In just the second hand on the money bubble, Georgios Tsouloftas opened to 12,000 in early position. He was called by two players and Rokas Barzdzius shipped all in for 33,000 on the button. All three players called him and the dealer fanned the flop of .
Tsouloftas was first to act and bet 15,000 which got the other two players to fold. Tsouloftas turned over for a straight while Barzdzius was drawing slim with .
The on the turn provided a bit of a sweat but the on the river sealed the fate for Barzdzius who was eliminated on the money bubble. The remaining players will now be guaranteed at least €895 with just over a level left in the day.
Ladislav Kellner raised it up in middle position and Andre Winkler shoved all in for around 75,000 in the big blind. Kellner quickly called and had Winkler at risk.
Andre Winkler:
Ladislav Kellner:
The flop came and Winkler's pair of eights remained in the lead. The on the turn changed nothing but it was the on the river that gave Kellner a pair of aces and eliminated Winkler.
Edmond Jahjaga shipped all in for 58,000 in middle position and Issam Abdalla called from the big blind. Jahjaga showed and was up against the of Abdalla.
The board ran out and Jahjaga's ace-high was good enough to double up.
On the next hand, Guenter Jakwerth shoved all in for around 40,000 in early position and Abdalla called from the small blind this time.
Jakwerth held but Abdalla had two live cards with . The flop of left Jakwerth in the lead but the on the turn paired up Abdalla. The completed the board and Abdalla recovered some of his loss as Jakwerth was eliminated.
Merijn van Rooij has finished Day 1b as the chip leader with 545,000 chips. There are just 43 players that have advanced to Day 2 of the 427 total entries. A full recap and chip counts from the day will be posted shortly.
The opening flight of Event #5: €550 No-Limit Hold'em COLOSSUS has wrapped after nearly 11 hours and 18 levels were completed on Day 1b. A total of 427 entries were recorded with just 43 players advancing to Day 2. Merijn van Rooij bagged the chip lead by accumulating a healthy stack of 545,000 chips.
The Dutch poker player raced to the top of the leaderboard in the last level of the night, overcoming the likes of Pascal Foged (503,000), and Event #1: €350 NLH Opener champion Antonello Ferraiuolo (481,000). Van Rooij plays the majority of his live tournaments here at the King's Casino in Rozvadov but also managed to pick up a few World Series of Poker online cashes in this past year.
Ferraiuolo has had a great start to the 2021 WSOP Europe campaign by capturing his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet just a few days ago. The Italian racked up over €87,000 for his victory and has now put himself in the top three chip counts after Day 1b of the COLOSSUS. Rounding out the top five big stacks are Yizhaq Hay with 438,000 and Georgios Tsouloftas with 414,000 chips.
There were a few notables who failed to make it through the opening flight include bracelet winner Pete Chen, Roberto Manfredi, John Taramas, and Jan Bendik. The money bubble was reached in the second to last level of the night when Rokas Barzdzius got his last few big blinds in the middle with ace-king. Unfortunately for him, Tsouloftas flopped a straight with jack-ten and sent Barzdzius home outside of the money.
The final 65 players were each guaranteed €895 and a lot of the short stacks wasted no time getting their chips in the middle. Over 20 players were sent to the payout desk in the last level of the night and will have the chance to qualify in one of the later flights.
With the recent government announcements in the Czech Republic, there will only be four total flights for this event. Starting tomorrow, there will only be one flight per day with a 1,000 player cap, starting at 10 a.m. each day. Day 2 players will also be returning at 10 a.m. and playing down to a final table, which will then be carried out on Day 3.
Event #5: €550 NLH COLOSSUS Schedule
DATE
DAY
START TIME (CET)
PLAY CONCLUDES
Total Entries
Advancing
Thursday, November 25
Day 1b
12 p.m.
After Level 18
427
43
Thursday, November 25
Day 1c
6 p.m.
After Level 18
-
-
Friday, November 26
Day 1d
10 a.m.
After Level 18
-
-
Saturday, November 27
Day 1f
10 a.m.
After Level 18
-
-
Sunday, November 28
Day 2
2 p.m.
9 Players Remain
-
-
Monday, November 29
Day 3
1 p.m.
End of Event
For now, players may still enter the Day 1c flight with late registration still open for a couple of more levels. The PokerNews live reporting team will be here to cover all of the tournaments throughout the WSOP Europe so keep it locked here for all of the live updates.