Israelashvili Among Top Stacks on Day 1A; Lisandro and Neuville Advance
On Sunday night, the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe at King's Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic kicked off with Event #1: €350 Opener No-Limit Hold'em. Day 1A attracted a field of 399 entries and 84 players bagged up their chips after level 14.
Roland Israelashvili, proud owner of six WSOPC rings yet still seeking his maiden bracelet, bagged 332,000 and was the third biggest stack that advanced to Day 2. Topping the standings were Renat Bohdanov with 525,000 — the only player above half a million in chips — and Dutchman Bartel Kars with 374,500.
There are plenty of notables among the 84 survivors of Day 1A such as Rafi Elharar (255,500), Adi Rajkovic (194,500), winner of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha last summer Ismael Bojang (164,000), Allen Kessler (136,500), Pierre Neuville (131,000), six-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeffrey Lisandro (115,500), and Mykhailo Gutyi (77,000).
Kessler entered late and experienced a roller-coaster end of the day. Down to a short stack of only 8,000, "Chainsaw" managed to climb back and got a lucky double up with pocket tens against Krzysztof Jaguscik who held ace-jack with an ace on the flop. Kessler found a miracle ten on the river to stay alive.
Six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu, David “ODB” Baker, current leader of the race for WSOP Player of the Year title Robert Campbell, Mihai Niste, and Erik Cajelais were among the casualties of Day 1a. The first starting day generated a total of 399 entries, including 113 re-entries. That number is expected to rise significantly with several more starting days to come, with Day 1b coming up next on Monday at 6 p.m. local time.
