Event #13: €10,350 Main Event NLH European Championship
Day 1a Completed
2024 WSOP Europe
Event #13: €10,350 Main Event NLH European Championship
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1a
2024 WSOP Europe
Buy-in
€10,350
Prize Pool
€7,219,200
Entries
768
Level
33
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
500,000
Entries
507
Players Left
331
Level 7
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
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 1a 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.
Level 7
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
535,900
-14,100
|
-14,100 |
|
||
|
504,100
504,100
|
504,100 |
|
497,200
87,200
|
87,200 |
|
469,800
34,800
|
34,800 |
|
468,800
84,800
|
84,800 |
|
450,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
393,900
153,900
|
153,900 |
|
392,700
92,700
|
92,700 |
|
389,900
59,900
|
59,900 |
|
||
|
371,100
11,100
|
11,100 |
|
|
||
|
370,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
354,200
19,200
|
19,200 |
|
346,500
26,500
|
26,500 |
|
346,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
|
340,000
340,000
|
340,000 |
|
330,700
330,700
|
330,700 |
|
330,000
180,000
|
180,000 |
|
327,400
152,400
|
152,400 |
|
326,000
316,000
|
316,000 |
|
325,300
205,300
|
205,300 |
|
324,800
-50,200
|
-50,200 |
|
321,700
321,700
|
321,700 |
|
||
|
319,000
19,000
|
19,000 |
|
318,200
80,200
|
80,200 |
|
316,000
206,000
|
206,000 |
Level 7
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
The players are now busy bagging and tagging their chips for the night.
Stay tuned for a recap of Day 1a!
Level 7
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
In a preflop confrontation Safwane Bahri was all in for a bit over 30,000 from the big blind and was up against Georgios Vrakas who had him covered from middle position.
Safwane Bahri: A♥A♦ 
Georgios Vrakas: K♥K♦
The best preflop hand held up against the second-best preflop hand on the J♦7♦Q♥7♥Q♣ runout and Bahri doubled up through Vrakas.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
68,000
-107,000
|
-107,000 |
|
32,400
-7,600
|
-7,600 |
Level 7
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
In a battle of the blinds, Hossein Ensan led out for 4,000 on a flop of 3♦4♣10♥ and Ran Ilani called.
Ensan bet another 9,000 on the 4♦ turn and Ilani again called. The river was the J♥ and Ensan bet 18,000. Ilani folded this time.
"Show the bluff," Ilani said, but Ensan shook his head and returned his cards face down while taking in the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
180,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
|
110,000
110,000
|
110,000 |
|
||
Level 7
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
On one of the last hands of the night, Tamas Adamszki three-bet to 12,000 in the cutoff and Felix Seelentag four-bet to 30,000 in early position. Adamszki then moved all in for 89,400 and Seelentag snap-called.
Tamas Adamszki: Q♠Q♣
Felix Seelentag: K♣K♠
Adamszki, already on his second bullet of the tournament, needed a miracle to survive but didn't find it on the 7♥J♦8♣ flop. The Q♦ turn was the gift he had been hoping for, and the 3♦ river sealed his double up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
270,000
120,000
|
120,000 |
|
180,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
Level 7
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Dennis Dielmann raised to 2,700 under the gun before Simon Wilson three-bet to 10,000 in the hijack. Antonio Menga then three-bet to 26,000 on the button.
Matthias Kribben in the big blind tanked for several minutes until another player at the table called the clock. He then folded as action went back on Dielmann who also got out of the way. Wilson, though, moved all in and it was Menga's turn to tank. He let the last few minutes run out on the tournament clock before calling for 163,700.
Antonio Menga: K♦K♠
Simon Wilson: 9♣9♠
Menga had Wilson dominated with his kings as more than 300,000 was in the middle. Wilson picked up a flush draw on the J♠Q♣3♣2♣ board, but Menga held on through the J♦ river to earn the massive double up.
"Christmas came early," a tablemate told Menga after the hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
330,000
182,000
|
182,000 |
|
130,000
32,500
|
32,500 |
|
|
10,000
-210,000
|
-210,000 |
Level 7
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
The clock was stopped, and the last four hands for tonight were announced.
Level 7
: Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante
Darko Svesko's day couldn't have gone much better as he has a monster stack, and he just added to it in the closing moments of the flight.
With around 20,000 in the pot on a flop 3♥9♣7♥, Svesko check-called a bet of 4,500 from David Eiselt.
Both then checked to showdown on the 10♥J♦ runout, where Svesko tabled A♦10♦ to scoop the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
550,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
|
|
||
|
250,000
250,000
|
250,000 |