Nagygyörgy Tops Day 1a at King's Resort; Former Champions Ricci and Karaarslan Advance to Day 2
The 2022 WSOP International Circuit has returned once more to Europe's biggest poker arena at the King's Resort in Rozvadov. In its second edition of the current year, the series once more culminates in the €1,700 Main Event, which comes with a €1,000,000 guarantee. The flagship tournament has wrapped up the first starting day, which attracted 195 unique players and 66 re-entries for a field of 261 entries on Day 1a.
Upon completion of nine levels of 60 minutes each, several players flirted with half a million in chips. Ultimately, it was Hungary's Tibor Nagygyörgy who topped the leaderboard with a stack of 479,100. Onur Gur (428,700) and Benyamin Glot (423,900) are separated by a few big blinds only whereas Mehmet Altinok also advanced with a very healthy 404,100 as well.
Another two familiar names can be found in the overnight top ten in Josef Gulas (277,300) and Andrea Ricci (272,200) while former football striker Sergej Barbarez (245,800) just missed out on the same feat by one position. Ricci was the winner of the penultimate WSOPC €1,700 Main Event at King's Resort in 2021 and will be joined on Day 1b by the defending champion Feyzullah Karaarslan (110,000).
2022 WSOPC King's Spring Edition €1,700 Main Event Day 1a Top 10
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tibor Nagygyörgy | Hungary | 479,100 | 240 |
| 2 | Onur Gur | Turkey | 428,700 | 214 |
| 3 | Benyamin Glot | Israel | 423,900 | 212 |
| 4 | Mehmet Altinok | Germany | 404,100 | 202 |
| 5 | Jaroslaw Konsek | Germany | 324,800 | 162 |
| 6 | Dorian Melchers | France | 283,300 | 142 |
| 7 | Josef Gulas | Czech Republic | 277,300 | 139 |
| 8 | Andrea Ricci | Italy | 272,200 | 136 |
| 9 | Cecil Moagi | Germany | 270,400 | 135 |
| 10 | Ercan Hasan | Turkey | 263,700 | 132 |
All those that didn't make it through the first starting day have another chance to build a stack for Day 2. The second starting flight is scheduled to get underway on Saturday, April 16, at 2pm local time. Among others, it is expected to see familiar names such as Pierre Neuville, Albert Hoekendijk, Raoul Refos, Symeon Alexandridis, Silviu Baltateanu, Sebastian Langrock, and Claudio Di Giacomo back in action. They all jumped into Day 1a but were gone by the time the remaining hopefuls bagged and tagged their chips.
Ricci built his momentum early on and was always near the top ten of the leaderboard. One of the biggest pots the Italian claimed came in a three-way four-bet pot in which he flopped a full house with pocket tens and extracted value. Nagygyörgy joined the big stacks when he ousted Dorian Melchers with two pair. He then also scored a double knockout at the end of the penultimate level to cement his status at the top of the leaderboard.
Roman Cieslik was among the dozens of notable casualties on Day 1a when his pocket queens were cracked by the ten-nine suited of Symeon Alexandridis. The latter was part of a four-way deal in the rescheduled 2021 EPT Prague €5,300 Main Event at the King's Casino in Prague a few weeks ago and joined Cieslik on the rail. Both are expected to give it another shot on Day 1b, too.
The schedule will be the same with nine levels of 60 minutes and a break every two levels. A bumper field is expected for the final flight but the overall attendance won't be locked in stone just yet after Day 1b. The late registration period remains open for the first two levels on Day 2, in which all players can re-enter twice.
Besides their share of the seven-figure cash prize pool, the top 12 finishers will also receive an entry to the 2022 WSOP Europe €10,350 Main Event as well. The year-long promotion of the King's Resort was first introduced for the last edition and resulted in a record field back then.
Stay tuned for the conclusion of this WSOP Circuit Main Event in the Czech Republic right here on PokerNews, as the live reporting team will be on the floor from start to finish.