One of the first major live poker tournaments on European soil after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has wrapped up for the night as the €2,500 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller tournament at the King's Resort and Casino in Rozvadov attracted a field of 34 entries thus far.
After six short-lived and action-packed levels of 30 minutes each, former WSOP PLO bracelet winner Jan-Peter Jachtmann topped the overnight counts with a stack of 210,000. Second in chips is fellow German Pedjman Hamie with 182,000 and Jonas Kronwitter takes the final spot on the podium with a stack of 165,800.
Further big stacks and notables that made the cut among the 19 survivors are Andre Ellbracht (140,000), Roger Hairabedian (136,600), Roman Cieslik (67,700), Han Kuo (58,800), Jules Ayoub (47,500), and Eric Lescot (39,700). Willm Engelke fired three entries so far without success and he was joined on the rail by Wlodzimierz Laczkowski, King's regular The Talk and Michael Rohde.
Jachtmann entered the mix in the second level of the day and by then, Jules Ayoub had already seen his stack decimated. Both know each other very well from PLO cash game and tournament tables and it certainly came as no surprise when they clashed. Jachtmann eventually called correctly with two pair to bust Ayoub and took over the lead, he then continued his domination by sending another two players to the rail and remained in the top three for the remainder of the night.
Over on the third table it was Pedjman Hamie that first survived in a three-way all-in with tens full, then knocked out Tuncay Tutus and Saeed Rehman to take over the top spot. A late double for Andre Ellbracht cut into the big stack of Hamie, who ended Day 1 as second in chips.
While the action on Day 1 was already filled with lots of table banter and raising wars, the pace for both may be even higher in the first four levels of Day 2 as of 2 p.m. local time thanks to the available late registration and unlimited re-entries. At least two players already bought in with a fresh stack of 50,000 and several other notables are expected to take part, the blinds will recommence at 500/1,000.
It was a busy day in the poker arena at King's Resort as 425 entries emerged in the €150 Big Saturday Monsterstack and around two dozen cash game tables were running for most of the evening. Stay tuned to find out who else will join the PLO tournament action as the PokerNews team will provide updates for the remainder of the tournament.