Defending Champion Hokyiu Lee Grabs Chiplead After Day 1 of Event #4: �2,000 Pot Limit Omaha
Last year, Hong Kong's Hokyiu Lee, a self-proclaimed cash game specialist, took down the �2,000 Pot Limit Omaha event at the World Series of Poker Europe at King's Resort Rozvadov for his first bracelet. This year, after an arduous 11-hour Day 1, Lee found himself on top of the leaderboard as 50 players advanced to the second and final day of Event #4: �2,000 Pot Limit Omaha.
Looking for back-to-back victories in the same WSOP Europe event, a feat rarely accomplished, Lee accumulated 609,500 chips on Day 1. With a massive stack of 122 big blinds at the start of Day 2, Lee has a comfortable lead over the rest of the field as he aims to defend his title. However, Lee is not the only player in a good position to go back-to-back, as last year's fourth-place finisher Daniel Smuskovics is sitting right behind Lee in the standings with a stack of 565,000.
Other players who will bring more than 100 big blinds to Day 2 are David Sosic (560,000), Dennis Weiss (535,000), and Alen Sabic (506,500), while Thomas Eychenne (385,500) and Simeon Tsonev (314,500) also secured a spot in the top ten counts.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hokyiu Lee | Hong Kong | 609,500 | 122 |
| 2 | Daniel Smuskovics | Germany | 565,000 | 113 |
| 3 | David Sosic | Croatia | 560,000 | 112 |
| 4 | Dennis Weiss | Germany | 535,000 | 107 |
| 5 | Alen Sabic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 506,500 | 101 |
| 6 | Alexi Skoulos | Sweden | 485,500 | 97 |
| 7 | Marco Di Persio | Italy | 477,500 | 96 |
| 8 | Thomas Eychenne | France | 385,500 | 77 |
| 9 | Marek Uharcek | Slovakia | 356,000 | 71 |
| 10 | Simeon Tsonev | Bulgaria | 314,500 | 63 |
Vivian Saliba was the only lady among the 229 entries, a turnout that bested last year's, and she also made it through the day, albeit among the shorter stacks with 81,500 chips at her disposal. Meanwhile, Anson Tsang has already won this event in 2018 and 2022 and is looking for his fourth overall bracelet by capturing the title for a third time. He bagged an above-average stack of 254,500, setting him up nicely for the grind that will be necessary on Day 2.
Other names who are coming back tomorrow hoping to get a slice of the �398,231 prize pool, which easily surpassed the �300,000 guarantee, include Jari Mahonen (244,000), Gabi Livshitz (208,000), poker commentator George Sandford (205,500), PLO specialist Dwayne Sluis (174,500), Fahredin Mustafov (146,500), and poker veteran Vladimir Troyanovskiy (115,000).
Meanwhile, Dario Alioto, Ermanno Di Nicola, Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Bjorn Verbakel, Tobias Peters, Samuel Stranak, Bernd Gleissner, and Stephen Nahm will not be adding a second bracelet to their collection as they did not manage to survive the onslaught of Day 1.
All who do return will restart tomorrow, September 25, at 3 p.m. local time. Blinds will resume in Level 15: 2,500/5,000 with a 5,000 big blind ante, and all levels will remain 40 minutes in length. A break will be had after every three levels, and play will continue until a winner has been crowned. A cards-up live stream is scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m., although the starting time is subject to change.
The payouts have not been announced yet, so check back in with PokerNews tomorrow to find out who will be crowned the champion and with what gigantic sum of money they will walk away with.