Sebastian Cantzler raised to 13,000 in the cutoff and was called by Anson Tsang on the button. Yannick Jobin then jammed all in from the small blind for 76,000 and was called in both positions.
Cantzler checked to Tsang on the 5♠4♠J♥ board. Tsang bet 45,000 and Cantzler called. Tsang sized up to 70,000 on the 2♠ turn.
Cantzler spent some minutes in the tank before folding his hand and leaving the other players to show down.
Yannick Jobin: K♦Q♣
Anson Tsang: J♠J♦
Jobin was drawing dead against Tsang's set. The 2♦ upgraded Tsang to a useless full house as he scooped up the massive pot and eclipsed the half-million mark.
Tomasz Gluszko raised his button and called the subsequent three-bet from Pierre Erbland in the big blind. Erbland fired every street on the 4♦9♥2♠Q♥J♥ board and was called thrice by Gluszko.
He tabled K♥K♣ for an overpair, but had gotten rivered by Gluszko's J♦9♠, who took the pot with two pair.
Sami Bechahed: XxXx/8x7xAxQx/Xx
Jeremy Trojand: XxXx/9x5x3xAx/Xx
Sergii Baranov: XxXx/QxQxKx10x - folded on sixth street
Sami Bechahed completed and was called by Jeremy Trojand. "Alright, now we get some action," Sergii Baranov said as he also called.
Baranov paired his queen on fourth street. "Bravo," he joked with the dealer as action checked around. "Bellissimo," he added on fifth after getting a king.
Action was again checked to sixth where Trojand bet. Baranov quickly folded, while Bechahed called. Trojand bet again on seventh and Bechahed called once more. Trojand flashed a 4x for 9-5-4-3-A, but Bechahed had 10x6x5x for 8-7-6-5-A to win the pot and climb above 200,000 after being down to just 30,000 during the last level.
Jeremy Trojand: XxXx/J♥9♣9♦2♣
Aaron Duczak: XxXx/10♠8♠6♥2♥
Aaron Duczak completed and Jeremy Trojand called.
Duczak bet again on fourth street and Trojand called. Duczak bet on fifth, but this time Trojand raised and Duczak called.
"It's going in," Trojand told Duczak as he only had a few chips behind going to sixth. He then moved all in and Duczak called.
Duczak turned over 10♣6♠ for tens and sixes, but Trojand had J♠6♦ for jacks and nines. Trojand caught the 4♣ on seventh as he waited for Duczak to turn over his last card. "Take it," Duczak said as he tossed the A♦ into the muck and Trojand doubled up.
King's Resort in Rozvadodv is a familiar place for Anson Tsang. The Hong Kong native won two of his three bracelets during the World Series of Poker Europe in the Czech town, and has set himself up nicely today to pick up his fourth one.
Tsang leads 18 survivors after Day 1 of Event #10: €2,000 8-Game Mix and bagged 674,500 chips, more than twice the average and 30 big bets when play resumes tomorrow. All three of Tsang's bracelets have come in big bet games, but he is also a formidable mixed player, proving as much today by being among the top chip stacks throughout the day.
Following Tsang in the count is poker dealer turned poker professional Sami Bechahed. Bechahed went on a late-night surge to end up with a stack of 609,500, being the only other player to break the half-million mark.
Sami Bechahed
Meanwhile, Greek regular Symeon Alexandridis sits in third with 410,000, while bracelet winners Ilija Savevski (281,000) and Dennis Weiss (210,000) also finished in the upper half of the field.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Day 2 Big Bets
1
Anson Tsang
Hong Kong
674,500
34
2
Sami Bechahed
France
609,500
30
3
Symeon Alexandridis
Greece
410,000
21
4
Martin Schamaun
Switzerland
408,500
20
5
Tomasz Gluszko
Poland
323,000
16
6
Patrick Bueno
France
284,000
14
7
Ilija Savevski
North Macedonia
281,000
14
8
Alessandro De Michele
Italy
253,000
13
9
Dennis Weiss
Germany
210,000
11
10
Dzmitry Urbanovich
Poland
170,000
9
The €2,000 8-Game Mix saw a total of 90 entries throughout its nine levels of late registration, resulting in a prize pool of €156,510. The top 14 spots will be paid, meaning only four players will leave empty-handed tomorrow. The first concern of the shorter stacks will be getting to the min-cash of €4,045, but the likes of Tsang and Bechahed are surely looking at the top prize of €43,400 and the accompanying bracelet.
€2,000 8-Game Mix Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
€43,400
6
€7,290
2
€28,000
7
€5,830
3
€18,750
8-9
€4,895
4
€13,100
10-11
€4,330
5
€9,555
12-14
€4,045
Day 1 Action
As is usual for European mixed game events, the field was compact but highly decorated. Viktor Blom was one of the first players to exit, departing in Level 1 on his first attempt, while his second bullet featured no success either.
Many bracelet winners were attempting to increase their collection, but Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Michael Rodrigues, and Dario Alioto all faltered throughout the day, not being able to get a shot at capturing their second bracelet.
Defending WSOP Europe Main Event champion Max Neugebauer was playing his first-ever live mixed game event but exited halfway through the night. Joining him on the rail were two-time bracelet winners Oleksii Kovalchuk and Wing Po Liu, while Julien Martini also had to wait for his fifth one.
Julien Martini
After 14 levels, 18 players remained, neatly redrawn across three tables. They bagged up and will return tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time for Day 2 of the tournament. The tournament will restart in Level 15, which features limits of 10,000/20,000 for limit games, while the big bet games are being played with blinds of 2,500/5,000.
All levels will remain 40 minutes in length, with a break after every two of them, and Day 2 will continue until a winner has been crowned.
Tune back in tomorrow to PokerNews to find out who will take home the only mixed game bracelet of WSOP Europe 2024.
