Rezaei Bags Day 1a Chip Lead in Event #14: €10,350 WSOPE Main Event
After 12 hours of poker, Day 1a of Event #14: €10,350 WSOPE Main Event has wrapped up with some record-breaking numbers. There were a total of 434 entries on the opening flight, making it the largest Day 1a flight in the history of the Main Event in Europe.
When all was said and done after seven levels, only 279 players bagged up chips to advance to Day 2 on Sunday. Daniel Rezaei bagged up the largest stack of them all with 617,500. Rezaei started the day off strong, racking up one of the biggest stacks in the early levels. However, multiple encounters with Martin Kabrhel saw the chips flip-flop between the two players. In the end, it was Rezaei who got the best of Kabrhel as the King's Resort local only finished the day with 130,400 chips.
The first of two starting flights was expected to be the larger of the two since most of the satellite and ticket winners from previous events were granted a pass into Day 1a. It also attracted a lot of notable faces taking their shot at running up a stack.
King's Resort WSOP Europe Main Event History
| Year | Entries | Prizepool | Winner | Country | Top Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 529 | €5,025,500 | Marti Roca de Torres | Spain | €1,115,207 |
| 2018 | 534 | €5,073,000 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | €1,122,239 |
| 2019 | 541 | €5,139,500 | Alexandros Kolonias | Greece | €1,133,678 |
| 2021 | 434 (Day 1a) | €5,000,000 GTD |
There were a couple of former WSOP Europe Main Event champions in the field including Jack Sinclair and Alexandros Kolonias. Sinclair ran into a cooler in the last level of the night and bagged a small stack of 40,700. Kolonias was steady throughout the day and finished with 261,300.
The 2019 WSOP Main Event champion in Las Vegas, Hossein Ensan, arrive midway through the day and cruised to a stack of 153,000 by the day's end. Some other bracelet winners that advanced to Day 2 include Ole Schemion (540,600), Edmond Jahjaga (474,300), Jan-Peter Jachtmann (245,700), and Julien Martini (244,000).
There were also a few notables that did not make it through including Felix Schulze, Aleksandar Tomovic, Artur Martirosian, Jakob Madsen, Matas Cimbolas, and Tom-Aksel Bedell. The majority of them will still have a chance to enter on Day 1b or through the first five levels of Day 2.
The action will continue tomorrow at 10 a.m. local time for Day 1b where a smaller field is expected. However, the tournament staff has hopes of making this the largest ever WSOP Europe Main Event in history. The current record comes from the 2011 WSOPE Main Event where 593 players participated, creating a prize pool of €5,692,800.
Keep it locked here as the PokerNews live reporting team will bring you all of the live updates throughout the Main Event en route to crowning a new champion.