Flutur Bags the Chip Lead on Day 1a of the $2,200 Eureka High Roller
The PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa continued today with the first of two Day 1 flights for the $2,200 Eureka High Roller. A total of 966 entrants tried their luck on the felt in today’s event, but after 16 levels of play, only 145 progressed to Day 2.
The bursting of the bubble marked the end of the Day 1 flight, ensuring all players who managed to secure a stack for Day 2 have also secured a minimum cash to be confirmed when Day 1b turbo flight has also concluded.
As the dust settled Mircea Flutur bagged the overall chip lead, taking through a total of 739,000 for the Day 2 restart. Flutur displayed calculated aggression throughout the day, allowing him to be the only player in the room to eclipse the 700,000 chip mark by i's conclusion.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Count:
| Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mircea Flutur | Romania | 739,000 |
| 2 | Andreas Frohli | Austria | 691,000 |
| 3 | Stoyan Obreshkov | Bulgaria | 608,000 |
| 4 | Ran Ilani | Israel | 576,000 |
| 5 | Nichan Khorchidian | Lebanon | 487,000 |
| 6 | Steven Warburton | United Kingdom | 459,000 |
| 7 | Ivan Pavlov | Belarus | 442,000 |
| 8 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | 422,000 |
| 9 | Mustafa Biz | Turkey | 405,000 |
| 10 | Ramez Haddad | Lebanon | 403,000 |
Three members of the PokerStars Team Pro surfaced for this Day 1 flight. A stack for tomorrow’s Day 2 alluded both Simon Wiciak and Parker Talbot, who crashed out on Levels 13 and 15 respectively.
However, the same could not be said for Spain’s Ramon Colillas, who will be met with a stack of 246,000 on the felt tomorrow. In an early confrontation with Samuel Mullur, Colillas quickly showed he wasn’t afraid to put his chips to use; a turn check-raise and a river stab won him a healthy pot, propelling his tournament journey.
Other notable names to cash the event include the likes of Bobby James (139,000), Tom Vogelsang (150,000) and Patrick Leonard (213,000).
James told PokerNews that fresh off his deep run in the $1,100 Eureka Main Event, coming 19th $13,260, he went straight to the cash desk to register this highroller; a worthwhile investment as he adds yet another score to his impressive set of runs here in Cyprus.
Day 2 will restart at 12:30 p.m. on the 14th of October and will play down until just one player remains. Once both day one flights have concluded, the action will resume on whatever the lower of the two finishing levels was between the two flights.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back tomorrow to bring you more coverage of the Eureka Poker Tour High Roller here at EPT Cyprus, so stay tuned.