Zanasi Soars to the Top; Guarantee All But Reached in 2023 The Grand Big Wrap €2,350 Main Event
It was another busy day in Europe's biggest poker arena with several events running simultaneously at the King's Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. That even included the Schafkopf Championship, a traditional German card game that hit the cap with 248 entries. As far as four-card lovers were concerned, all eyes were set on the 2023 The Grand Big Wrap €2,350 Main Event and the €10,000 Platinum High Roller.
With many of the high-stakes players jumping in late to try and run up a stack, it was no surprise that the number of re-entries was significantly higher. However, 44 re-entries and 84 unique players amounted to the same 128 entries that Day 1a had attracted and the number of survivors was off by one as 45 contestants advanced.
That brings the field to 256 entries and 91 players will return to their seats for the penultimate tournament day. However, it is expected that all figures will increase as the late registration and re-entry period is open for the first two levels and following break on Day 2. There is little doubt that the tournament will breeze past the €500,000 guarantee, which has been all but met already.
A new chip leader was crowned as well as Italy's Massimiliano Zanasi advanced with an impressive 936,000. He became the chip leader mid-way through the day and then came out on top of a three-way all-in with Quan Zhou and Jakub Koleckar.
"It will be difficult to take my chips now, you gonna need set over set, straight flush and royal flush," Zanasi joked with a big smile on the face while he was busy stacking the enormous pot.
It wasn't the only remarkable multi-way showdown pot either, as Tim Grau, for example, secured a triple knockout en route to bag up 588,000 chips.
Mats Nylander and Oswin Ziegelbecker finished the day strong with 784,000 and 690,000 in chips after their initial attempts were not crowned by success. They will be returning as big stacks, hoping to avoid the carnage that can be expected during the final stages of the registration period.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1b
| Rank | Player | Nationality | Chip count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massimiliano Zanasi | Italy | 936,000 | 234 |
| 2 | Mats Nylander | Sweden | 784,000 | 196 |
| 3 | Oswin Ziegelbecker | Austria | 690,000 | 173 |
| 4 | Marek Uharcek | Slovakia | 653,000 | 163 |
| 5 | Tim Grau | Germany | 588,000 | 147 |
| 6 | Dmitrij Fadeev | Germany | 564,000 | 141 |
| 7 | Matthew Macioce | United States | 487,000 | 122 |
| 8 | Grzegorz Derkowski | Germany | 414,000 | 104 |
| 9 | Heiko Hinkelmann | Germany | 409,000 | 102 |
| 10 | Duarte Baptista | Portugal | 381,000 | 95 |
Other notables to advance with healthy stacks were Grzegorz Derkowski (414,000), Duarte Baptista (381,000), Jakob Madsen (330,000) as well as Leonid Yanovski (285,000). The latter reached the final table in the €10,000 Platinum High Roller only to become the first casualty and his fortune also ran out in the initial attempts on Day 1b. However, Yanovski doubled in the final level to improve his stack and mood.
Besides the aforementioned Zhou, other well-known names such as Martin Kabrhel, Harry Casagrande, Vasil Medarov, Mick Heder, Marek Blasko, Samuli Sipilä and Samuel Ju all vanished without anything but receipts to show for. However, many of them are expected to take advantage of the extended late registration.
Day 2 is slated to kick off at 2 p.m. local time in the poker arena at King's Resort. Recommencing blinds will be 2,000-4,000 with a big blind ante of 4,000 and two repeat levels await. As of the penultimate day, the level duration increases to 60 minutes each and a hectic opening period is expected.
One day later, the live-streamed conclusion awaits and the PokerNews team will be back then to provide as many of the key hands as possible en route to crowning a winner in Rozvadov, Czech Republic.