Zheng Bags Big on the Eureka Main Event Day 1b
Day 1b of the $1,100 Eureka Main Event, running as part of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, has now reached its conclusion. A total of 162 entries were made, but after 17 levels of play, only 23 advanced to Day 2 and secured a minimum cash.
As this turbo flight died down, Xiaosheng Zheng bagged the overall chip lead taking through a total of 485,000 for the Day 2 restart. Zheng put on a dominating performance that saw him within the top ten stacks throughout the entity of the day, with only Yuan Xu following behind with a stack that has eclipsed the 400,000 chip mark.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts:
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xiaosheng Zheng | China | 485,000 | 81 |
| 2 | Yuan Xu | China | 415,000 | 69 |
| 3 | Dumitru Pora | Romania | 383,000 | 64 |
| 4 | Victoria Livschitz | United States | 347,000 | 58 |
| 5 | Milos Skrbic | Serbia | 339,000 | 57 |
| 6 | Nasser Al Mujaibel | Kuwait | 328,000 | 55 |
| 7 | Abdullah Alajmi | Kuwait | 310,000 | 52 |
| 8 | Kacper Pyzara | Poland | 261,000 | 44 |
| 9 | Peng Chen | China | 235,000 | 39 |
| 10 | Ionut Chirap | Romania | 219,000 | 37 |
Three members of PokerStars Team Pro surfaced for this late-night flight, but only Georgina James managed to survive the fast-paced structure, accumulating a stack of 156,000 for the Day 2 restart on Saturday.
Throughout the day James showed that she wasn’t afraid to play big pots, eliminating Michel Molenaar early on into proceedings; the all-in showdown saw her flush draw materialise against Molenarr’s flopped top pair, sending him to the rail.
EPT regular, Molenarr, went on to reenter the tournament during this turbo flight but again failed to accumulate a stack for Day 2; his two entries serving only to plump the current prize pool of $394,250.
However, the fortune of James wasn’t to be had by either member of Team Pro Kenny Hallaert or Barny Boatman. Hallaert went crashing out the first level after registration had closed; his top pair had run into the big blind special of Antonios Onoufriou, sending him to the rail and depriving him of the opportunity to fire a second bullet this evening.
Early into the morning, a lengthy bubble culminated with two bust-outs on different tables, concluding the play for the night. The misfortune of this bubble fell on the shoulders of both Panagiotis Mavritsakis and David Kaufmann who saw their chips fall into the hands of James and Milos Skrbic respectively.
Day 2 will kick off on the 12th of October, but before then, players have plenty more opportunities to get into the mix with flights 1c and e, alongside their turbo counterparts 1d and f, happening over the next two days.
The PokerNews live reporting team will return to bring you more coverage of the Eureka Main Event here at EPT Cyprus, so stay tuned.