A faster, but not necessarily furiouser, starting flight of the Main Event is now in the books. Day 1C had 30-minute blind levels instead of the usual 40, and attracted 134 entrants. That brings the total so far up to 453, meaning just 47 runners in tonight’s hyper-turbo Day 1D flight will beat the €500,000 guarantee.
After 12 levels, only 63 remained and the player who bagged up the chip lead in this one was Johann Kroon with 214,200. He enjoyed a bit of run good around the midway point to rise up the chip counts.
After Jules Ayoub opened, Martin Mulsow jammed for 15 big blinds and Kroon made the call. Dustin Mangold then squeezed it up, getting rid of Ayoub but resulting in a jam from Kroon. Mangold made the call.
He had the Qâ™ Q♣ , which was the best hand against Kroon’s 8♥ 8♣ and Mulsow’s Kâ™ Jâ™ . The J♥ 9♥ 6♥ flop brought plenty of opportunities for both though, and Kroon would improve to a flush on the K♥ turn. Mulsow could still survive if another king or jack landed, but instead the 7♦ completed the board, shooting Kroon up to 80,000. Obviously things went well from then on!
For a while there though, we thought it would be Anton Meekma who claimed the ‘chip leader’ title. He shot up to the top of the counts in the penultimate level after a big collision with Leon Canniccioni that saw the latter eliminated.
Kroon opened before Canniccioni three-bet to 4,300. Meekma then put in a four-bet to 11,000 from the big blind, which shook off Kroon but got a call from Canniccioni. The dealer spread a 3♥ 8♥ 8♣ flop, on which Meekma continued for 13,500. Canniccioni then jammed, and that bet was snap-called by Meekma who held the Kâ™ K♦ . His overpair was beating Canniccioni’s, who had the 9â™ 9♥ , and the turn and river brought him no help. Meekma ended the day with 180,100.
There were two players repping the red spade in today’s field: Team Online’s Felix Schneiders (check out our interview with him here) and Team Pro’s Marcin Horecki.
Schneiders seemed to have a smooth ascent, up to 58,000 at one point, but the last few levels we’re so kind and he ultimately ended with 22,900. Horecki’s day was turbulent too. He found himself with less than ten big blinds at 600/1,200, and jammed 11,000 from the cutoff with the 8♦ 7♦ . Do Tran called on the button holding the 5♦ 5â™ , and the 9♦ 3♣ 6♣ 9♥ 10♣ board gave the Pole a straight and the double up. He ultimately bagged up 26,800.
Below you’ll find the top 10 counts, but to view the full list head over to PokerNews.
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JOHANN KROON | GER | 214,200 |
| 2 | ANTON MEEKMA | NET | 180,100 |
| 3 | DANIEL STACY | UK | 130,200 |
| 4 | SRDJAN PATKOVIC | SWE | 126,200 |
| 5 | PHILIPP DANIEL VIEBCKE | GER | 113,200 |
| 6 | METE ÃœSTÃœAY | TUR | 102,600 |
| 7 | RAFAL ADAMKIEWICZ | POL | 101,400 |
| 8 | GIUSEPPE CIMELLI | ITA | 100,000 |
| 9 | SAMI JACOBS | GER | 96,900 |
| 10 | JAMIL AHMAD OMAR | GER | 93,200 |
One player who didn’t have a good (or long) session was 2015 Eureka Hamburg winner Tom Holke. He busted in just Level 3 after shoving with top pair and running into a set. We spoke with Holke afterwards – you can read that interview here.
Joining Holke and Mulsow on the rail throughout the day were former EPT winners Michael Schulze and Thang Duc Nguyen, as well as Mike Hill, Sascha Niese, Sefa Terzi, Liutauras Armanavicius, Dieke Meyer, Erjat Balinca, and Timo Scarella to name a few.
Of course, they all still have a shot in this Main Event. As Day 1C ends, Day 1D – a hyper turbo flight with 20-minute levels which is only open to players who have already tried and failed in another starting flight – kicked off at 8pm.
Who will make it through the last chance saloon? We’ll let you know tomorrow on Day 2, when we’ll have official confirmed entry numbers, full chip counts, a seat draw, and the prizes.
Until then, enjoy your evening!
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