Pierre Neuville Leads the 85 Survivors After Day 1h of Event #15: €550 Colossus No-Limit Hold'em
It was by far the busiest day of the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe and it very well could be the largest starting flight as Day 1f of Event #15: €550 Colossus No-Limit Hold'em attracted a total of 736 entries. Only 85 players managed to find a bag after 18 complete levels and legend Pierre Neuville finished on top of the leaderboard with 720,000 chips.
Neuville has been around the poker world for, well let's just say, awhile! Although Neuville may be creeping up there in age, now 75 years young, his poker mind is still as sharp as ever. The Belgian poker pro has already cashed in four events at the WSOP Europe and this will go down as his fifth. Neuville's most notable recorded cash, and there are plenty of them, is from back in 2015 when he finished seventh in the WSOP Main Event for over $1.2 million.
One of the highlights from Neuville's day came when he eliminated Player of the Year contender Anthony Zinno. With three players still alive on the turn, Zinno pushed in the last of his chips with a straight and flush draw. Neuville looked him up with a better flush draw and a brick on the river meant Neuville's king-high was good enough to win the pot. Neuville went on to attack the shorter stacks near the money bubble and as always, showed no fear of getting his chips in the middle. On days when Neuville is catching cards, there is no chance of slowing down his progression.
Some other big stacks to make it through the day include Martin Ilavsky (539,000), Paul Theobald (515,000), Teodor Popovic (462,000), Radek Castka (454,000), and Aleksandr Glinskii (441,000). Glinskii made a big run in the final couple levels, eliminating at least three players in the process. The Russian was on the right side of the deck when he picked up ace-king vs ace-queen and then found pocket queens vs pocket jacks moments later.
Day 1h Action
The atmosphere in the poker arena at King's Resort had a different feel to it this morning as you could sense the anticipation from many of the players. Over 200 players were registered when the cards went in the air at 12 p.m. That number escalated at a rapid pace over the course of the day until late registration was finally closed.
The action got off to a bang with two players being eliminated in the first couple of minutes. Players constantly filtered their way out of the tournament area and then made their way back with their one available re-entry. The €1,000,000 guaranteed prizepool was reached as the day winded down with well over 500 players also taking part in Day 1i, the last starting flight of the tournament.
When it comes to the WSOP Player of the Year race, one other contender notched their place in Day 2. Robert Campbell got off to a rocky start as he was seen with a stack of around 6,000 chips at one point. However, without having to use his re-entry, Campbell spun his stack up as the last break of the day approached. When the day ended, the Australian had a look of relief on his face when he put 374,000 in his bag. As for Daniel Negreanu and Anthony Zinno, they were both had little impact on the day and were eliminated prior to the money.
After the last break of the night, the field quickly dwindled down to reach the money bubble. Only 111 places paid and the poor soul who was denied a min-cash on the bubble was Erni Burtscher. Despite being down to just seven big blinds, Burtscher got all of his chips in the middle with pocket kings against the ace-eight of Eduardo De Bellis. Burtscher even flopped a set of kings on what looked to be a dry board, but De Bellis went runner-runner straight to burst the bubble.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86 | Kevin Hamacher | Germany | 841€ | $940 |
| 87 | Antonin Navratil | Czech Republic | 841€ | $940 |
| 88 | Timothy Gspurning | Switzerland | 841€ | $940 |
| 89 | Kevin Paschmann | Germany | 841€ | $940 |
| 90 | Thomas Stringer | Switzerland | 841€ | $940 |
| 91 | Christoph Manthey | Germany | 806€ | $901 |
| 92 | Michael Chiminolli | France | 806€ | $901 |
| 93 | Ofer Haim | Israel | 806€ | $901 |
| 94 | Tomer Harouch | Israel | 806€ | $901 |
| 95 | Harry Ferencak | Germany | 806€ | $901 |
| 96 | Ilie Januszewski | Romania | 806€ | $901 |
| 97 | Remigiusz Wyrzykiewicz | Poland | 806€ | $901 |
| 98 | Alexandra Laudicina | France | 806€ | $901 |
| 99 | Sinan Turan | Germany | 806€ | $901 |
| 100 | Robin Wasserbauer | Austria | 790€ | $883 |
| 101 | Naor Cohen | Israel | 790€ | $883 |
| 102 | Kristoffer Rasmussen | Denmark | 790€ | $883 |
| 103 | Hagay Lev Yam | Israel | 790€ | $883 |
| 104 | Catherine Hanna | France | 790€ | $883 |
| 105 | Ales Karban | Czech Republic | 790€ | $883 |
| 106 | Peter Siemund | Germany | 790€ | $883 |
| 107 | Oleh Shkapenko | Ukraine | 790€ | $883 |
| 108 | Manuel Blaschke | Austria | 790€ | $883 |
| 109 | Yaron Naor | Israel | 790€ | $883 |
| 110 | Fabian Fischer | Germany | 790€ | $883 |
| 111 | Michael Weidner | Germany | 790€ | $883 |
A flurry of eliminations occurred once the players were in the money as all of the short stacks couldn't wait to get their chips in the middle. Within 30 minutes, 26 more players were eliminated that received a portion of the prizepool. All of those players will have the option to enter the Day 1i field and the 85 players left standing at the end of night all chose to bag up their chips for Day 2.
After eight of the nine starting flights, there are a total of 2,110 entries with 234 players advancing to Day 2. The prizepool is now over €1.2 million with most of it being handed out tomorrow. Flight 1i is currently taking place with nearly 600 entries and is the last chance for any players looking to reach Day 2. Late registration is still open in that flight and the total numbers will be tallied later on.
| Flight | Date | Starting Time | Entries | Advancing to Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | Monday, October 28th | 18:00 | 143 | 15 |
| 1b | Tuesday, October 29th | 18:00 | 133 | 16 |
| 1c | Wednesday, October 30th | 18:00 | 128 | 11 |
| 1d | Thursday, October 31st | 12:00 | 112 | 13 |
| 1e | Thursday, October 31st | 18:00 | 171 | 15 |
| 1f | Friday, November 1st | 12:00 | 341 | 40 |
| 1g | Friday, November 1st | 18:00 | 346 | 39 |
| 1h | Saturday, November 2nd | 12:00 | 736 | 85 |
| 1i | Saturday, November 2nd | 18:00 | ||
| Day 2 | Sunday, November 3rd | 15:00 | ||
| Day 3 | Monday, November 4th | TBD | ||
| Totals | 2110 | 234 |
The PokerNews live reporting team will continue to bring you all of the live updates throughout the final starting flight and over the course of the next two days en route to an eventual champion. Keep your eyes locked here for all of the WSOP Player of the Year updates as well with a few players still trying to catch Negreanu who is currently leading.