The 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus stop has been filled with exciting action and famous players competing on the felt every day. Today’s $10,300 EPT High Roller was no different. A total of 405 players made their way to Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa for Day 1, and just 164 remain.
After ten 60-minute levels, Parahat Nurmuhammedov is leading the way with a stack of 524,000. In second place is Germany's Berthold Winz (391,000), and rounding out the podium in third place is Ray Qartomy (378,000).
Nurmuhammedov is just shy of $100,000 in live career tournament earnings and already has two cashes in this series. He’s also the only player to have crossed the half-million chip mark, coming into tomorrow with a staggering 349 big blinds. While EPT success has eluded him so far, he’s now in a prime position to make a deep run and change that.
End of Day 1 Top 10 Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parahat Nurmuhammedov | Turkmenistan | 524,000 | 349 |
| 2 | Berthold Winz | Germany | 391,000 | 261 |
| 3 | Ray Qartomy | United States | 378,000 | 252 |
| 4 | Simeon Spasov | Bulgaria | 324,000 | 216 |
| 5 | Umberto Ruggeri | Italy | 314,500 | 210 |
| 6 | Aleksei Gortikov | Russian Federation | 310,500 | 207 |
| 7 | Nichan Khorchidian | Lebanon | 306,000 | 204 |
| 8 | Boris Kuzmanovic | Croatia | 286,000 | 191 |
| 9 | Xiaosheng Zheng | China | 276,000 | 184 |
| 10 | Belarmino De Souza | Brazil | 268,000 | 179 |
Lurking just outside the top 10 with nearly $5 million in live tournament earnings is Roberto Romanello. The Welshman brings a ton of experience to the table, especially when it comes to EPT events. His first recorded cash in an EPT dates back to 2007 when he made the final table in a PLO event. Fast forward to 2011, and Romanello secured his spot in poker history by winning the EPT Prague Main Event for $640,000. With a stack of 231,500, he's definitely someone to keep an eye on tomorrow.
Among the star-studded field, some of the notables who managed to find a bag for Day 2 were Jelle Moene (218,500), Masashi Oya (199,000), Steve O'Dwyer (198,500), Tom Middleton (191,500), 2024 EPT Cyprus Eureka Main Event winner Leo Worthington-Leese (181,000), Boris Angelov (175,000), this year's EPT Barcelona Main Event Champion Stephen Song (156,000), PokerStars Ambassador Elias Gutierrez (102,500), and online poker legend Simon Mattsson (99,500)
A few other PokerStars Ambassadors were in action today. Fintan Hand busted in Level 3 after running Big Slick into Mattsson’s pocket aces. Parker Talbot and Sam Grafton also didn’t survive the day. However, since they only entered once, there’s a good chance they’ll be back at the felt for another shot tomorrow.
Some of the less fortunate players who were unable to survive the day were Teun Mulder, Mustapha Kanit, Fahredin Mustafov, Rania Nasreddine, Jessica Teusl, Ognyan Dimov, and the 2011 EPT San Remo Main Event Champion Andrey Pateychuk. However, as the tournament allows one reentry per player, those who only fired one bullet have the chance to register again before the start of Day 2 tomorrow, which gets underway at 12:30 p.m. local time.
The action picks back up at Level 11 with blinds at 1,000/1,500 and a 1,500 big blind ante. From Day 2, levels will be shortened to 50 minutes each. The plan for tomorrow is to play until the money is reached and continue through to the end of Level 22. The surviving players will return for the final day and play down until a winner is crowned.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we provide continued coverage of the $10,300 EPT High Roller and all other events here at the 2024 EPT Cyrpus stop.
