Another 12 levels of play are in the books at 888poker LIVE Bucharest, where a trio of 888poker Ambassadors joined the field on Day 1b of the €560 Main Event.
A total of 69 new entries were recorded, bringing the tournament total to 179 over the first two flights at 888poker Room Bucharest. Thursday’s 27 survivors will join the 34 players from Day 1a, with two more opening flights to come on Friday, March 22.
Everyone will be chasing a piece of the €200,000 prize pool when the field combines for Day 2 on Saturday, March 23, but there is plenty of action to play out before then.
For the second straight day, Romanians took control of the leaderboard with Stefan Toderita taking top spot after bagging 369,000 chips. That currently sits second overall after Ran Shahar amassed 427,500 chips on Day 1a.
The chip lead changed hands several times over the last few hours of the night, with Andrei Miron, Stefan Gheorghe and 2023 CNP 888 National Champion Pedro Gonzalez all holding the advantage through the later levels. Alexandru Lupuleac made a late charge to round out the top five spots.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stefan Toderita | Romania | 369,000 | 185 |
| 2 | Andrei Miron | Romania | 263,000 | 132 |
| 3 | Stefan Gheorghe | Romania | 224,000 | 112 |
| 4 | Pedro Gonzalez | Spain | 175,500 | 88 |
| 5 | Alexandru Lupuleac | Romania | 173,000 | 87 |
| 6 | Claudiu Burlacu | Romania | 160,500 | 80 |
| 7 | Vivian Saliba | Brazil | 144,500 | 72 |
| 8 | Sorin Flutur | Romania | 143,500 | 72 |
| 9 | Dumitrache Mihai | Romania | 136,000 | 68 |
| 10 | Popescu Corneliu | Romania | 136,000 | 68 |
Three of the 888poker Ambassadors took their first shot on Day 1b, with Vivian Saliba leading the way after collecting 144,500 chips. Saliba was very short at one point, but flopped a set to regain some ground a rebuild from there.
Lucia Navarro also found a bag at the end of the night, carrying 105,500 into Day 2. Fellow Ambassador Ian Simpson was not as fortunate, busting after the final break of the night. Simpson told PokerNews that he will be back on Friday to take another shot at Main Event glory.
Day 1c will begin at 3 p.m. local time, with players looking to survive twelve 45-minute levels for a spot in Day 2. The turbo Day 1d flight gets underway at 9 p.m. local time and features 20-minute levels. Action will be streamed on the 888poker Twitch and YouTube channels, beginning at 3:30 p.m. local time.
Everyone with chips at the end of both flights will return on Saturday, March 23, to combine with the rest of the remaining players and battle through the bubble. The event continues with unlimited reentries, while late registration remains available until the start of Day 2.
The tournament will then award the 888poker trophy on Sunday, March 24, and the PokerNews team will be on hand to bring you all of the exciting action here in Bucharest.
