by Lisa Yiasemides
What a weekend! There is a huge amount to catch up on in today’s blog, with Day 1b in the Main Event playing out yesterday, not to mention the conclusion of the $5,200 High Roller. Three Day 1s in the Montreal Masters also took place, as well as Day 1 in the $25,500 SHR, which means there is a bumper edition of today’s blog.
Event #01: $3,200 Main Event ($2M GTD)
The second and final starting flight in the biggest event of the entire festival took place on Sunday, which means that everything is now set ahead of Day 2 tonight. Another big field was attracted as 406 players pulled up a chair last night, adding $1,218,000 to the prize pool and bringing the total collected to $2,664,000!
Luiz Orrico (4,066,132) finished top of the field and will return in third place when Day 2 recommences tonight. The Brazilian is didn’t quite do enough to overtake Day 1a chip leader Andrei Kriazhev (4,739,179) or runner up Alexandros Kolonias (4,121,611), but he starts a fraction ahead of Swedish online juggernaut Niklas Åstedt (4,011,206), who ended up in second place for Day 1a, and fourth overall.
Russian player Maksim Bukreev (3,435,282), Rayan Chamas (3,297,877), and Jan-Eric Schwippert (3,176,223) took third to fifth places and they were far from the only familiar names to chip up. Rui Ferreira (6th, 2,779,138), Kenny Hallaert (9th, 2,103,966), Artur Martirosian (13th, 1,884,806) and Daniel Dvoress ($1,877,957) also featured in the top 20 last night.
They return to continue their campaigns tonight, with blind levels at 15,000/30,000 (3,750 ante). Juan Pardo Dominguez (295,762) scraped through in 61st place, with the clock pausing after Mike Watson was eliminated in 62nd place. A min-cash of $6,393 is already in the bag for the remainder of the field, but increments will jump significantly all the way up to the huge $447,859 top prize.
Live coverage starts tonight at 19:05 (GMT), so head over to wpt.com for updates on all the action.
Event #04: $5,200 High Roller ($250K GTD)
The conclusion of the HR played out last night and there was no change in the standings at the very top, with Matthias Eibinger ($71,607) taking the trophy and the biggest portion of the $255,000 prize pool, after he held firm in the top spot following a deal agreed with Sam Greenwood ($61,724) when the pair reached heads up.
Sam Greenwood
Britain’s Jamie Nixon ($33,085) managed to ladder a couple of spots, climbing into third place in the end and finishing ahead of the Netherland’s Jelle Moene ($22,939), who also managed to improve on his starting position. That came at the expense of David Peters ($16,983) and Chris Brewer ($14,229), who finished in 5th and 6th places respectively.
Elio Fox was the first player to make a ladder, collecting $12,246 after, partypoker’s Patrick Leonard ($11,092) and Andrii Derzhypilskyi ($11,092) were the first players to be eliminated.
Event #07: $1,050 Montreal Masters ($500K GTD)
A total of 561 entries across three starting flights meant that the Montreal Masters continued the trend, becoming the latest event to far exceed its guarantee with a total of $561,000 in the prize pool. After three hotly fought Day 1s, last night saw survivors return to play to a winner last night. That person is Nino Ullman, who had a dominating performance in which a huge $41,469 in bounties were collected, giving a total score of $80,265.
Lukas Wimmer came closest to toppling him, finishing runner up for $43,093 including $4,354 in bounties. Two WPT circuit regulars came next: Jiachen Gong ($34,253, including $7,887 bounties) and Shyngis Satubayev ($28,960, including $11,416 bounties), while Rodrigo Seiji Sirichuk ($12,179, including $375 bounties) completed the top five.
All the 85 players who made it to the final day, had already secured themselves at least $1,096, as well as any knockout prizes they had made along the way. WPTDS Amsterdam champion Felix Schulze (85th, $1,096) busted early, outlasted by the likes of partypoker’s Matt Staples (31st, $1,781), and WPT Champions Scott Margereson (24th, $3,246 including $1,188) and Oleg Vasylchenko (23rd, $4,730, including $2,672 bounties).
Event #10: $25,500 Super High Roller ($1M GTD)
The biggest buy-in event of the series got underway last night too. Costing $25,500 to play (more for those choosing to re-enter) and boasting a seven-figure guarantee, it is no surprise that the tournament lobby was bursting with some of the industry’s most recognisable names.
British online grinder Benjamin Rolle (better known by his legendary screenname ‘bencb789’) starts in pole position and is a long way ahead of his closest competitor, holding 1,498,124 compared with Justin Bonomo’s 924,069.
Jonathan Van Fleet (607,469), Australian pro Michael Addamo (528,342) and partypoker’s Mikita Badziakouski (511,825) are all in the mix and in a better position to challenge than the rest of the 11 survivors. Still, there is good news all round, as the bubble burst at the end of Day 1.
WPT Champion’s Club Member Nick Petrangelo was the unfortunate player to leave with nothing, but his departure ensured the likes of Matthias Eibinger (497,289), Jordi Urlings (432,337), Arnaud Enselme (381,600), Eelis Pärssinen (344,343), Rui Ferreira (139,110) and Rok Gostisa (134,692) have all locked up $50,847. Even the shortest stacks will still be hoping to win a bigger share of the $1,500,000 prize pool (an amount equivalent to 150% of the guarantee), namely the $450,076 top prize.
Blinds resume at Level 18: 6,000/12,000 (1,500 ante), with 20 minutes on the clock for the first few levels, before they increase to 30-minutes long at Level 22.
Event #11: $5,200 High Roller Turbo ($250K GTD)
If last night is anything to go by, 2021 is could well go the same way as 2020 did for partypoker’s Roberto Romanello, after he managed to climb into the top spot out of 64 entries. Yet another guarantee was smashed with an additional $70,000 collected, bringing the total prize pool to $320,000.
Roberto Romanello
The Welsh Wizard took the title, after dispatching with the last of his opposition, Aliaksandr Hirs. The two had already made a deal at this point, leaving Romanello with $84,758 and Hirs with $71,137. Aleksei Barkov ($38,918) took third place, while second on the all-time money list Justin Bonomo ($$27,844) hit the rail in 4th place.
Laurynas Levinskas ($20,999) took the last top-five spot, while Artsiom Prostak (6th, $16,564) and partypoker pro Joni Jouhkimainen (7th, $13,857) both fell just short. Still, they can console themselves with the knowledge that they outlasted superstars Stephen Chidwick (8th, $12,112), Ole Schemion (9th, $12,112), Mikita Badziakouski (10th, $10,847) and Tim Adams (11th, $10,847). This time it was Benjamin Rolle’s turn to bubble, exiting in 12th place.
Side events at a glance
Tonight’s schedule
Day 2 of the Main Event will be today’s highlight, but for those of you looking to play, why not jump in Event #01: $320 Mini Main Event ($200K GTD) or Event #01: $33 Micro Main Event ($30K GTD) getting started tonight, with Day 1a of each beginning at 19:05.
Rounding off the evening is Event #13: $1,600 Second Chance Turbo ($100K GTD), which gets started at 21:15. Featuring eight-minute blinds and a 7-Max format, this event will offer a lot of action and fast gameplay.