Ludovic Palain Leads 83 Players After Day 1b of the WPO Bratislava Main Event
After 35 players out of 212 entrants qualified for Day 2 through Day 1a, 83 more players bagged chips and reached the money at the end of Day 1b of the 2024 Winamax Poker Open Bratislava Main Event at Banco Casino in Bratislava. In the second flight of the tournament, 509 entrants were recorded, bringing the total to 721 before the last two flights tomorrow, Friday, September 27.
Day 1a chip leader Eugenio Sanchioni (932,000) didn’t reach one million chips, but Day 1b first in chips did with Ludovic Palain, who filled his bag with 1,369,000 chips. He already had a big stack during the last break, but he also eliminated MMA fighter Eduardo Riego on the bubble to secure first place.
French streamer Robin "ChauveKiPeu" Gerard bagged a big stack as well. In 2023, he won the 125€ 3 Million Event KO of the Winamax Series on stream, for a total €226,911. With 1,133,000 chips, he is now in good position to repeat the feat. Nicolas Malbrec takes third place of Day 1b with 1,080,000.
2024 WPO Bratislava Main Event Day 1b Top 10
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ludovic Palain | France | 1,369,000 | 171 |
| 2 | Robin Gerard | France | 1,133,000 | 142 |
| 3 | Nicolas Malbrec | France | 1,080,000 | 135 |
| 4 | Kevin Quillere | France | 887,000 | 111 |
| 5 | Gianmarco Kovari | Italy | 823,000 | 103 |
| 6 | Yann Monnier | France | 778,000 | 97 |
| 7 | Joergen Andersen | Denmark | 756,000 | 95 |
| 8 | Andre Mendes | Portugal | 721,000 | 90 |
| 9 | Robin Zaugg | France | 577,000 | 72 |
| 10 | Sebastian Kos | Czech Republic | 573,000 | 72 |
Three Winamax Team Pro qualified for Day 2 after Day 1a. Three more also passed the bubble on Day 1b, led by Mustapha Kanit (309,000). Romain Lewis bagged 130,000 chips after being on the feature table almost all day long. He’s just been replaced under the spotlights at the end of the day by Gaelle Baumann, who only managed to bag a bit more than the average stack (69,000).
In the rest of the team, Davidi Kitai, Pierre Calamusa and Joao Vieira failed to qualify and will have to try again on another bullet. The same goes for Gus Hansen, who's been eliminated a first time on his first hand and a second time not long later.
Not only one but two Winamax defending champions are still in the field. First is last year’s winner Martin Bartos (173,000), and second is 2024 Winamax Sismix winner Anthony Dasbourg, who’ll come back with 398,000 chips. Omar Lakhdari was close from a success in 2023, but he finished in second place of the Winamax Poker Tour Grand Final. In his chase of the title, he has 559,000 chips.
Talking about the other players who qualified, Benjamin Hammann has 403,000 chips, despite being caught bluffing and losing a big pot during the last hands of the day. Thibaut Legendre (271,000) also secured a spot in the money, along with Damien Hupe (157,000), Nicolas Antouard (140,000) or Hugo Le Floch (38,000). Eduard Bagrov is last in chips with only 16,000, two big blinds.
The 2024 WPO Bratislava Main Event continues tomorrow, Thursday, September 26 with Day 1c and Day 1d. These two flights will be the last opportunities to qualify for Day 2. Day 1c starts at noon local time with 30-minute levels, while Day 1d at 7 p.m. will be a Turbo flight with 15-minute levels.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we follow all the action through the next flights until a winner is crowned.