Event #1: €550 COLOSSUS

The half-way point has been reached in the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe Event #1: €550 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold'em, as four of the eight starting days have concluded at the King's Casino in Rozvadov. Day 1D attracted a field of 164 entries, of which the top 25 spots were paid, and the final 10 players bagged up their chips with 19 minutes left in level 18.

Jan Bednar claimed 633,000 to his name and is currently third in chips for all 51 players that advanced to Day 2 thus far, trailing Day 1A chip leader Dariusz Glinski (669,000) and Day 1C chip leader Daniel Prior (649,000). Quite remarkably, Bednar, in fact, made it to the money in the earlier flight of the day and finished in 16th place out of 125 entries for €809 before jumping right back into the action.

Several other notables are among the 10 survivors of Day 1D such as Flavio Decataldo (574,000), Bulgaria's Aleksandar Denishev (494,000), Philipp Zukernik (403,000), Oliver Heidel (393,000), Mick Heder (386,000),Jan Ramik (297,000) and Martin Kabrhel (291,000). The master of speech play, currently second in his country's all-time money list, already has one WSOP bracelet and four WSOP circuit rings to his name, all of which he won within the last two years right here at King's Casino.

Kabrhel entered late and quickly scored a double up to get things started, then became one of the big stacks. Near the money bubble on the last three tables, he experienced a roller coaster ride and switched into push or fold mode. Rakesh Lalwani and Tomas Petru were among those that fell victim to this strategy, and other players that cashed but failed to bag up include Michal Lubas, Anson Tsang, Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler and Marek Blasko.

Day 1D Payouts

Action of the Day

In level one, some 50 players were seated and that number soon grew to more than 100 as all hopefuls eliminated from the previous starting day gave it another chance in the evening flight. Among those to bow out more than once were such notables as Roman Motovsky, Sander van Wesemael, Teunis Kooij, Shaun Deeb, Roland Israelashvili, Timo Kamphues, Carlo Savinelli and Michael Soyza.

Six-time WSOP bracelet winner Chris Ferguson continued his late entry strategy, but failed to capitalize from it to bust before the money. Dutch Boyd experienced the same fate and further casualties before the money bubble included Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy, Jaroslav Peter and Andrea Klein. Hand-for-hand mode on the money bubble lasted all but one hand. Jan Ramik was fortunate enough to crack aces with pocket fives to survive, while Francesco Cirianni lost a flip with pocket jacks against the ace-queen of Mykhailo Gutyi to let the bubble burst.

Three levels remained to be played for all remaining 25 players and the all in showdowns kept coming at a rapid pace. Michal Lubas lost a big flip with jacks to ace-king and Rakesh Lalwani missed his nut flush draw against the top pair of Martin Kabrhel. The elimination of Allen Kessler came in far more dramatic fashion, though.

After a min-raise by Philipp Zukernik, Allen Kessler three-bet shoved for 12 big blinds and Michael Braeutigam mistakenly tossed in two chips out of the blinds to call Zukernik's raise. Braeutigam had to call off Kessler's shove with seven-six suited and cracked the pocket tens of the American poker pro by turning a flush and rivering a straight flush.

In the final two levels of the night, another nine players ran out of chips including Gutyi, Braeutigam and Marek Blasko to reduce the field to the final 10. That's when the bags came out to end the day ahead of the planned schedule with 19 minutes remaining in level 18.

2018 WSOPE €550 The COLOSSUS Schedule

So far, the event has generated a total of 610 entries and 51 players advanced to Day 2. Both numbers will rise significantly, as the two respective flights on Friday and Saturday are expected to fill Europe's biggest poker arena and put the tournament on track to surpass the guaranteed prize pool of €1,000,000. As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor from start-to-finish for all you need to know about the first chance to win a coveted gold bracelet during the festival.

Thierry Delpui limped in from the small blind and Philippe Bouhnik moved all in for 91,000 from the big blind to reclaim his big blind ante and the limp of Delpui.

Soon after, still as shortest stack of the 11 remaining players, Bouhnik got it in preflop and was snap-called by Philipp Zukernik.

Philippe Bouhnik:   
Philipp Zukernik:   

The     flop was of no help and Bouhnik was left drawing dead on the   turn, Zukernik improved to a set on the   river for good measure to eliminate Bouhnik. Since the final 10 players have been reached, Day 1D ends with 19 minutes left in the level and that's good news for all short stacks that already made it to Day 2.

The final chip counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.

Philipp Zukernik	400,000	190,000
Philippe Bouhnik	0	-190,000

Flavio Decataldo made it 17,000 to go and a short-stacked Adrian Buzan pushed for what appeared to be 70,000 in the big blind, Decataldo called.

Adrian Buzan:   
Flavio Decataldo:   

The board ran out       and Buzan had to settle for a payday of €1,069.

Marek Blasko received the very same amount after he defended the big blind against Mick Heder and ended up all in after the      turn.

Marek Blasko:   
Mick heder:   

The   on the river improved Heder to a flush and Blasko tossed over his remaining chips to let them splash into the middle of the table before heading to the payout desk.

Flavio Decataldo	490,000	70,000
Mick Heder	310,000	190,000
Adrian Buzan	0	-175,000
Marek Blasko	0	-160,000

Mykola Lakatosh was all in for around 15 big blinds and big stack Jan Bednar looked him up.

Mykola Lakatosh:   
Jan Bednar:   

The kicker advantage played a vital role in favor of Bednar on a board of       to eliminate Lakatosh in 18th place for €914.

Jan Bednar	500,000	90,000
Mykola Lakatosh	0	-90,000

Mykola Lakatosh was all in for the last 40,000 and Jan Gompers called out of the big blind.

Mykola Lakatosh:   
Jan Gompers:   

The board came       and Lakatosh doubled to around 15 big blinds.

Jan Gompers	100,000	-50,000
Mykola Lakatosh	90,000	45,000

While 17 of the 19 remaining players were already in their final 15-minute break of the day, Jan Bednar and Martin Kabrhel clashed in a big pot. Until the       river a pot of 175,000 emerged and Kabrhel checked. Bednar bet 55,000 and Kabrhel was deep in the think tank.

The break had started some 10 minutes ago and Kabrhel eventually called, Bednar showed    for the full house and won the pot. Bednar is very close behind Flavio Decataldo, who appears to be the current chip leader.

Flavio Decataldo	420,000	100,000
Jan Bednar	410,000	150,000
Martin Kabrhel	255,000	-95,000

Adrian Rus had nursed a short stack for quite some time and eventually got it in with the   . Tamir Segal called with    and flopped best on    , the   turn and   river were blanks.

Anson Tsang followed to the rail moments later to reduce the field further.

Tamir Segal	330,000	40,000
Adrian Rus	0	-70,000
Anson Tsang	0	-65,000

A big pot had already emerged when Jan Bednar jammed for 86,500 on the       river. Martin Kabrhel called and Bednar tabled    for a full house, Kabrhel only had    for trips kings and had to forfeit more than half of his stack.

Michal Lubas bowed out one hand later to reduce the field to the last 23 hopefuls on Day 1D.

Jan Bednar	260,000	228,000
Martin Kabrhel	80,000	-130,000
Michal Lubas	0	-25,000