Viktor Ustimov Bags Overall Lead in Day 1b of EPT Main Event
Another action-packed day inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa saw an additional 755 entrants join the fray for Day 1b of the European Poker Tour Cyprus Main Event — bringing the total up to 1,229 with more to come as late registration will remain open until the start of Day 2.
By the time the final hand was dealt, Viktor Ustimov emerged as the overall chip leader of the 260 players remaining after running his starting stack up to 379,000 through ten levels of play.
Ustimov is no stranger to success on the felt as he has racked up over $2 million in live-tournament earnings; however, he has yet to claim an EPT title. Ustimov picked off a bluff in a huge pot on the last level of the day to help solidify his chip lead and will enter Day 2 with over 30 big blinds more than his next-closest competitor.
End of Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viktor Ustimov | Russia | 379,000 | 253 |
| 2 | Salvatore Camarda | Italy | 325,000 | 217 |
| 3 | Ali Al-Kubasi | Iraq | 301,000 | 201 |
| 4 | Darius Gadeikis | Lithuania | 266,000 | 177 |
| 5 | James Crawley | United Kingdom | 261,000 | 174 |
| 6 | Radoslav Stoyanov | Bulgaria | 250,000 | 167 |
| 7 | Anton Wigg | Sweden | 235,000 | 157 |
| 8 | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | 220,000 | 147 |
| 9 | Yassin Mahmoud | Jordan | 220,000 | 147 |
| 10 | Chakib Mhiri | Tunisia | 208,000 | 139 |
Day 1b Action
There was no shortage of big hands to get Day 1b off to a lively start, with Philippe Souki making a straight flush and Panagiotis Oikonomidis making quads within the first few hands of play. Neither player let their early good fortune go to waste as Souki ended with 87,000 while Oikonomidis bagged up 191,000.
Another unlikely hand saw four players get all in preflop in what turned out to be kings versus queens versus jacks versus tens. Tomas Vaskunas held the best of it with his cowboys, which held up to give Vaskunas an enormous boost to his stack en route to bagging up 189,000.
The competition remained fierce as plenty of poker crushers battled their way to a Day-2 berth. A few among them include Sebastian Malec (85,000), Artur Martirosian (95,000), Michael Wang (103,000), Lucien Cohen (138,000), Andras Nemeth (163,500), and Anton Wigg — who bagged up a top-ten stack worth 235,000 and will be looking to add a second EPT Main Event title to his poker resume.
The defending champion, Gilles Simon, took his seat early but was unable to gain any momentum. Gilles chipped down and nursed a short stack for quite some time before committing his stack with pocket tens in what ended up being a three-way all in. Simon was a favorite to triple up against two hands containing an ace, but Chase Wilson ended up pairing his queen to end Simon's main event run.
Other notables who fell short include Parker Talbot, Tom Middleton, Leonard Maue, Marle Spragg, Benjamin Spragg, and Daniel Rezaei — who busted on the last level of the day after getting coolered by Adrien Quetelart in a set versus two pair confrontation.
Day 2 will get underway at 12 p.m. local time on Wednesday, October 16. Play resumes on Level 11, which features 1,000/1,500 blinds with a 1,500 big-blind ante. Levels will be extended from 60 minutes to 90 minutes and breaks will take place after each level. Late registration will remain open until the start of play for anyone who has yet to enter or has only entered once from previous flight.
There is still plenty of action to come, so be sure to check back with PokerNews for ongoing coverage as the EPT Cyprus Main Event is just getting warmed up!