2015 WSOP Europe Day 1: Oliver Price Leads After First Day of Opening Event
The 2015 World Series of Poker Europe festival kicked off action on Thursday with the first of 10 gold bracelet events from Berlin, Germany. It was the first time the WSOP Europe embarked on the city, and the first tournament on the slate was Event #1: €2,200 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em.
Day 1 attracted 197 entries and saw 12 levels endured. When the day was all said and done, England's Oliver Price led the surviving 35 competitors with a stack of 171,100 in chips. Price's lead was sizable, as Frederic Schwarzer was almost 50,000 in chips behind him with a finishing stack of 122,900. The other two players over 100,000 to finish Day 1 were Alexander Debus with 112,000 and Giacomo Fundaro with 104,600.
According to WSOP.com reports, Price soared to the lead at the end of Day 1. He got all in with one opponent on the 8♠6♠2♥6♥ board holding the 8♥7♥. His opponent had the A♥J♥ and missed thanks to a blank 7x on the river. That gave Price a good chunk of chips and propelled him into the top spot on the leaderboard.
Other notables to do well on Day 1 of the opening event were Stephen Chidwick (84,200), Max Pescatori (75,300), Andrew Lichtenberger (55,000), and Scott Clements (49,000).
Two players that are no strangers to WSOP success are Phil Hellmuth and Dominik Nitsche. Hellmuth has 14 gold bracelets to his credit, and Nitsche boasts three. Unfortunately, both of them are down to nine chances in Europe as they busted from the opening event.
Hellmuth busted following losing a chunk of chips with ace-king versus king-jack. After his elimination, Hellmuth spoke to PokerNews about his day and taking his bracelet hunt to Berlin.
Like Hellmuth, Nitsche also registered late on Day 1. Nitsche played a few key hands on Day 1, three of which were featured in the "888 Hand of the Day" that is brought to you by our friends at 888poker. On Nitsche's final hand, he moved all in with the K♥Q♦, but couldn't beat the pocket threes of [Removed:17].
Day 2 of the event will take place on Friday at 12 p.m. local time. The top 21 spots will reach the money, and the top prize is set at €105,000 plus the coveted gold bracelet. Also taking place on Friday is the highly anticipated Event #2: €550 "Oktoberfest" No-Limit Hold'em. That event will see the first two of four starting flights take place at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. local time.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews.com from now until Oct. 24 as we continue to provide coverage from the 2015 WSOP Europe.
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