Overlay Alert as 48 Return for Final Day of €5,200 PLO Grand Slam Opener
The €5,200 PLO Opener has kicked off the first-ever PLO Grand Slam with a bang. Over the course of two starting flights, 186 entries were made at Arena Casino Tirana. However, with the ambitious prize pool of €1,000,000 being guaranteed by Diamond Poker Series, that still leaves some overlay despite the impressive numbers.
Many notable names who did not find a bag are expected to buy in before the start of Day 2 at 1:30 p.m. local time, which is when the late registration will close, to take advantage of this. They will sit down with 200,000 chips, just 13 big blinds, a far cry away from chipleader Tom-Aksel Bedell's 2,165,000. Bedell secured his chip lead on the slightly more populated Day 1a. Sergio Martinez Gonzalez, the only other stack above two million, procured his chips on the same starting day, leaving Day 1b leader Giorgos Tsoupras in third with 1,780,000.
Other notable names in the top ten include Belarusian PLO expert Pavel Izotov, Daniel Zaremba, whose only recorded live cash is a PLO victory, and retired German soccer pro Max Kruse.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom-Aksel Bedell | Norway | 2,165,000 | 144 |
| 2 | Sergio Martinez Gonzalez | Spain | 2,010,000 | 134 |
| 3 | Giorgos Tsoupras | Greece | 1,780,000 | 119 |
| 4 | "Tony" | 1,780,000 | 119 | |
| 5 | Pavel Izotov | Belarus | 1,575,000 | 105 |
| 6 | Ali Abdalla | Germany | 1,350,000 | 90 |
| 7 | Daniel Zaremba | Ukraine | 1,270,000 | 85 |
| 8 | Christoforos Chrysochoidis | Greece | 1,195,000 | 80 |
| 9 | Max Kruse | Germany | 1,170,000 | 78 |
| 10 | "Dima" | 1,090,000 | 73 |
Other familiar faces among the 48 returning for Day 2 are Hungarian Omaha high roller Gergo Nagy (666,000), bracelet winners Simeon Naydenov (666,000), Ka Kwan Lau (645,000), Cesar Garcia (290,000), and Hok Lee (270,000), as well as the likes of Sonny Franco (655,000), Andrew Leathem (625,000), and Francisco Perez (500,000).
Day 2 will restart in Level 12: 10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 big blind ante. All levels will last for 45 minutes, with a break after every three levels. After the kickoff at 1:30 p.m., no more entries will be allowed as the tournament will play down to the first-ever PLO Grand Slam champion today.
Stay tuned to PokerNews to find out how large the field will grow and who will take down the first trophy of the PLO Grand Slam, along with all the action en route to crowining the champion.