Mrakes Tops Massive Day 1b €1,100 PokerStars Festival Main Event Rozvadov
Another massive day in Rozvadov is done! Day 1b of the €1,100 PokerStars Festival Main Event Rozvadov is in the books and once again, players from around the world found their way to the small municipal in the Czech Republic. A record-setting number of 255 players showed up on the second of four starting days, bumping the total number of entrants already up to 438. It's a major success for both PokerStars and King's Casino, proving again that the new incarnation of the PokerStars live festivals is a big hit among European players.
110 out of 255 players survived Day 1b, which became the day of Michal Mrakes. Mrakes grabbed the chip lead after a massive setup with a flopped set over set over set. The Czech professional, who already amassed over $400,000 in lifetime winnings, never looked back after that. Mrakas kept the top spot on the leaderboard throughout the day and finished with 264,100 in chips, way ahead of fellow Czechs Jan Stariat (210,500) and Ondrej Vlasanek (206,500).
The top five after Day 1b is as follows:
| # | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michal Mrakas | Czech Republic | 264,100 |
| 2 | Jan Stariat | Czech Republic | 210,500 |
| 3 | Ondrej Vlasanek | Czech Republic | 206,500 |
| 4 | Roman Gadzhiev | Russia | 168,700 |
| 5 | Marian Flesar | Slovakia | 141,700 |
Like yesterday, the players showed up in droves to take their shot at the guaranteed €500,000 prize pool (which, by the way, will be absolutely shattered). The first notable to drop was Martin Kabrhel. The volatile Czech quickly dipped below the starting stack and went out shortly after when he lost ace-king against pocket nines.
[Removed:197] got flushed out on the river after flopping trips and headed out early as well. The likes of Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Tomas Jozonis, Sandro Pitzanti and Slaven Popov also failed to advance to the second day. All these players will get another shot on Saturday night in the Day 1d turbo, only accessible to players who busted on the first three starting days.
Vladimir Troyanovskiy and Eugene Katchalov both decided to enter today after playing a gruelling heads-up match into the early hours. Even with little sleep, both stars advanced with Troyanovskiy bagging 48,900 and Katchalov 106,700. Other notables to advance to Day 2 are Cheng-Wei Yin (133,000), Andreas Eiler (119,600), Ioana Silvana (117,300), Ismail Kalkan (94,000), Marek Fritz (83,200) and Jonas Lauck (17,100). All these players will be back on Sunday at noon for Day 2 of the Main Event.
Day 1c will start tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time and will feature ten levels of 45 minutes each. It will be followed directly by Day 1d, which starts at 10 p.m. local time. Day 1d will be a turbo tournament with 20-minute levels and will only feature players who busted on one of the three regular starting days.
On Sunday, all the surviving players from the starting days will return for Day 2. The final day is scheduled on Monday, where we will crown a new PokerStars Festival Main Event winner. Keep following PokerNews for start-to-finish coverage of this exciting Main Event!
