Saturday, October 13, 2018 5:00 AM Local Time
Mussini, Bendik And Gegic Top the Day 1F Counts; 38 Players Advance
The biggest starting day of the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe Event #1: €550 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold'em is in the books and Day 1F saw a total of 405 entries whittled down all the way to just 38 survivors after 18 levels of 30 minutes each. Including all other five previous flights, the total attendance currently stands at 1,333 entries and 122 players have bagged up chips so far to lock up a four-figure payday.
A new overall chip leader was crowned on Day 1F as Italy's Nico Mussini shot to the top of the leaderboard in the final level of the night and claimed 918,000 to his name. Former EPT Grand Final champion Jan Bendik, who sits in 1st place in Slovakia's all-time money list, follows in second place with 812,000 and Rifat Gegic made it through with 712,000.
Pocket aces played a crucial role at the end of the night to crown the new top two stacks heading into Day 2. Bendik sent Florian Stellbaum to the rail when he got it in with aces versus kings preflop, while Mussini cracked the pocket aces of Attila Havacs and Tal Noach with pocket kings to win the biggest pot of the tournament to date.
Other notables that advanced from the sixth of eight starting days include Oshri Lamani (666,000), Connor Heelis (447,000), Rafi Elharar (344,000), Francesco Delfoco (300,000), Ohana Shlomo (292,000), Elias Abou Saleh (210,000), Erich Kollmann (184,000) and Georges Chehade (174,000).
The top 61 spots were paid and the money bubble burst in level 16. Petr Vlcek was crowned the bubble boy in the very first hand on the stone cold bubble when losing a flip with ace-king against the Rafi Elharar. Among those that cashed but failed to punch their ticket for Day 2 through Day 1F were such big names as Zoltan Gal, Viliyan Petleshkov, Renato Kaneoya and Konstantinos Tsirakidis.
2018 WSOPE €550 The COLOSSUS Schedule
Day | Date | Starting Time | Late Reg | Entries | Survivors | Further Information |
1A | Tuesday October 9th | 18:00 | ~23:40 | 154 | 12 | Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 24 spots paid |
1B | Wednesday October 10th | 18:00 | ~23:40 | 167 | 17 | Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 26 spots paid |
1C | Thursday October 11th | 12:00 | ~17:40 | 125 | 12 | Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 19 spots paid |
1D | Thursday October 11th | 18:00 | ~23:40 | 164 | 10 | Play concluded with 19:00 left in level 18, top 25 spots paid |
1E | Friday October 12th | 12:00 | ~17:40 | 318 | 33 | Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 48 spots paid |
1F | Friday October 12th | 18:00 | ~23:40 | 405 | 38 | Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, top 61 spots paid |
1G | Saturday October 13th | 12:00 | ~17:40 | tba | tba | Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, the money will be reached |
1H | Saturday October 13th | 18:00 | ~23:40 | tba | tba | Play 18 Levels of 30 Minutes, the money will be reached |
2 | Sunday October 14th | 15:00 | - | tba | tba | Level duration increases to 40 minutes |
3 | Monday October 15th | tba | - | tba | - | Play Down to a champion |
Action of the day
More than 150 players were signed up for Day 1F a few minutes before the start of play and that number grew rapidly, as all players that busted the earlier flight jumped right back into the action. Allen Kessler, Shaun Deeb, Roland Israelashvili, Maria Lampropulos, James Romero, Michael Eiler, Lasse Frost and Michael Soyza were just some of the notables that failed to successfully run up a stack.
By the end of level three, Grzegorz Wyraz had already busted twice and was among the first players to run out of the single re-entry option. In the second attempt, Wyraz called the shove of Jessica Teusl with king-ten for second pair on an ace-high board only to see Teusl show turn over trips fives.
Rakesh Lalwani jammed blind and busted in a three-way all in with ten-seven suited against pocket kings, Peter Kamaras flopped a nut flush and couldn't hold up either. The eliminations kept on coming and poker enthusiasts from near and far such as Jerome Sgorrano, Anson Tsang and Yang Zhang were among the casualties.
By the time level 16 had kicked off, the money spots were only a dozen eliminations away and Elena Litvinyuk was among those to bow out just before hand-for-hand mode lasted all but one hand. Litvinyuk lost a classic race with pocket queens against the ace-king of Erich Kollmann. Once Petr Vlcek lost the flip to become the bubble boy, almost two dozen hopes were crushed and replaced with the opportunity to re-enter the last two flights.
