Daher Tops Day 1 of $25k Second Chance
A brief Day 1 in the $25,000 Second Chance saw 31 players make their way to the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa to participate in the final $25k event of the 2024 European Poker Tour Cyprus. Although the action lasted a mere four hours, several players had busted and many reentered to bring the total number of entries to 38 — a number that is expected to grow as late-registration will remain open until the start of Day 2.
By the time the final hand was dealt, Albert Daher had secured the chip lead of the remaining 25 players after bagging up 885,000. Not too far behind him is PokerStars Team Pro Elias Gutierrez, who won the $25,000 SHR Warm Up just a few days ago, with 808,000. Rounding out the top three is Hassan Nashar, who fired three bullets before finding his footing en route to bagging 805,000.
Daher is a regular in EPT High Roller events and has already won three of them over the past several years. His most recent high roller victory happened last year in Cyprus, wherein he overcame an 29-entry field and defeated Mikita Badziakouski heads-up to take down the $264,690 first-place prize.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chips | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Albert Daher | Lebanon | 885,000 | 148 |
| 2 | Elias Gutierrez | Spain | 808,000 | 135 |
| 3 | Hassan Nashar | Senegal | 805,000 | 134 |
| 4 | Johannes Straver | Netherlands | 624,000 | 104 |
| 5 | Teun Mulder | Netherlands | 616,000 | 103 |
| 6 | Vladimir Korzinin | Estonia | 587,000 | 98 |
| 7 | Kayhan Mokri | Norway | 541,000 | 90 |
| 8 | Danilo Velasevic | Croatia | 500,000 | 83 |
| 9 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | 454,000 | 76 |
| 10 | Vicente Delgado | Spain | 430,000 | 72 |
Action of the Day
Masashi Oya was among the 17 players who took their seats at the start of the day and hopped out to an early lead after slowplaying aces against Juan Pardo, who held ace-king on a king-high board. Oya largely stayed out of big pots for the rest of the evening, but still managed to end with an roughly average stack worth 356,000.
Another big hand in the first levels saw Jelle Moene taking over the lead after being on the right end of a brutal cooler in a straight versus straight confrontation against Jérémie Zouari. By the time the first and only break was held, Moene held a comfortable chip lead over the field.
However, that would change at the hands of Nashar, who entered shortly after break. Nashar immediately became a driver of action by playing most of his hands in an aggressive and often wild style that involved using very large sizings in relation to the blinds. In at least one hand, Nashar opted to play his cards without looking at them.
While Gutierrez managed to benefit from Nashar's erratic play, first by doubling through him and later by eliminating him, Nashar quickly reentered and sent Moene down the chip counts by winning a flip against him with pocket tens. Despite the hit, Moene still managed to end with 336,000.
It was about this time that Daher also began his ascent up the leaderboard — largely due to putting a beat on Simone Andrian after getting all in preflop with ace-five against Andrian's ace-king. Daher drilled a five on the river to score him the massive pot and continued to chip up from that point onwards.
Other notables who quietly made an appearance and will be back for Day 2 tomorrow include Duco ten Haven (115,000), Leonard Maue (174,000), Steve O'Dwyer (200,000), and Recep Aydemir (244,000).
Day 2 is set to begin on Thursday, October 17 at 12:30 p.m. local time and play down to a winner. Action will resume on Level 9, which features 3,000/6,000 blinds with a 6,000 big-blind ante. Fifteen-minute breaks will be held after every four levels and a 75-minute dinner break is scheduled at the completion of Level 20.
With more last-minute entrants expected to join the fray, there is still plenty of action yet to come as more big-money players go to war on the green felt. Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you ongoing coverage right up until the next high roller champion is crowned!