After six action packed starting flights, a total field of 2,803 entrants has been whittled down to 418 players for Day 2 of the $1,100 Eureka Main Event at 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus. Those figures generated a $2,662,850 prize pool, comfortably exceeding the numbers of the 2023 edition.
The remaining players, all of whom are in the money, will return at noon local time today, October 12, to Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in Northern Cyprus, all of whom will be aiming to negotiate the ten 60-minute levels required to progress to Day 3.
Marian Virlanuta of Romania leads the field, after bagging up a 1,156,000 stack in Day 1c. He is closely followed by Mark Smith of the United Kingdom (1,050,000), the only other player to exceed the seven-figure mark. Atanas Pavlov of Bulgaria (972,000) completes the podium places.
Virlanuta boasts recorded cashes of just under $150,000, his current biggest score being a $27,185 payday for finishing 15th in the €2,200 High Roller at EPT Barcelona 2018, and he’ll be hoping to set a new personal best in this event.
Smith has recorded cashes of just over $100,000, most of which come from domestic tournaments, and he will be aiming to make his first cash in an EPT event a big one.
UK based Bulgarian Pavlov sits 16th in the Bulgarian all-time money list, having accumulated cashes of just over $1,500,000. He appears to be the most experienced player in the top ten, and will be aiming to surpass his current biggest EPT score, a $56,724 payday for finishing third in the €2,200 Deep Stack at EPT Barcelona 2022.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marian Virlanuta | Romania | 1,156,000 | 231 |
| 2 | Mark Smith | United Kingdom | 1,050,000 | 210 |
| 3 | Atanas Pavlov | Bulgaria | 972,000 | 194 |
| 4 | Roman Korenev | Russia | 692,000 | 138 |
| 5 | Recep Aydemir | Turkey | 629,000 | 125 |
| 6 | Omer Cubukcu | Turkey | 607,000 | 121 |
| 7 | Sergei Bortsov | Russia | 598,000 | 119 |
| 8 | Azizjon Rakhimov | Uzbekistan | 589,000 | 117 |
| 9 | Murat Taysi | Turkey | 583,000 | 116 |
| 10 | Tian Hao Zheng | China | 583,000 | 116 |
PokerStars Ambassadors performed strongly, with no fewer than seven still in the mix – Georgina James (156,000), Sebastian Huber (155,000), Julien Brecard (149,000), Fintan Hand (142,000), Benjamin Spragg (116,000), Benjamin Bruneteaux (109,000) and reigning EPT Paris Main Event champion Barny Boatman (100,000).
Plenty of other big names are also still standing, including Tom Vogelsang (418,000), Michael Wang (355,000) and Julien Sitbon (298,000).
The players will return to 12 minutes left of Level 16, with blinds at 2,000/5,000, with a 5,000 big blind ante. Levels increase to 60-minutes for the remainder of the tournament, and players will have to navigate ten of those levels to progress to Day 3.
Payouts will be confirmed as soon as they are finalized. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all your coverage of what is sure to be an exciting day of poker thrills and spills.