An even busier day is expected on Saturday, October 13th, 2018, as the final two starting days of this very event traditionally attract a big field on the weekend. Expect brief waiting times to get a seat and a poker arena filled with hundreds of players that take a shot at the guaranteed prize pool of €1,000,000 and beyond.
Day 1G kicks off at 12 p.m. noon local time with registration available until 5.40 p.m. local time and the evening flight Day 1H gets underway at 6 p.m. local time, entries and re-entries can be purchased until approximately 11.40 p.m. local time. The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action of the final two starting days.
Saturday, October 13, 2018 4:25 AM Local Time
End-of-Day 1F Chip Counts
Nico Mussini | 918,000 | 43,000 |
Jan Bendik | 822,000 | 22,000 |
Rifat Gegic | 712,000 | 162,000 |
Oshri Lahmani | 666,000 | 86,000 |
Connor Heelis | 447,000 | 117,000 |
Tomer Lev | 406,000 | 6,000 |
Tornike Tchkonia | 365,000 | 365,000 |
Rafi Elharar | 344,000 | 76,000 |
Hesham Eshaqzai | 335,000 | -45,000 |
Edris Osman | 319,000 | 319,000 |
Francesco Delfoco | 300,000 | 60,000 |
Ohana Shlomo | 292,000 | 102,000 |
Mateusz Zerko | 275,000 | -30,000 |
Andras Halasi | 244,000 | 34,000 |
Alberto Panzeri | 234,000 | -26,000 |
Toon Hanot | 234,000 | 234,000 |
Christian Hoschuetzky | 207,000 | -103,000 |
Pascal Drexel | 204,000 | 204,000 |
Elias Abou Saleh | 200,000 | 200,000 |
Stylianos Kollatos | 184,000 | 184,000 |
Erich Kollmann | 184,000 | -76,000 |
Jonas Kilian | 182,000 | 182,000 |
Giorgi Surmava | 176,000 | 176,000 |
Georges Chehade | 174,000 | 174,000 |
Thomas Kowalski | 163,000 | 163,000 |
Matthias Janssen | 162,000 | 162,000 |
Vasileios Tsaknis | 149,000 | 39,000 |
Mykhailo Gutyi | 142,000 | 47,000 |
Lorenzo Papavero | 140,000 | 90,000 |
Janosch Seifert | 132,000 | -43,000 |
Ronny Bouwmans | 130,000 | -130,000 |
Alexander Dmitrienko | 126,000 | 56,000 |
Marcel Novorolnik | 124,000 | 124,000 |
Doron Lahav | 105,000 | 105,000 |
Alexandre Petit | 104,000 | 104,000 |
Jesper Hoog | 97,000 | -83,000 |
Moshe Dror | 81,000 | 81,000 |
Piotr Trebacz | 51,000 | 51,000 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 4:08 AM Local Time
Day 1F Finished
Three further players were eliminated during the final hands of the night and that reduced the field to the last 39 hopefuls. The chip counts of all Day 1F survivors and a recap of today's action will be published shortly.
Edit: Johannes Braun surrendered his stack of 65,000 and claimed a payday of €950 in order to re-enter again during the final two flights of the event. As a result, 38 players advanced from Day 1F.
Mohamed Chakroun | 0 | -85,000 |
Thiago Silva de Morgado | 0 | 0 |
Nir Shtein | 0 | 0 |
Johannes Braun | 0 | |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 4:00 AM Local Time
Lev Busts Greco
Tomer Lev had lost half of his stack and then doubled when betting the flop for 25,000. He was pushed all in and called for 118,000 with the to see his opponent turn over . The turn and river were blanks and lev doubled.
Just when the last three hands of the night were announced, Salvatore Greco ended up all in and received two callers. Lev was among them and his bet on the flop isolated successfully.
Salvatore Greco:
Tomer Lev:
The turn, as well as the river were of no help and Greco bowed out.
Tomer Lev | 400,000 | 110,000 |
Salvatore Greco | 0 | -50,000 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 3:54 AM Local Time
Bendik Joins the Big Stacks
"It's a good time for aces," Jan Bendik said after having just raked in a massive pot to see the Slovakian join the very biggest stacks in the final level of the night.
It started rather innocent as Florian Stellbaum limped, but then a raising war broke out and Stellbaum was all in for more than 300,000, Bendik snap-called.
