2017 World Series of Poker Europe

It was an action-packed day at the WSOP Europe inside the King's Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. The series kicked off with Day 1A of Event #1: €1,100 No-Limit Hold'Em Monster Stack and it was Ryan Hefter making the biggest spotlight of the day.

Hefter, the defending champion of this event in 2015, came through the day as one of the largest stacks sitting at 208,000. Hefter hails from New York, New York and made the trip to WSOPE mainly for this event. Hefter only has four recorded live tournament cashes for a total of $210,457. Another win in the Monster Stack event could lead to Hefter extending his trip to play in some more events throughout the series.

There were many notables that flooded the tournament area on opening day of the 2017 WSOP Europe rendition. There was much anticipation as to who would show up of those contenders in the Player of the Year race. Of the top ten players in contention, Chris Ferguson, John Racener, Ryan Hughes, and Alex Foxen have all made the trip to King's Casino from the United States. Foxen and Racener both made deep runs on Day 1A but were eliminated in the last couple levels. Ferguson busted earlier in the day and Hughes (81,500) was the only one of the four to bag chips to move onto Day 2.

Some familiar names to find a bag at the end of Day 1A include chip leader Ismael Bojang (268,500), Jeff Cormier (265,000), Mike Leah (96,000), and James Akenhead (46,500). Bojang is coming off a strong WSOP in Las Vegas with eight cashes, his best being an eighth-place finish for $46,887 in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'Em - 6 Handed event. He has a total of over $2.7 million in live tournament earnings and will be looking to have another strong series on his home turf.

There were a total of 90 entries to walk through the doors of the Poker Arena today, many of which were unable to make a deep run. Of those, Kristen Bicknell, Catalin Pop, Felipe Ramos, Pierre Neuville, Roberto Romanello, Jeff Lisandro, Marc MacDonnell, Daniele Primerano, and Kenny Hallaert all hit the rail early on. There is a good chance that all of these players will be back to battle on the felt for Day 1B tomorrow.

The remaining 15 players will return on Sunday for Day 2 where the blinds will increase to 60-minute levels. There are still two starting flights remaining for those looking to join them.

The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor on Friday at 2:00 PM local time to bring you all of the action from Day 1B.

Bruno Stefanelli moved all-in from early position for 32,300 and the action was folded to Ismael Bojang on the button. Bojang announced all-in over the top and the blinds folded.

Stefanelli rolled over and was up against the of Bojang. The board ran out and Bojang eliminated Stefanelli in the last hand of the night. There will be 15 players bagging and tagging to move onto Day 2.

Theodoros Aidonopoulos moved all in twice. Once he picked up the raise of Ismael Bojang and in the second time, in hand number four at the end of the night, it was chip leader Jeff Cormier that raised to 5,900. Aidonopoulos shoved the small blind and Mike Leah said "looks like 63."

Cormier asked for a count and the shove of the Greek was for 64,500, which forced a fold.

The tournament officials have paused the clock and announced that there will be seven hands remaining. With just 16 players remaining, hand-for-hand play will commence. If one more player is eliminated, the action will be halted for the night and the remaining players will bag up to move onto Day 2.

Ryan Hefter raised to 5,600 from middle position and Maxim Lykov called from the small blind. The flop came and the two players got all of their chips in the middle with Lykov being the player at risk for around 35,000.

Hefter turned over and Lykov held a straight and flush draw with . The turn was the and the river landed the , ending Lykov's rollercoaster of an evening.

Maxim Lykov limped and Hannes Neurauter raised to 7,200 from one seat over, which Lykov called. On the flop, Lykov checked and called a bet of 6,000 before the appeared on the turn. Lykov checked again and Neurauter bet 14,000 to force a fold.

Over on the other table, Carlo Savinelli raised to 6,000 on the cutoff and Mike Leah shoved for 83,000 from the button. Savinelli's attempt at getting information from table chat brought no reply from Leah and the clock was called on the Italian after almost four minutes. With five seconds left, Savinelli folded the face up and Leah flashed with the words "let's see a flop."

Zdenko Slavik raised to 5,500 from middle position and Pedro Oliveira piled his remaining 45,000 into the pot from the small blind. Ismael Bojang looked down at his cards and made the call. Slavik laid his hand down and the remaining two hands were shown.

Bojang:
Oliveira:

The board ran out and Oliveira hit the rail in the last level of the night. Bojang climbed over 200,000 for the first time today.

After the elimination of Chun Ho Law by Maxim Lykov, the field was reduced to the last two tables and 18 players only.

Lykov put the new chips to use immediately after arriving at his new table and opened to 5,200. Micky Blasi three-bet to 14,000 from two seats over in the cutoff and Lykov asked his opponent how much he started with. "Around 90,000," Blasi replied and the Russian then moved all in. Blasi gave it some consideration and called off.

Micky Blasi:
Maxim Lykov:

Blasi shook his head on the flop as Lykov took the lead. The turn was a blank, but the miracle on the river came to the rescue for the Italian that now resides in Malta. Blasi doubled for 93,100 and Lykov's stack was cut in more than half.