Minerva doubled for 53,400 on a 
runout to jump above the average stack.
turn with around 30,000 in the middle, Ali Amelipour checked his option. Athanasios Kidas splashed in a bet worth 30,000 and Amelipour then jammed for two times of that. The quick call of Kidas followed but he was instantly given the bad news.
river were of any help and Cohen headed straight to the cash game tables.
