Vicente Delgado needed two bullets on Day 1 of the European Poker Tour Cyprus $50,000 Super High Roller, but he made the most of his second chance.
Delgado ended the day as an overwhelming chip leader over the remaining 16 players with 1,880,000, more than double his closest challenger. He busted defending champion Juan Pardo in a flip with nines against ace-queen, then made a big hero call on the river with just second pair to eliminate Samuel Mullur in a massive pot and began to separate from the rest of the field. He finally stunned Morten Klein with a set of fours as Klein was left with two pair on his way back to the registration desk.
The Spaniard is no stranger to competing against poker’s top players. He has $1.7 million in career live earnings, including finishing second to Pardo in this event last year at EPT Cyprus for $583,400. Known as “vicenfish” online, he also made the final table of the SCOOP Main Event last year.
Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Vicente Delgado | Spain | 1,880,000 | 313 |
| 2 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 910,000 | 152 |
| 3 | Daniel Rezaei | Austria | 780,000 | 130 |
| 4 | Biao Ding | China | 741,000 | 124 |
| 5 | Alexander Zubov | Russia | 660,000 | 110 |
| 6 | Jamil Wakil | Canada | 644,000 | 107 |
| 7 | Santhosh Suvarna | India | 601,000 | 100 |
| 8 | Ognyan Dimov | Bulgaria | 584,000 | 97 |
| 9 | Vladimir Korzinin | Estonian | 553,000 | 92 |
| 10 | Morten Klein | Norway | 342,000 | 57 |
Artur Martirosian bagged up 910,000 and is in second place far behind Delgado after making a set of jacks to bust Lewis Spencer in a massive pot. Daniel Rezaei (780,000), Biao Ding (741,000), and $25,000 Super High Roller Warm Up runner-up Alexander Zubov (660,000) round out the top five.
Other players advancing to Day 2 include Santhosh Suvarna (601,000), $20,000 No-Limit Hold’em champion Ognyan Dimov (584,000), Kayhan Mokri (219,000), and Dimitar Danchev (182,000). Defending champ Pardo (262,000), as well as Aleksejs Ponakovs (219,000), needed two bullets before surviving the day, while EPT champion Adrian Mateos fired three times and finally ended up with 192,000.
A total of 36 players entered over the course of eight 60-minute levels. Late registration remains open until the start of play Monday at 12:30 p.m. The action on Day 2 begins on Level 9 with blinds of 3,000/6,000 and a 6,000 big blind ante, with the starting stack of 250,000 still worth more than 40 big blinds. The official prize pool will be announced early in the day tomorrow. Play is scheduled to reach the final table, which will then be streamed on Tuesday, October 15, on PokerStars’ YouTube channel.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow following all the action as this elite field continues to battle for a place at the final table.