Carl Shaw Dominates in Day 1b of Eureka Main Event, O'Dwyer Bags Big
After nearly ten hours of play, the second of four starting flights has reached a conclusion for Day 1b of the $1,100 buy-in Eureka Main Event, part of the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Cyprus at the luxurious Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa. Carl Shaw of the United Kingdom ended the night with the chip lead, bagging 703,000 to end the night. He is most closely followed by Eros Calderone of Italy (604,000). Azizjon Rakhimov of Uzbekistan (521,000) and Steve O'Dwyer of Ireland (487,000).
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carl Shaw | United Kingdom | 703,000 | 117 |
| 2 | Eros Calderone | Italy | 604,000 | 101 |
| 3 | Azizjon Rakhimov | Uzbekistan | 521,000 | 87 |
| 4 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | 487,000 | 81 |
| 5 | Stanislav Tishkevich | Israel | 428,000 | 71 |
| 6 | Andreas Christoforou | Cyprus | 365,000 | 61 |
| 7 | Jorg Schneegass | Germany | 338,000 | 56 |
| 8 | Ankit Ahuja | India | 334,000 | 56 |
| 9 | Nils Pudel | Germany | 328,000 | 55 |
| 10 | Roman Gadzhiev | Russia | 289,000 | 48 |
Day 1b Action
Day 1b of the main event attracted a total field of 366 entrants, 55 of whom bagged a stack for Day 2 and subsequently made the money. There was no shortage of big names playing in today's evening flight, with Ankit Ahuja (334,000) and Jessica Teusl (22,000) being among the notables to advance to Day 2, while notables who fell short of making the money included PokerStars Team Pros Alejandro Lococo, Lasse Jagd Lauritsen and Benjamin Spragg as well as Ren Lin, Leon Sturm, Antoine Labat and Olga Iermolcheva.
The action in today's flight was fast-paced from the get-go, with several coolers happening in the early levels. Nihat Karyagdi chipped up early after cracking his opponent's flopped set with a turned flush while Nicolay Langfeldt made a full house to best his opponent's trip-aces. Both players were able to ride the momentum from these early wins to end up bagging chips for Day 2.
Shaw began emerging as one of the main chip leaders of the day as early as Level 6, and never looked back from there. He sent player after player to the rail and for most of the night it seemed he could do no wrong. Sometimes he would get the money in bad, sometimes he would get it in good, but he almost always came out on top by the river. He began to really pick up steam towards the later stages of the night, including a hand where he rivered a full house against the flopped two-pair of Alex Peffly to further extend his lead over the rest of the field.
Aren Bezhanyan had a strong start to the day but ultimately found himself short-stacked near the bubble. He would end up shoving with queen-jack offsuit only for Nemanja Lukovic to call with king-ten offsuit. Bezhanyan failed to improve and would be eliminated on the stone bubble while the 55 remaining players bagged their chips having made the money and advanecd to Day 2.
There are still two more flights to play in the Eureka Main Event before the Day 1a and Day 1b survivors return for Day 2 on October 14. Day 1c and 1d will take place on Oct. 13 and will follow similar structures as the previous two flights.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is on-site here in North Cyprus to provide updates throughout the remaining tournament and the rest of the inaugural EPT Cyprus stop.