Eureka Main Event's Day 1f Helps Smash Last Years Inaugural Field Size
Day 1f 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. This turbo flight drew in 587 new entries, bringing the number for this main event to a final figure of 2,803, generating a prize pool of $2,662,850. This safely surpasses last year's inaugural Eureka Main Event in Northern Cyprus which attracted a crowd of 2,659.
Of the 88 players to progress from Day 1f, Atanas Pavlov bagged the overall chip lead taking through an impressive sum of 972,000. EPT regular, Pavlov, shows no sign of slowing down his success on the circuit as this result placed him third in the overall rankings for Day 2, behind only Mark Steven Smith and Marian Virlanuta with stacks of 1,050,000 and 1,156,000 respectively.
Day 1f Top Ten Chip Counts:
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atanas Pavlov | Bulgaria | 972,000 | 194 |
| 2 | Recep Aydemir | Turkey | 629,000 | 126 |
| 3 | Lavrentiy Ni | Kazakhstan | 578,000 | 116 |
| 4 | Osman Ihlamur | Turkey | 546,000 | 109 |
| 5 | Karen Nazarian | Russia | 499,000 | 100 |
| 6 | Luke Marquardt | Germany | 452,000 | 90 |
| 7 | Walter Treccarichi | Italy | 449,000 | 90 |
| 8 | Andreas Tomazou | Cyprus | 429,000 | 86 |
| 9 | Tom Vogelsang | Netherlands | 418,000 | 84 |
| 10 | Georgi Sandev | Bulgaria | 396,000 | 79 |
Day 1f welcomed some of the best players in Europe and beyond, including PokerStars Team Pro members Parker Talbot and Felix Schneiders. Although Talbot has good form in tournaments of the same nature, coming fourth in the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event at EPT Barcelona just two months ago, neither he nor Schneiders could replicate such glory, each crashing out in Level 16 and Level 14 respectively.
Amongst those not to make Day 2, alongside Schneider and Talbot, were Thomas Eychenne, Patrick Leonard and Aliaksandr Shylko, all falling short of claiming a stack for Day 2.
Those more fortunate include the likes of Walter Treccarichi with a stack of 449,000. Nested amongst tonight's top ten, Treccarichi’s hot run today played a crucial role in proceedings as his pocket aces finally put an end to an incredibly lengthy bubble; England’s Dean Hutchison couldn’t improve against the best-starting hand in hold’em and was sent to the rail on the stone bubble, concluding play for the night.
Tomorrow, October 12, will see a total of 418 players take their seats at the felt for the Day 2 restart at noon, local time. Play will recommence on Level 16 with Blinds at 2,000/5,000 with a 5,000 big blind ante.
The PokerNews live reporting team will return to bring you more coverage of the Eureka Main Event here at EPT Cyprus, so stay tuned.