Alexandru Papazian Leads 204 Players After Day 1 of the EPT Cyprus $3,000 Mystery Bounty
The PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, continued today with its Day 1 flight of the $3,000 Mystery Bounty. Over 12 levels of play, 840 new entries took their seats to battle over the felt in hopes of becoming the inaugural champion of this event, in Cyprus.
At the end of the night, 204 players bagged and tagged and will be returning for the Day 2 restart tomorrow afternoon. With late registration still open until the start of play tomorrow, this number is only expected to grow.
By the end of proceedings, it was Alexandru Papazian who claimed the title of chip leader, having accumulated 430,500 over the eight hours of play. Papazian wasn��t alone in amassing a plentiful stack as Senol Ardic was hot on his tails, collecting an equally impressive stack of 400,000.
Papazian and Ardic are the only two players to be taking through stacks of over 200 big blinds.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexandru Papazian | Romania | 430,500 | 215 |
| 2 | Senol Ardic | France | 400,000 | 200 |
| 3 | Vladimir Alekseev | Russia | 380,000 | 190 |
| 4 | Ivan Kuziv | Ukraine | 372,000 | 186 |
| 5 | Niko Koop | Germany | 352,000 | 176 |
| 6 | Dimitrou Menedimos | Cyprus | 330,000 | 165 |
| 7 | Argyrou Argery | Cyprus | 316,000 | 158 |
| 8 | Damir Gabdullin | Russia | 310,500 | 155 |
| 9 | Lucas Blanco | Spain | 306,000 | 153 |
| 10 | Dylan Destefano | USA | 294,000 | 147 |
Other notable names to find a bag for Day 2 include Dylan Destefano (294,000) and Cecile Ticherfatine (240,000), as well as a plethora of EPT Champions such as Dominik Panka (106,000), Roberto Romanello (104,000), Hossein Ensan (51,000), and Ian Hamilton (9,500).
Other familiar faces returning tomorrow include Antoine Labat, who will be starting proceedings with a stack of 120,500. Labat is already having an incredible series here in North Cyprus having come third in the $10,200 Mystery Bounty for $58,900, as well as a deep run in the $2,200 Eureka High Roller where he finished 18th for $15,675 just two days ago.
Play will commence on the 19th of October at 12:30 p.m. local time. Those who progressed today or those to late register will start proceedings on Level 13 with blinds at 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 big blind ante. At the start of Day 2, all players will be given a Mystery Bounty Token upon seating; if you eliminate a player, you will collect their Mystery Bounty Token.
Any time after 5:15 p.m. (the second break), players can take any collected tokens to the Mystery Bounty desk to draw an envelope. Tournament entries and remaining players will determine the Mystery Bounty prize amounts which will be announced on the tournament floor during play.
The PokerNews live reporting team will return on Thursday, October 19, to bring you more coverage of the European Poker Tour Mystery Bounty here at EPT Cyprus, so stay tuned.