Elena Litvinyuk Bags Day 1b Chip Lead in Event #1: �350 Opener No-Limit Hold'em; Renat Bohdanov Leads Overall
The second flight of Event #1: �350 Opener No-Limit Hold'em at King��s Resort came to an end on Saturday night after 14 levels. A total of 612 registration slips were sold and when the dust had settled only 160 of those found a bag, bringing the total number of entries to 1011.
Leading the way from Day 1b is Russian Elena Litvinyuk, who ended the night with an impressive 385,500. While not enough to claim the overall lead heading into Day 2, it was more than enough to finish atop the flight. Daniel Braude is hot at the heels of the leader with 357,500 and will be one of the bigger stacks to look out for on Day 2.
Some familiar faces who will return on Day 2 include Erik Cajelais (274,000) Timur Margolin (246,000), Eyal Bensimhon (162,000), Allen Kessler (136,500), Ismael Bojang (164,000), Jeffrey Lisandro (115,500), Yan Li (109,500), Sofia Lovgren (102,000), Robert Campbell (74,500) and Martin Kabrhel (69,500).
Although Day 1b ended with Litvinyuk atop the leaderboard, it is Renat Bohdanov who will be in the driver's seat at the start of Day 2. Bohdanov is a local player here at King's Casino, who recently final tabled the WSOP Circuit Mini Main Event, and will also try to catch his first notable result in a WSOP event.
Top Five After Day 1 Flights
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Renat Bohdanov | Ukraine | 525,000 | 175 |
| 2 | Elena Litvinyuk | Russia | 385,500 | 128 |
| 3 | Bartel Kars | Netherlands | 374,000 | 124 |
| 4 | Daniel Braude | Israel | 357,500 | 119 |
| 5 | Roland Israelashvili | United States | 332,000 | 110 |
The second flight started with more success than the first, having almost double to start the day than the previous. Day 1a pulled in a total of 399 entry slips with 84 securing a spot by night's end. The Day 1b entries almost reached the number needed to surpass the guarantee, and 612 slips were handed out.
The payouts have been announced right before the end of the day, with 152 places in the money and a nice �56,654 for the new champion as well as a Main Event seat. The full details will be posted tomorrow as soon as they are confirmed by the staff.
Chris Ferguson, 2017 Player of the Year, failed to find a bag after two re-entries today and busted during the last level of the day. Other notables who took their chance today but didn't make it to Day 2 include Viktor Blom, Shaun Deeb, six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu and Eli Elezra.
The second day will begin at 2 p.m tomorrow and is scheduled to play down to the final six. Blinds will resume on level 15 at 1,500/3,000 and a 3,000 big blind ante. The levels will be 40 minutes in length with a 15-minute break after every three levels of play.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be bringing the live updates throughout the event, so stay tuned as all of the action unfolds!