For the eighth time, Europe's biggest poker arena is hosting a series dedicated to the great game of Pot Limit Omaha and four card aficionados from near and far headed to the King's Resort in Rozvadov near the border to Germany. The second edition of the current year takes place as The Grand Big Wrap PLO by $ZTO$ and one of the marquee tournaments on the schedule is the 2023 The Grand Big Wrap €2,350 Main Event.
The four-figure buy-in is accompanied by several other high-stakes contests and comes with a €500,000 guarantee, which is likely to be surpassed without a hitch. There were a total of 99 unique players who purchased an additional 29 re-entries to bring the Day 1a field up to 128 entries. Upon completion of level 11, only 46 players bagged up chips as more than half of those who came had to leave without anything to show for.
Poland's Tomasz Kozub won the race for the overnight lead and increased his starting stack more than eight-fold, bagging up 807,000 in chips. Dorel Eldabach drilled a late entry into a big stack in his usual hyper-aggressive fashion and claimed 713,000 to his name while Portugal's Joao De Almeida Estanislau advanced with 680,000.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1a
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tomasz Kozub | Poland | 807,000 | 202 |
| 2 | Dorel Eldabach | Israel | 713,000 | 178 |
| 3 | Joao Estanislau | Portugal | 680,000 | 170 |
| 4 | Fabian Riebau-Schmithals | Germany | 627,000 | 157 |
| 5 | August Schlegl | Austria | 627,000 | 157 |
| 6 | Ioannis Papadopoulos | Greece | 580,000 | 145 |
| 7 | Mustafa Biz | Turkey | 533,000 | 133 |
| 8 | Tomas Novotny | Czech Republic | 460,000 | 115 |
| 9 | Fabian Rolli | Switzerland | 452,000 | 113 |
| 10 | Enrico Macias Romero | Germany | 426,000 | 107 |
Among the big stacks in the first of two starting days are also Fabian Riebau-Schmithals and August Schlegl (627,000 each), Mustafa Biz (533,000), and Fabian Rolli (452,000). Bruno Stefanelli (344,000) as well as Dominik Paus (295,000) finished outside of the top ten but have above-average stacks at their disposal as well.
Eran Carmi can be found just below the average with 226,000 but was involved in one of the most memorable hands of the day when he tripled up after getting it in with two pair and a straight draw.
Less fortunate was fellow countryman Leonid Yanovski, who saw his fate sealed on a very active table with plenty of big stacks around. Having invested a large portion of his stack against aforementioned Biz, he had to fold the river against a shove by his opponent. The same table saw the late surge of Eldabach while Nadjim Haddad went from big stack to busto.
Day 1a was not short of regulars at the King's Casino with Ion Tabacaru, Michal Schuh, Sebastian Langrock and Philipp Zukernik among the survivors. The 2022 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Omar Eljach failed to advance, as did Florian Langmann, Oswin Ziegelbecker, Onur Unsal and Michael Strauch.
Two five-figure buy-ins were running at the same time as well in the high-stakes section of the poker arena. Six players out of 221 entries returned for the conclusion of the €10,000 Diamond High Roller, in which China's Quan Zhou overcame a large chip deficit in heads-up to defeat Eelis Pärssinen.
Furthermore, Day 1 of the €10,000 Platinum High Roller drew a total of 60 entries with 32 players out of 60 entries advancing. 2023 WSOP Event #71: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller third place finisher Jonas Kronwitter bagged up the lead surrounded by numerous PLO high-stakes players. Many of them may jump into the second starting day of the €2,350 Main Event on Saturday, September 16, 2023, or take advantage of the extended late registration two levels into Day 2.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back to provide updates for the conclusion of the €10,000 Platinum High Roller and the €2,350 Main Event right here in Rozvadov.