Florian Stellbaum:
Jan Bendik:
The board came and Stellbaum was sent to the rail.
A late surge for a decent stack has also seen Oshri Lahmani and Rifat Gegic cross half a million in chips as well.
Nico Mussini | 875,000 | 75,000 |
Jan Bendik | 800,000 | 460,000 |
Oshri Lahmani | 580,000 | 205,000 |
Rifat Gegic | 550,000 | 445,000 |
Francesco Delfoco | 240,000 | -230,000 |
Adi Rajkovic | 0 | 0 |
Florian Stellbaum | 0 | 0 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 3:45 AM Local Time
Gal Among Next Casualties
"I have a decent stack now. If I bust tonight still, not sure if I will re-enter tomorrow," Zoltan Gal said in the previous break. Gal will face said dilemma whether or not to buy back into the tournament in the remaining two flights as the Hungarian was on the list of recent casualties.
The next table broke and there are just 44 hopefuls remaining.
Zoltan Gal | 0 | -360,000 |
Richard Maurer | 0 | 0 |
Pavel Sourek | 0 | 0 |
Fabien Motte | 0 | 0 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 3:39 AM Local Time
Level 18 started
Level: 18
Blinds: 4000/8000
Ante: 8000
Saturday, October 13, 2018 3:37 AM Local Time
Mussini Skyrockets to the Top
There was a double elimination on table 82 and the cards were already rushed away. A massive wall of chips was in front of Nico Mussini, which explained who had benefited from the double seat open, and the Italian confirmed a most cruel scenario.
Attila Havacs and Tal Noach had been all in preflop with pocket aces and Mussini called with pocket kings. A king appeared on the flop to leave both opponents drawing dead and Mussini has become the dominating chip leader.
Nico Mussini | 800,000 | |
Tal Noach | 0 | -300,000 |
Attila Havacs | 0 | -280,000 |
Tal Nahum | 0 | |
Bharath Najardhan | 0 | |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 3:27 AM Local Time
Kaneoya and Petleshkov Depart
Renato Kaneoya was all in from the hijack for the last 73,000 and big stack Francesco Delfoco called on the button.
Renato Kaneoya:
Francesco Delfoco:
"Wow, I am ahead, I didn't expect that," Kaneoya said just before the flop fell . Delfoco had hit top pair and improved to a straight on the turn. Kaneoya needed a queen to avoid the elimination, but instead it was the that fell on the river.
Shortly after Kaneoya's exit, Viliyan Petleshkov ran out of chips from one table over.
Francesco Delfoco | 470,000 | 60,000 |
Renato Kaneoya | 0 | -150,000 |
Viliyan Petleshkov | 0 | -80,000 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 3:18 AM Local Time
Saitta Busts to Siefert
Riccardo Saitta was all in and at risk for the last few big blinds with and Janosch Siefert looked him up with the . The board came and Saitta became the latest casualty. Timo Brammer exited right after from a different table to reduce the field further.
Janosch Seifert | 175,000 | 175,000 |
Timo Brammer | 0 | 0 |
Riccardo Saitta | 0 | -60,000 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 3:11 AM Local Time
Level 17 started
Level: 17
Blinds: 3000/6000
Ante: 6000
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:57 AM Local Time
Final Break on Day 1F With 59 Remaining
The remaining 59 players have been sent into their final 15-minute break for the night, in which the T-500 chips will be raced off.
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:54 AM Local Time
Tsirakidis and Biancoviso Eliminated
Konstantinos Tsirakidis was the first player to fall once the bubble burst and Giuseppe Biancoviso followed suit in the last hand of the level.
The Italian moved all in for 61,500 from early position and Zoltan Gal tossed in a single chip for the call out of the small blind.
Giuseppe Biancoviso:
Zoltan Gal:
The board came and Biancoviso nearly got there via runner-runner straight, but ended up having to settle for a min cash of €802 instead.
Rifat Gegic was more fortunate. He three-bet all in for 47,500 and was called by Salvatore Greco.
Rifat Gegic:
Salvatore Greco:
The board ran out and the kicker played to let Gegic double.
