Fedor Holz Is the Boss on Day 1a of the World Poker Tour Vienna Main Event
Day 1a of the partypoker World Poker Tour Vienna Main Event wasn't the busiest, but it was one of the strongest fields we've seen in recent history. After eight levels of play, there were just 39 players left from the 67 that entered. Leading the charge was German high roller Fedor Holz with over six times the stack he started with.
Holz was just one of many familiar names to enter the event. Every table had at least four players with a six-figure Hendon Mob résumé it seemed, and the level of play was high.
Alexander Lakhov previously found wins on the WPT main tour and the WPT National tour, but he was the first to bust in Vienna. He lost a huge hand where he got it in with two pair against Holz's combo draw, and the 
on the river gave Holz his flush. Lakhov was eliminated not much later. He didn't reenter, but still has the chance to do so on Day 1b.
Another player who might be seen giving it a second go on Day 1b could be World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Simeon Naydenov after he was rather unlucky on Day 1a. He lost a bunch of small pots, only to commit his last chips with pocket eights, running into David Abramov's pocket aces. Naydenov was already up from the table before the entire board was out, but it didn't matter much as no help came for the Bulgarian.
Back to Holz, though, as he proved to be the story of the day. His tangling with Marko Busic was especially interesting. We're not entirely familiar the tone of some of Busic's remarks, but he seemed to be making fun of Holz on more than one occasion.
"What is he doing with king-ten?" he asked about a pot Holz lost holding that hand. "He could've been dead." Busic later commented that Holz was a "donk."
Holz didn't reply, but instead let his chips do the talking. And boy did they. One might say his chips shouted, as Holz destroyed his opponent all day long.
Hold first made a big call with king high against another opponent, and that was something that really got Busic going. The next hand, Holz won a serious pot against Busic where he called a raise with top pair on the turn, only for both players to check the river. Holz's hand turned out a winner. Not much later, Holz value-bet a weak top pair and a somewhat irritated Busic paid him off with a weaker hand. After that, Holz finished the job by seducing Busic to stick it all in with pocket eights on a ten-high flop. Holz had pocket kings and sent his foe to the rail.
A total of 39 players will return to the Montesino Card Casino on Saturday for Day 2, but Day 1b awaits many more players on Friday. Be sure to follow all of the action again on PokerNews.com, and we'll see if someone was able to catch up with Fedor Holz.