Kenny Hallaert Among the Leaders After Day 1 of ��3,000 Platinum Pass Mystery Bounty
It was an action-packed opening day in the ��3,000 Platinum Pass Mystery Bounty at the PokerStars European Poker Tour London that saw a total of 378 entries recorded over 12 levels of play. When the dust settled, there were just 126 players that bagged up chips to advance to Day 2 tomorrow, starting at 1 p.m. local time.
One of the largest stacks moving on to Day 2 was poker pro and tournament director Kenny Hallaert who finished the day with an impressive 320,000 chips. Hallaert was a late entry, taking his seat just after the dinner break, but wasted no time raking in pot after pot. An early double-up, followed by a knockout of Endrit Geci, saw Hallaert's stack rise to the six-figure mark. Just before the night closed, he won another massive pot which will give him plenty of chances at bounties tomorrow.
The largest stack of Day 1 belongs to Raphael Khalili who finished the day with 336,500 chips. He will be joined at the top of the leaderboard by Yasuhiro Waki (308,500), John Dwyer (278,500), and Haomin Xie (244,000). There were plenty of household names that made it through as well including Chris Moorman (175,500), Rayan Chamas (169,500), Steve O'Dwyer (141,500), and Mustapha Kanit (110,000) as notables with stacks over 100,000.
Top 10 Chip Counts from Day 1
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Raphael Khalili | United Kingdom | 336,500 |
| 2nd | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | 320,000 |
| 3rd | Yasuhiro Waki | Japan | 308,500 |
| 4th | John Dwyer | United Kingdom | 278,500 |
| 5th | Haomin Xie | China | 244,000 |
| 6th | Robert Macsim | Romania | 237,000 |
| 7th | Jonathan Proudfoot | Ireland | 221,500 |
| 8th | Paul Tedeschi | France | 208,000 |
| 9th | Antonio Juste Menchaca | Spain | 207,500 |
| 10th | Jason McConnon | United Kingdom | 204,500 |
The action was fast and furious all throughout the day with many players being forced to the registration desk on multiple occasions. An unlimited reentry option meant players tried to spin up a stack in order to position themselves well for the bounty portion of the tournament that starts on Day 2.
Late registration will remain open until 12:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday with the action firing up at 1 p.m. BST. That will allow the tournament staff the required time to construct the bounty pool that is guaranteed to have at least a ��30,000 Platinum Pass among the prizes. A starting stack will give players 30,000 in chips with the blinds resuming on Level 13 at 1,000/1,500 and a 1,500 big blind ante.
Another 12 levels are on the schedule for Day 2 with the tournament crowning a winner on Day 3. There is already nearly ��500,000 in the tournament prize pool that will be up for grabs when 15% of the field remains.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor tomorrow to bring you all of the live updates along with the big bounty winners as the tournament unfolds.