Davidi Kitai Among Chip Leaders After Winamax Poker Open Dublin Main Event Day 1B
Day 1A chip leader and Team Winamax Pro Bruno Lopes will have to watch out, as fellow Winamax Pro Davidi Kitai bagged up a healthy stack here at the Citywest hotel on Day 1B of the 2017 Winamax Poker Main Event.
Kitai was called a "genius" on Twitter by fellow Frenchman Erwann Pecheux earlier today when Pecheux was drawn two seats to Kitai's right. And when Team Winamax Pro Guillaume Diaz joined the pair at the table, it looked like Kitai's stack could take a few knocks.
However, he managed to ride it out, and emerged with a stack of 604,000 to take forward to Day 2.
The day got off to a strong start, with the Day 1A field eclipsed before the first break. By the end of the day 696 players in addition to the 373 from Day 1A combined to make a total field of 1,069, narrowly failing to eclipse the record 1,087 set back in 2013. However, this marks the second time in the Winamax Poker Open's history that the field has exceeded 1,000 players, and is testament to the stop's continued popularity.
The title of Day 1B chip leader goes to Laurent Decauwert, who scooped a massive pot against Alexandre Reard to take over the chip lead, eventually finishing the day with 750,000. Other big stacks include Nicholas Bastard (710,000), Sebastien Charbonnier (642,000) and Watinee Chathaisong (635,000).
Other notables advancing to Day 2 include Patrick Bruel (452,000), Romain Lewis (358,000), Tomas Soderstrom (302,000), Sylvain Loosli (210,000), Dara O'Kearney (162,000), Erwann Pecheux (158,000) and former French international footballer Bernard Mendy (131,000).
The survivors from Day 1B will join the 69 who finished Day 1A tomorrow when Day 2 kicks off at 12 p.m. local time. Stay tuned to PokerNews not just to find out exactly how much the winner of the 2017 Winamax Poker Open will be taking home, but all the live updates as we get closer to crowning the 2017 champion.