Mamouni and Patka Bag Big in Final Starting Flights
Days 1c and 1d of the €1,100 WPT Prime Sanremo Championship Event, the final starting flights, have concluded here at Casino Sanremo, after a hectic day which saw 492 entries across the two flights.
Those figures resulted in the tournament attracting an overall field of 781 entrants, generating a prize pool of €734,140. A minimum cash is good for €1,880, while the champion will be taking home the sum of €124,700, which includes a seat worth €9,700 to the WPT World Championship in December in Las Vegas.
A total of 61 players progressed to Day 2 across the two flights, and they join the 37 qualifiers from Days 1a-1b, meaning 98 players progress to Day 2. A double knockout occurred on the bubble in Day 1d, meaning Roland Rozel has exited in the money in 99th place.
Mohamed Mamouni of France has bagged a huge stack and takes the overall chip lead (1,767,000), some 600,000 ahead of his closest challengers today, Tomas Patka (1,144,000) of Slovakia and Vladas Burneikis (1,118,000) of Lithuania.
Mamouni has recorded live earnings of just under $500,000 and will be hoping to beat his biggest score of €32,176. Patka boasts earnings approaching $340,000 and will be hoping to add another six-figure score to his resume following his third place in the FPS Main Event at EPT Monte Carlo in 2023. Burneikis has career earnings just shy of $300,000 and will be gunning to beat his biggest score of $94,458.
Days 1c and 1d Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mohamed Mamouni | France | 1,767,000 | 176 |
| 2 | Tomas Patka | Slovakia | 1,144,000 | 114 |
| 3 | Vladas Burneikis | Lithuania | 1,118,000 | 111 |
| 4 | Mario Perati | Italy | 1,009,000 | 100 |
| 5 | Paul Runcan | Romania | 946,000 | 94 |
| 6 | Antonio Iannei | Italy | 931,000 | 93 |
| 7 | Emanuele Baldo | Italy | 925,000 | 92 |
| 8 | Chris Dowling | Ireland | 842,000 | 84 |
| 9 | Mirko Vinelli | Italy | 803000 | 80 |
| 10 | Fabio Peluso | Italy | 741000 | 80 |
Day 2 takes place on Sunday June 9 at 1:00 p.m. local time and features 60-minute levels, with the players returning to blinds of 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. The current plan is for play to continue until a final table is set. Players will receive four additional timebanks at the start of Day 2, four more at the three table redraw, and four more at the final table.
The final day will take place on Monday June 10 at 1:00 p.m. local time, and will feature 60-minute levels.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all your coverage of the action as we move towards the business end of the tournament.