A total of 143 entries have been counted on Day 1a of the 2019 WSOPE COLOSSUS, and just 15 players will be advancing after an opening flight full of action. The top 22 were in the money and the remaining players are led by Dutch player Zhong Chen (587,000), the only player over the half-million mark.
Chen is a regular player at King's resort and has already cashed this festival in Event #9: €1,650 Pot-Limit Omaha/No-Limit Hold'em Mix for a 19th place finish.
Zhong is followed in the counts by Yusuf Azaroglu (352,000) and Alessandro Laubinger (351,000) who completes the podium. Eyal Bensimhon, long time chipleader of the tournament today, lost a huge pot on the last hand and will come back on day 2 with 265,000.
Here is a full list of those advancing:
| Name | Country | Chip Count |
|---|
| Zhong Chen | Netherlands | 587,000 |
| Yusuf Azaroglu | Germany | 352,000 |
| Alessandro Laubinger | Germany | 351,000 |
| Aleksandr Merzhvinskii | Russia | 317,000 |
| Alessio Casiraghi | Italy | 265,000 |
| Eyal Bensimhon | Israel | 265,000 |
| Roland Israelashvili | United States | 252,000 |
| Thomas Schulze | Germany | 235,000 |
| Mark Ioli | United States | 219,000 |
| Oldrich Chyle | Czech Republic | 155,000 |
| Robert Wirth | Germany | 153,000 |
| Jakub Rampas | Czech Republic | 135,000 |
| Ernestas Lisauskas | Lithuania | 107,000 |
| Maximilian Ecki | Germany | 101,000 |
| Christian Kindl | Germany | 81,000 |
There was a glut of WSOP talent at the tables early on Day 1A of the COLOSSUS, with multiple bracelet winners Daniel Negreanu, Chris Ferguson, Robert Campbell, Shaun Deeb at the tables. The 2018 WSOPE bracelet winner Anson Tsang and the 2015 WSOP Main Event finalist Pierre Neuville also made an appearance. However, none of them made it into Day 2.
With just 22 players making the cash it didn't take long for the field to whittle itself down, and here are the players who made the money on Day 1a after Diana Volcovishi got eliminated at the bubble:
| Position | Name | Country | Payout |
|---|
| 16 | Ongbin Guo | Chine | €865 |
| 17 | Michael Strauss | Germany | €865 |
| 18 | Rinat Tulepbergenov | Kazastan | €788 |
| 19 | Ion Naicu | Romania | €788 |
| 20 | Franz Haid | Germany | €788 |
| 21 | Viktor Blom | Sweden | €788 |
| 22 | Remus Ciubotaru | Germany | €788 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews.com to catch all the action from the remaining eight starting flights of THE COLOSSUS live from King's Resort.
Tags:
Anson TsangChris FergusonDaniel NegreanuKing's ResortPierre NeuvilleRobert CampbellShaun DeebZhong Chen
, only to see 
in Chen's hand. 
and Strauch made his way to collect his prize.
