Orpaz Dominates Day 1 of the �10,200 Mystery Bounty
Day 1 of the �10,200 Mystery Bounty at the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona has come to an end and Tom Orpaz is near the top after a dominating performance that started in Level 1. The remaining 30 players will return on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. to Casino Barcelona for the Day 2 finale of the tournament.
Orpaz is joined at the top of the leaderboard by Daniel Rezaei, Quan Zhou, Maher Nouira, and EPT bounty specialist Kayhan Mokri.
The opening day drew 56 entries for an initial prize pool of �263,200. Registration remains open through the end of Level 10 on Tuesday.
�10,200 Mystery Bounty Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Orpaz | Israel | 713,000 | 238 |
| 2 | Daniel Rezaei | Austria | 499,000 | 166 |
| 3 | Quan Zhou | Hong Kong | 437,500 | 146 |
| 4 | Kayhan Mokri | Norway | 336,500 | 112 |
| 5 | Pawel Krol | Poland | 329,000 | 110 |
| 6 | Tsugunari Toma | Japan | 282,000 | 94 |
| 7 | Daisuke Ogita | Japan | 269,500 | 90 |
| 8 | Aliaksandr Shylko | Ukraine | 237,000 | 79 |
| 9 | Paul Newey | United Kingdom | 214,500 | 72 |
| 10 | Vahe Martirosyan | Armenia | 201,500 | 67 |
Day 1 Highlights
Orpaz got off to a hot start in the opening moments of the day when he forced a fold from Santiago Plante with a big bet on the turn. He took another early pot moments later with a strong river bet against Ramon Kropmanns, and by Level 3 he was above 200,000.
PokerStars Ambassador Alejandro Lococo was felted early when he shoved a small stack with a suited king-seven and Eliran Argelazi out flopped him to win with a pair of aces. Lococo took a short break and bought back in, but he was out for good in Level 6 when Renat Bohdanov beat him with three aces.
Fellow PokerStars Ambassador Sam Grafton also lost on an early entry, but he bought back in and bagged for Day 2. Also returning for Day 2 are Kayhan Mokri, Conor Beresford, Julien Sitbon, Nacho Barbero, Erik Seidel, and defending champion Francisco Benitez.
Orpaz continued his big day with a torrid run through Level 4 and he went into the mid-day break with over 400,000. He followed that up with the elimination of Henri Kasper after the break when his ace-ten caught Kasper��s pocket kings with an ace on the turn. By the end of Level 6, he was already over 600,000 and he held off a late charge from Rezaei to bag the top count for Day 2.
Players will return on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. local time in Level 9 with blinds at 1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 ante. Registration remains open until the end of Level 10 and the bounty period of the tournament will kick off in Level 13. The tentative plan is to play to a winner on Day 2.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from the floor of your favorite tournaments at EPT Barcelona.