Vincenzo Vollaro opened to 21,000 from early position and was called by Marius Iftimia in the cutoff and Constantin Smintanca in the big blind.
Smintanca checked to Vollaro on the J♥2♦9♣ flop and he bet 46,000. Iftimia called but Smintanca folded.
Vollaro kept his foot on the gas and bet enough to put Iftimia all in for his last 210,000 on the 4♠ turn. Iftimia thought better of it and folded before Vollaro flashed the J♣ as he collected the pot.
Action folded to Massimiliano Patroncini who raised to 36,000 on the button. Sebastien Maestrati in the small blind then three-bet to 152,000 and Patroncini tanked for several minutes until the clock was called. He eventually moved all in and Maestrati snap-called.
Patroncini had run into aces with a massive pot at stake, but the Q♠ fell right in the window followed by 5♥8♦. Maestrati let out a loud groan and shot out of his seat as he watched the 9♣4♦ complete the board.
The stacks were counted down and Patroncini had 341,000 remaining. Maestrati's stack was around 250,000 and he was sent to the rail.
"Why do you hate this hand," a tablemate asked Patroncini, pointing at the defeated aces of Maestrati.
Petr Targa opened from the button, and he was called by Lukas Zaskodny in the big blind, who was alone in the blinds as Hael Al Labani was eliminated from the table on the previous hand.
On the flop Q♥A♣2♥, Targa bet 30,000, and Zaskodny check-called. But it was the last action of the hand as both players checked on the turn 6♣ and the river 6♦.
First to reveal his cards, Zaskodny showed 7♠7♥, but it wasn't enough against Targa's K♦Q♣.
Abdelhamid El Khayati defended from the big blind after Andras Balogh opened to 22,000 from the button.
El Khayati quickly called when Balogh bet 16,000 on the flop Q♦2♦9♠. But on the turn 3♥, the action slowed down as both players checked.
The 6♣ came on the river, and El Khayati checked again. Balogh checked back, but mucked his cards after El Khayati showed A♦6♦ for a pair hit on the river.
Martin Ryan opened to 30,000 first-to-act and action folded around to Michele Pucci in the big blind, who called.
Pucci checked to Ryan on the 8♣7♠6♠ flop, who continued for a 55,000 bet. Ryan then announced he was all in for approximately 230,000. Ryan asked for a count and then called to put Pucci at risk.
Michele Pucci: J♥8♥
Martin Ryan: A♣9♣
Pucci was ahead with his eights but would need to fade a lot of outs to avoid elimination.
The 4♠ turn and 7♥ turn ran out safe for Pucci and he doubled through Ryan.
Nicola Angelini opened to 25,000 from the hijack. With his laptop open on the table, Martin Kabrhel, seated on his left, looked at his stack and eventually folded. But Nathan Jones chose to three-bet to 72,000 on the button. An amount that Angelini called.
On the flop 9♦7♣Q♦, Jones made a continuation bet of 61,000, and Angelini check-called. He checked again on the turn J♦, but quickly folded when Jones moved all in with his last 155,000 chips.
The 2023 World Series of Poker Europe at the King's Resort in Rozvadov continues with Day 2 of Event #3: €1,350 Mini Main Event. The tournament began on Sunday, October 29 with Day 1a, and after four flights, a total of 1,729 entries were recorded with 461 players qualifying for Day 2.
Among them, Peter Kamaras is the overall chip leader, as he ended Day 1d with 1,264,000 chips. Joining Kamaras are eight other players returning on Day 2 with more than one million chips, such as Marius-Alexandru Gicovanu (1,183,000), Day 1b chip leader Viktor Lavi (1,164,000), and Day 1a chip leader Ihar Khursin (1,131,000).
€1,350 Mini Main Event Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Peter Kamaras
Hungary
1,264,000
126
2
Marius-Alexandru Gicovanu
Romania
1,183,000
118
3
Viktor Lavi
Israel
1,164,000
116
4
Ihar Khursin
Belarus
1,131,000
113
5
Salih Atac
Switzerland
1,087,000
109
6
Bernd Werner
Germany
1,068,000
107
7
Oleksii Kovalchuk
Ukraine
1,031,000
103
8
Adrian Martin
Romania
1,007,000
101
9
Tawfik Samih
Belgium
966,000
97
10
Artiom Poddubnii
Moldova
965,000
97
Out of the Top 10 but not far behind, 2022 WSOPE Main Event champion Omar Eljach filled his bag with 856,000 chips and will try to win another bracelet, after he took down Event #2: €550 Pot Limit Omaha 8-Max for €65,900. Brazil's Felipe Ketzer also qualified with a big stack (822,000), along with Fabio Peluso (797,000) and Jason Wheeler (720,000).
Closer to the average stack, Maria Lampropulos qualified with 387,000 chips, just a blind more than Juan Lamprea (375,000). Among the shorter stacks is 2019 EPT Monte-Carlo winner Manig Loeser (242,000) and 2023 PSPC champion Aliaksandr Shylko with 228,000 chips.
Omar Eljach
Day 2 will start on Level 16 (5,000/10,000 with a big blind ante of 10,000) and end after Level 25. So ten 60-minute levels will be played today, with 15-minute breaks every two levels (30 minutes after Level 19). The payouts will be announced at the beginning of the day.
€1,350 Mini Main Event Entries
Day
Entries
Players Left
1a
263
66
1b
297
77
1c
399
110
1d
770
208
Total
1729
461
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you all the action for this and every other WSOP gold bracelet event here at the 2023 World Series of Poker Europe at King’s Resort.
