Levan Rcheulishvili Dominates, With Help From Some Controversy, on Day 1b of the WSOPE Main Event
What Day 1b of the €10,350 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event lacked in numbers compared to yesterday’s opening flight it certainly made up for in star power and tension-filled pots.
A total of 120 players entered over the course of the day, bringing the total combined field up to 677 with late registration still open. Only 73 made it through the day and will now join with the 360 survivors from Day 1a, led by Levan Rcheulishvili.
Rcheulishvili busted Daniel Dvoress in a controversial pot when he had the clock called on him and put in the chips after the countdown had seemingly reached zero. Dvoress only had a bluff, while Rcheulishvili showed top pair. He later made a set of sevens to crack the queens of Santhosh Suvarna and eliminate the €50K Diamond High Roller champion on his way to bagging up 586,800. The Georgia native already has three cashes at this year’s WSOPE, including deep runs in the €2K PLO and the Mini Main Event.
David Miscikowski, a WSOP bracelet winner from nearly a decade ago, is in second place with 448,900. Nicola D’Anselmo doubled up with set over set earlier in the day and finished with 381,400, good for third place on the leaderboard. Ramzi Zuraikat was seemingly near the top the entire day after he was responsible for the first bustout of Day 1b, hitting a set of sixes on Roman Stoica as he ended up with 370,000. Hen Rosilio rounds out the top five with 363,600.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Levan Rcheulishvili | Georgia | 586,800 | 367 |
| 2 | David Miscikowski | United States | 448,900 | 281 |
| 3 | Nicola D'Anselmo | Italy | 381,400 | 238 |
| 4 | Ramzi Zuraikat | Switzerland | 370,000 | 231 |
| 5 | Hen Rosilio | Israel | 363,600 | 227 |
| 6 | Jovan Kenjic | Serbia | 357,200 | 223 |
| 7 | Miroslav Salaj | Slovakia | 352,300 | 220 |
| 8 | Andrej Cintula | Slovakia | 345,800 | 216 |
| 9 | Renat Bohdanov | Ukraine | 340,000 | 213 |
| 10 | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | 336,600 | 210 |
Dvoress, who won his second WSOP bracelet earlier this week in the €25,000 GGMillion$, reentered after losing the pot to Rcheulishvili and finished the night among the top stacks with 251,600. He’s joined by Renat Bohdanov (340,000), James Chen (333,500), Felipe Ramos (251,600), 2019 runner-up Claas Segebrecht (180,100), 2013 champion Adrian Mateos (174,300), and Andrea Dato (110,000). Quan Zhou (99,700), 2020 WSOP Online Main Event champion Stoyan Madanzhiev (85,500), and Ben Heath (83,200) ended up near the bottom and have work to do to get back in contention for the bracelet.
Defending champion Omar Eljach waited until nearly the last minute before making an appearance. Eljach fired his second bullet into the event with just a few minutes to spare in the day and managed to increase his stack up to 137,200 as he continues his pursuit of an unprecedented repeat performance. Notables who failed to make it out of Day 1b include Nick Palma, Roland Israelashvili, Emil Bise, Shawn Stroke, and Julien Sitbon. Wooram Cho was sitting on a big stack until he tried a six-bet all-in shove but ran right into the aces of Miroslav Salaj, who ended the night with 352,300 thanks largely to that pot.
Day 2 begins at noon local time tomorrow with 433 players returning from the two starting flights. They’ll be joined by any new arrivals and reentries, as late registration remains open until the start of Level 13. The tournament needs just 87 more entries to break last year’s record field of 763. The action picks up on Level 8 with blinds of 800-1,600 and a 1,600 big blind ante. In this incredibly deep-stacked structure, the starting stack of 100,000 is still worth more than 60 big blinds at the start of Day 2.
Tomorrow is the day everyone will find out what they are playing for. It will also be the last chance for players to jump into the tournament and give themselves a chance to enter the record books as a WSOPE champion. King’s Resort in Rozvadov will be packed tomorrow, and PokerNews will be right there following all the action and providing live updates.