Zoltan Gal | 360,000 | 80,000 |
Rifat Gegic | 105,000 | 23,000 |
Salvatore Greco | 50,000 | -95,000 |
Konstantinos Tsirakidis | 0 | -210,000 |
Giuseppe Biancoviso | 0 | 0 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:48 AM Local Time
The Bubble Bursts in the First Hand
There were two all in and call at separate tables. Salvatore Greco survived with versus while Petr Vlcek became the bubble boy. He moved all in for 90,000 over the top of a 12,000 raise and two calls. The initial raiser and Konstantinos Tsirakidis folded, but Rafi Elharar eventually made the call.
Petr Vlcek:
Rafi Elharar:
The board came and Elharar turning an unbeatable full house to let the bubble burst in the very first hand. Expect the floodgates to open now with plenty of shorter stacks still in contention.
Rafi Elharar | 268,000 | 268,000 |
Petr Vlcek | 0 | 0 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:40 AM Local Time
The Money Bubble is Reached
David Domjan and Jihad Bejjani have been eliminated to reduce the field to the last 62 hopefuls. Bejjani was unfortunate enough to run with the second best starting hand into the one hand that tops it all.
Jihad Bejjani:
Jan Bendik:
The board came and Bejjani was ousted just shy of the money. Hand-for-hand play will commence shortly and two minutes will be taken off the clock for each hand.
Jan Bendik | 340,000 | 250,000 |
Jihad Bejjani | 0 | |
David Domjan | 0 | |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:33 AM Local Time
Chakroun Chops With Tsaknis
Vasileios Tsaknis had Mohamed Chakroun all in and at risk for 78,000 and the player from Lebanon had the slightly inferior kicker with . Tsaknis held the dominating and remained in a comfortable lead on the flop and turn.
Chakroun had some chop outs and got there with the river much to the delight of his nearby rail.
Vasileios Tsaknis | 110,000 | 5,000 |
Mohamed Chakroun | 85,000 | 85,000 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:26 AM Local Time
Litvinyuk Out Before the Money
Elena Litvinyuk is no longer in her seat and Erich Kollmann confirmed that he won the most classic of coin flips with ace-king versus pocket queens to bust Litvinyuk before the money. There are only 64 players remaining now and the top 61 will cash for at least €802.
Francesco Delfoco | 410,000 | 220,000 |
Hesham Eshaqzai | 380,000 | 295,000 |
Christian Hoschuetzky | 310,000 | 40,000 |
Mateusz Zerko | 305,000 | 35,000 |
Tal Noach | 300,000 | 70,000 |
Zoltan Gal | 280,000 | 130,000 |
Ronny Bouwmans | 260,000 | 260,000 |
Erich Kollmann | 260,000 | 170,000 |
Elias Abou Saleh | 210,000 | 70,000 |
Jesper Hoog | 180,000 | 60,000 |
Vasileios Tsaknis | 105,000 | -115,000 |
Thorsten Holst | 0 | 0 |
Samir Akhoullou | 0 | 0 |
Milad Oghabian | 0 | -135,000 |
Elena Litvinyuk | 0 | -160,000 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:19 AM Local Time
Level 16 started
Level: 16
Blinds: 2500/5000
Ante: 5000
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:18 AM Local Time
More Recent Casualties
There are only 71 players remaining and 61 of them will take home a portion of the prize pool. Among the recent casualties were Asher Dahan, Adrian Rus, Evian Christ and Danny Covyn.
Asher Dahan | 0 | -125,000 |
Ghassan Yared | 0 | |
Silviu Dumitrache | 0 | 0 |
Lior Torgeman | 0 | |
Adrian Rus | 0 | -40,000 |
Pavel Kovalenko | 0 | -65,000 |
Lukas Klima | 0 | |
Evian Christ | 0 | -75,000 |
Danny Covyn | 0 | -90,000 |
Petar Petrov | 0 | -130,000 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 2:07 AM Local Time
Panzeri and Roth Collide
Attila Havacs has been able to increase his stack while fellow countryman Antal Roth saw his hopes dashed in a big pot. On the flop, Alberto Panzeri check-raised all in for 119,000 into a bet of just 8,000 by Roth and the latter tank-called for almost all of his chips.
Alberto Panzeri:
Antal Roth:
Both had a flush draw and Roth the additional straight and straight flush draw. The turn and river were blanks and Panzeri doubled with just ace-high, while Roth busted a few minutes later.
Attila Havacs | 280,000 | 160,000 |
Alberto Panzeri | 260,000 | 260,000 |
Antal Roth | 0 | -75,000 |