Today marks the first of two starting days for the Little One for One Drop, which is a new event at the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe. The event, which supports Guy Laliberte's One Drop foundation, has been a staple at the WSOP over the past years. Here in Rozvadov, €50 of each player's entrance fee will be donated to the charity fund. You can read up on the One Drop foundation and how to get involved by clicking here.
Plenty of notables have already traveled to King's Casino in "RozVegas" to contest for WSOPE glory, including Phil Hellmuth, John Racener, Felipe Ramos, Mike Leah, Kristen Bicknell, Eli Elezra and Jeff Lisandro. The WSOP Player of the Year race is also heating up, with Chris Ferguson currently holding the top spot. You can read more about this fiercely contested race here.
Last Summer, the Little One for One Drop was the last event scheduled at the 2017 World Series of Poker, with Adrian Moreno grabbing the coveted bracelet and adding a whopping $528,316 to his bankroll. Besides the Little One, it's big brother The High Roller for One Drop, with a buy-in of €111,111, will also be on the WSOPE schedule and will be played later this week.
Day 1a will commence at 2 p.m. local time and features 14 levels of 40 minutes each, with 20-minute breaks scheduled after every three levels and a 60-minute dinner break after level 8. Late registration will be open up until the end of level 8, which will be around 9 p.m. local time. Players will start with 20,000 in chips and unlimited reentries are allowed. All surviving players will come back at Friday, November 3rd, to play on in this four-day event. Keep locked on to PokerNews and don't miss any of the action as the World Series of Poker Europe continues.
John Racener opened to 1,300 in early position and Marek Tatar three-bet to 3,000 one seat over. Vivian Saliba was behind Tatar and cold-called the three-bet.
In the blinds, Robert Wilke snap-shoved 14,300, Racener snap-mucked, and Tatar reshoved for 24,000. Saliba took around twenty seconds before committing the calling chips.
Robert Wilke:
Marek Tatar:
Vivian Saliba:
The dealer spread out an all-diamond flop of , which left Wilke drawing dead right away. Tatar had flopped a flush with his nine-six, while Saliba needed the board to pair to win. The on the turn and on the river kept Tatar in front and he nearly tripled up.
A very short-stacked Ryan Hughes was all in from the blinds against Catalin Pop and Robert Auer. On the flop, Auer bet Pop out of the hand to get heads-up with Hughes.
Zahi Bahar raised to 2,500 in middle position and got three-bet to 8,000 by the player on the button. Bahar called and both players saw the flop come down.
Bahar checked to the button, who bet 11,600. Bahar check-raised to 25,500, the button shoved all in for almost 100,000 and Bahar instantly called all in for 95,700.
Zahi Bahar:
Button:
Bahar's set put him in a commanding lead and he scooped the massive pot after the on the turn and on the river.
Uri Reichenstein and Vlado Banicevic have been clashing with each other for the better part of the day. Just now, the two tangled again with Banicevic in middle position and Reichenstein in the cutoff.
With the pot already sizable, the board read and Banicevic checked. Reicheinstein bet 20,500, Banicevic check-raised to 49,000 and Reichenstein called.
On the river, Banicevic moved all in for 65,000 and Reicheinstein folded after a minute, showing after being prompted. Banicevic showed for the flopped and sportingly fist-bumped his opponent for the good laydown.
On the first of two starting days of Event #8: Little One for One Drop, 304 entries including 42 re-entries were made and 51 players survived the day. Runaway chipleader at the end of the day was Serghei Lisiy, who bagged 463,000 points. Notables like six-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro, Uri Reichenstein and Barny Boatman also survived the first starting day.
Lisiy went on a tear during the final levels of the day, gobbling up chips of Catalin Pop and Robert Auer, among others, in the process. Behind Lisiy, Radek Castka finished in second place (324,100), while Artan Dedusha sits in third (321,600). Notables that didn't make it through include Ismael Bojang, Georgios Zisimopoulos, John Racener, Asi Moshe and Ryan Hughes.
Uri Reichenstein had a strong showing and topped the leaderboard for most of the day. Reichenstein lost a big pot with pocket queens against Vlado Banicevic's pocket nines during the penultimate level of the day and eventually ended up in fifth place with 221,800. Banicevic himself bagged 202,900, which puts him in the top ten. Allen Kessler and Jeff Lisandro survived the day with short stacks and bagged 42,200 and 34,900, respectively.
Tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time, the second of two starting flights will commence. Players will once again receive 20,000 in chips and 14 levels of 40 minutes each will be played. Follow PokerNews as we get closer to a brand-new winner of a coveted World Series of Poker gold bracelet.