Moneymaker Falls On Day 1c of the PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event
After two regular starting days of the €500,000 Guaranteed PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event, a late-night second-chance Day 1c turbo was scheduled for those who busted on one of the two starting days. With just 20 minute levels, action was fast and furious right off the bat. 158 players opted for their second chance, and 94 of them made it through the day. Okan Gursan bagged the overall chip lead with 127,500.
With the 158 players from Day 1c, a total of 578 unique players put up 736 entries and created a prize pool of €706,560, smashing the half million euro guaranteed prize pool, and eclipsing last year's number of 579 by a wide margin.
Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker was among those whose second attempt came up short as well. The 2003 World Champion got eliminated in the penultimate level of the day. Holding ace-queen, Moneymaker bluff-shoved the river on a king-jack-eight-six-jack board. His opponent Andreas Vlachas called with just a pair of deuces to knock out the Team PokerStars Pro. In a tweet afterwards, Moneymaker claimed he got "soul owned" by his Greek adversary.
Moneymaker was joined on the rail by the number two on Romania's all time money list, Mihai Manole. Manole got it in good with pocket kings against ace-queen but four diamonds hit the board to improve his opponent to the nut flush. Players who did make it to Day 2 included Patrick Bueno (104,500), Georges Yazbeck (89,300), Andreas Klatt (60,300), Dany Parlafes (40,100), and Erik Scheidt (23,400).
The 94 survivors will join the 66 from Day 1a and 166 from Day 1b on Day 2, which commences on Friday, August 4th, at 1 p.m. local time. The blinds will start at 800/1,600 with a running ante of 200, with Day 1b chipleader Stefan Fabian returning as the overall chipleader with 279,400. Levels will be extended to 60 minutes for the remainder of the tournament. The payout and Day 2 seating will be announced on Friday before the start of Day 2.
Join PokerNews on Friday from 1 p.m. local time to follow the live updates and catch up with all the excitement from the JW Marriot Grand Hotel as we get closer to crowning the latest PokerStars Festival champion. At 8 p.m. local time, the €2,200 High Roller will start, which will also be covered by the PokerNews team on the floor.