Omar Del Pino Bags Overall Chip Lead in Day 1b of €2,200 FPS High Roller
Another day of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris has come and gone here at the Le Palais des Congres with Omar Del Pino emerging as the Day 1b chip leader of €2,200 FPS High Roller. Del Pino managed to bag up 928,000 in chips through 20 levels of play, which is good for the top spot overall when combined with the Day 1a chip leaders.
Del Pino has over $700,000 in live-tournament earnings and recently won the Estrellas Main Event in Sevilla back in November. Del Pino will enter Day 2 as the only player with over 90 big blinds. His next-closest competitor is Yves Bianchetti, who managed to bag up 855,000 in Day 1a.
Overall Day 1a and Day 1b Chip Leaders
| Rank | Name | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Omar Del Pino | Spain | 928,000 | 93 |
| 2 | Yves Bianchetti | Brazil | 855,000 | 86 |
| 3 | Yunsheng Sun | Hong Kong | 839,000 | 84 |
| 4 | Daniel Neilson | Australia | 787,000 | 79 |
| 5 | Alessandro Pichierri | Italy | 786,000 | 79 |
| 6 | Fabiano Kovalski | Brazil | 778,000 | 78 |
| 7 | Lukas Hafner | Austria | 728,000 | 73 |
| 8 | Johannes Verhagen | Netherlands | 688,000 | 69 |
| 9 | Claudio Di Giacomo | Italy | 686,000 | 69 |
| 10 | Adil Oubaaous | Morocco | 685,000 | 69 |
Day 1b began with 175 entries and that number swelled to 544 by the time late registration ended. When combined with Day 1a, the event attracted a total of 1,794 entries — smashing last year's record of 910 and generating a €3,444,480 prize pool. All of the remaining players have already locked up a min-cash and the exact payouts will be announced at the start of Day 2.
Despite eliminations coming swiftly throughout, Day 1b featured a particularly brutal money bubble that saw repeated double-ups — much to the dismay of everyone not all in. The bubble finally burst in two places after more than a dozen hands after hand-for-hand play began.
Some other notables from Day 1b who will be returning for Day 2 include Sonny Franco (654,000), Maria Konnikova (562,000), Max Neugebauer (372,000), Jesse Lonis (290,000), and former professional Footballer Jimmy Kebe, who will bring a respectable 194,000 with him to battle on the felt.
Among the less fortunate were Dominik Nitsche, Matthew Wantman, Jon Kyte, and EPT Main Event champions Niall Farrell, Davidi Kitai, and Adrian Mateos — all of whom were eliminated prior to the day's end.
Day 2 is set to begin on Monday, February 19th at noon local time and play down to a winner. Play will resume with ten seconds left on Level 18 (the level that Day 1a ended on), which features 4,000/8,000 blinds with an 8,000 big blind ante. The blinds on Level 19 will increase to 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the No-Limit Hold'em action leading to the next FPS Higher Roller champion!