The players came in droves, 507 of them, and by the end of Day 1a of the €10,350 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event 331 were left standing and moving on to Day 2.
Shortly after noon local time, WSOP VP Jack Effel delivered the magical words “Shuffle Up and Deal” to start anew the annual tradition that began back in 2007. Darko Svesko of Serbia ended up as the chip leader after seven 90-minute levels with 535,900, followed by Bartolomeo Tato (504,100), Patrik Jaros (497,200), and Birger Ohl (468,800). Boris Kuzmanovic rounds out the top-five with 469,800 after he made a full house holding jack-three to bust Kai Herold in a massive pot on the last level of the day.
Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darko Svesko | Serbia | 535,900 | 335 |
| 2 | Bartolomeo Tato | Italy | 504,100 | 315 |
| 3 | Patrik Jaros | Czech Republic | 497,200 | 311 |
| 4 | Boris Kuzmanovic | Croatia | 469,800 | 294 |
| 5 | Birger Ohl | Germany | 468,800 | 293 |
| 6 | Cecile Ticherfatine | France | 450,000 | 281 |
| 7 | Lars Brodin | Sweden | 393,900 | 246 |
| 8 | Yaroslav Ohulchanskyi | Ukraine | 392,700 | 245 |
| 9 | Alex Foxen | United States | 389,900 | 244 |
| 10 | David Dongwoo Ko | Canada | 371,100 | 232 |
Cecile Ticherfatine (450,000), Alex Foxen (389,900), and David Dongwoo Ko (371,100) also joined the top 10 by the time play concluded for the night. Other notables to make it through the day include Armin Rezaei (346,500), Mateusz Moolhuizen (281,500), Samuel Ju (279,100), Daniel Rezaei (277,600), Roman Hrabec (275,400), and 2023 WSOP Paradise Main Event champion Stanislav Zegal (269,200). Jonathan Pastore, runner-up in 2022, bagged up 220,200, while Tamas Adamszki, helped by a late-night miracle when he spiked a set of queens against kings, finished with 184,400.
Farid Jattin took his seat in the middle of the day and quickly hit a full house to double up on one of his first hands. Jattin built up a chip-lead contending stack of 400,000 at one point but fell back down when he called Victoria Livschitz’s river shove for 72,000 with a pair of eights as Livschitz showed two pair to double; Jattin ended up with 234,100, while Livschitz had 169,000.
Antonio Menga saved his big move up the leaderboard for the closing moments of the day. He was all in for 163,700 with two kings against Simon Wilson holding two nines and dodged a flush draw to earn the massive double up, bagging up 346,000. Omar Eljach, the 2022 champion, didn’t have to wait so long for his highlight as he hit a full house holding pocket deuces on one of the first hands of the day on his way to finishing with 298,500. Defending champion Max Neugebauer also survived with 150,000, as did Andras Nemeth (122,500), 2019 Main Event champion Hossein Ensan (111,000), Martin Zamani (61,600), and Shaun Deeb (48,200).
Not all the familiar faces in the field were fortunate enough to make it through the day. Stoyan Madanzhiev ran two kings into pocket aces to bust, while Kristen Foxen, Dario Sammartino, and Nick Palma joined him on the rail. They’ll have to try again on another bullet if they hope for a shot at the title.
The 507 players who entered the opening flight bring the Main Event on pace to approach last year’s record-setting field of 817. Day 1b begins tomorrow at noon local time as a new crop of players join the field. All surviving players from the two opening flights combine for Day 2 at noon on Sunday, October 6. Late registration remains open through the end of Level 12 on Day 2, with players allowed one reentry. The action on Day 2 picks up on Level 8 with blinds of 800-1,600 and a 1,600 big blind ante.
The poker world came together today in Rozvadov, just as they’ve been doing for 17 years, as the WSOP Europe Main Event only keeps getting bigger. The road to the championship gold bracelet is just getting started, so stay tuned as PokerNews returns tomorrow to provide live updates from the second opening flight.