While Kenny Hallaert lost the remainder of his short stack, Ivan Baric busted in unfortunate fashion to Ismael Bojang. Their table broke right after while James Akenhead was all in and at risk for his last 13,400. Micky Blasi looked up the Brit for the following showdown.
James Akenhead: 
Micky Blasi: 
The board of 
provided the necessary help for Akenhead in order to remain in contention on Day 1a.
Level: 11
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 200
Marc MacDonnell opened to 2,200 from early position and Zdenko Slavik three-bet to 7,200 directly to his left. With the action back on MacDonnell, he four-bet shoved all-in for around 40,000. Slavik took a moment to make his decision and eventually made the call.
Slavik: 
MacDonnell: 
The flop came 
and Slavik took the lead with two pair. The turn was the and MacDonnell was drawing dead to the 
on the river.
In the next hand, Martin Kabrhel was sitting on a short stack of just 10,000 chips and was seen getting up from his seat. Kabrhel will surely be back tomorrow to fire again on Day 1B.
Maxim Lykov is using his big stack to put pressure on opponents and further build his stack. One of these hands involved Fahredin Mustafov, who just won the World Series of Poker Circuit €5,300 High Roller here at the King's Casino a few days ago. On the 
flop, Mustafov checked and called a bet of 8,500 by Lykov before checking the 
turn. Lykov on the button bet 12,000 and forced a fold.
One table over, there weren't many chips in the pot until the 
river. Ricardo Chauriye bet 8,000 and Ivan Baric raised to 22,000. Chauriye shoved for just 33,000 and Baric folded.
Joining the action on the 
turn with some 15,000 in the middle, Maxim Lykov sent a tower of T-5,000 chips to the middle of the table out of the big blind. His sole remaining opponent was Erik Cajelais in under the gun and the French-Canadian counted his remaining chips, which were some 28,000, before calling it off.
Erik Cajelais: 
Maxim Lykov:
Cajelais needed a nine, ten or jack to avoid elimination, but the on the river was as blank as it could get. Lykov's massive tower of chips grew even further and the Russian is the run-away chip leader at the moment.
Carlo Savinelli raised to 2,600 from middle position and was called by the hijack and Alex Foxen on the button. The flop fell 
and Savinelli led out for 4,300. The hijack folded and Foxen made the call.
The turn brought the and both players checked to the 
on the river. Savinelli checked again and Foxen fired a bet of 11,300 after thinking for a few moments. Savinelli instantly called and Foxen rolled over 
for a set of fours on the river. Savinelli's cards went to the muck and Foxen took down a healthy pot.
A short stack was all in for 10,200 from the cutoff and Erik Cajelais tossed in his big chip denominations on the button to force out everyone else.
The cutoff showed 
and Cajelais had that dominated with . The board came and Cajelais raked in the pot.
Ryan Hughes also sent an opponent to the rail in a battle of the blinds. His opponent had 
and Hughes turned over 
and both players flopped a pair with Hughes ending up victorious on a board of 
.
Level: 10
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
In the previous hand, Marc MacDonnell bet 5,100 from the cutoff to force a fold from Ryan Hefter on a heads-up flop of . The next hand, Chris Ferguson raised to 1,800 and MacDonnell from one seat over three-bet to 5,700. Hefter let go from the big blind and Ferguson's shove for around 13,000 was quickly called by MacDonnell.
Chris Ferguson:
Marc MacDonnell:
The Irishman got it in with the worse hand, but improved on a flop of 
. Neither the 
turn nor the 
river improved Ferguson and he has been eliminated. Ferguson can however re-enter on either Day 1b or Day 1c in order to take another shot at vital points for the player of the year ranking.
button in Safari
