Admir Qinami Leads the Way to the Final Table of the 888poker LIVE Bucharest Main Event
Admir Qinami paved his road toward being the favorite to lift the 888poker LIVE Bucharest Main Event trophy tomorrow through the one player in the field who had been there before.
Abel Aspas, who won the 888poker LIVE Madrid event last year, moved all in with a ten-high flush but Qinami called with the nut flush in a 3,000,000 chip pot to take an overwhelming chip lead. Qinami then eliminated Radu Lungu (11th) and Alexandru Cinca (10th) in short succession to end the night with 4,650,000 and the chip lead heading into tomorrow’s final table at 3 p.m. local time.
Viorel Gavrila finished off Aspas in 20th place, as well as Andrei Wauters (19th) and Ivan Ciursin (14th) to jump up into second place with 2,700,000. Marius Gicovanu took an early lead on Day 2 when he busted Sebastian Ionita with kings over tens, climbing over 1,000,000. He stayed near the top the rest of the way, finishing in third place with 2,600,000.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Admir Qinami | Albania | 4,650,000 | 93 |
| 2 | Viorel Gavrila | Romania | 2,700,000 | 54 |
| 3 | Marius Gicovanu | Romania | 2,600,000 | 52 |
| 4 | Konstantinos Vatseris | Greece | 2,250,000 | 45 |
| 5 | Andrii Zaika | Ukraine | 1,565,000 | 31 |
| 6 | Razvan Belea | Romania | 1,510,000 | 30 |
| 7 | Gheorghe Velcea | Romania | 735,000 | 15 |
| 8 | Maksims Gorbacs | Latvia | 715,000 | 14 |
| 9 | Alexandru Marcu | Romania | 300,000 | 6 |
Konstantinos Vatseris heads into the final table in fourth place with 2,250,000 after doubling up through start-of-day chip leader Nicolae Balea with the nut flush. Andrii Zaika (1,565,000) and EPT Paris champion Razvan Belea (1,510,000) are also big stacks at the final table, while the bottom of the final table leaderboard is rounded out by Gheorghe Velcea (735,000), Maksims Gorbacs (715,000), and Alexandru Marcu (300,000).
Day 2 began with 74 returning players being joined by 10 new arrivals to create a total field of 191 players. There were playing for a prize pool of €138,898, with the top 24 players making the money. 888poker Ambassador Lucia Navarro and Stream Team member Ricardo Freire Mateus fell short of the money, as did Alexandru Papazian and Patrick Bueno. 888poker Ambassdor Ian Simpson busted two spots off the money when his jacks were cracked by the sevens of Marcu.
Raoul Iancovici burst the bubble when he lost with ace-ten to Qinami’s pocket fives. A flurry of action then accompanied the players making the money until only nine remained. Everyone left is already guaranteed €3,500, and they’ll be chasing the €30,000 top prize and the 888poker trophy tomorrow.
The remaining nine players will return to play tomorrow with 40 minutes left on level 22. Blinds will be 25,000-50,000 with a 50,000 big blind ante, and levels will now be 60 minutes long. The final table will be streamed by 888poker TV on their Twitch channel.
Stay tuned as PokerNews will be providing all the action as the festival in the Romanian capital draws to a close tomorrow.