Eldabach Tops Day 1 of Event #7: €5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha; Jouhkimainen Among the Big Stacks
The third Pot-Limit Omaha tournament of the 2021 World Series of Poker Europe obliterated the €150,000 guarantee in the biggest poker arena in Europe at the King's Resort in Rozvadov. With a four-figure price tag, Event #7: €5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha drew a large field of 184 entries and that created a prize pool worth €830,300.
After an adjusted Day 1 schedule with just 11 levels of 40 minutes each, the late registration closed after the final hands of the night concluded. Only two players claimed seven-figure stacks to their names as Dorel Eldabach (1,572,000) and Didier Rabl (1,253,000) topped the leaderboard by a significant margin. Third in chips is Maximilian Klostermeier with 865,000 while further notables in the overnight top ten include Tomasz Gluszko, Veselin Karakitukov, and Joni Jouhkimainen.
Top 10 Chip Counts Day 1 in Event #7: €5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dorel Eldabach | Israel | 1,572,000 | 197 |
| 2 | Didier Rabl | Switzerland | 1,253,000 | 157 |
| 3 | Maximilian Klostermeier | Germany | 865,000 | 108 |
| 4 | Nikola Minkov | Bulgaria | 701,000 | 88 |
| 5 | Manuel Stojanovic | Austria | 631,000 | 79 |
| 6 | Tomasz Gluszko | Poland | 617,000 | 77 |
| 7 | Roee Shalom | Israel | 609,000 | 76 |
| 8 | Veselin Karakitukov | Bulgaria | 601,000 | 75 |
| 9 | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | 577,000 | 72 |
| 10 | Omar Eljach | Sweden | 477,000 | 60 |
Eldabach was one of many hopefuls who took advantage of the re-entry option and stormed to the top of the leaderboard on his second attempt. He will aim to earn his first gold bracelet and join the likes of Dario Alioto, Tomas Ribeiro, Bjorn Verbakel, and Stoyan Madanzhiev in the winner's circle, as they all bagged up more chips than they started with. Fellow WSOP bracelet Eelis Pärssinen and Jack Sinclair were among the last minute entries while Julien Martini and Armando D'Avanzo will also return.
Many other four-card aficionados were not as fortunate: Abdelhakim Zoufri, Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Samuel Albeck, Benedikt Eberle, and Tom-Aksel Bedell were among the dozens of casualties. Vehbi Davul was directly involved in three double eliminations, first on the receiving end and then sent Jules Ayoub and Ian Bradley to the rail. However, he then lost his big stack to eventual chip leader Eldabach.
Multi-way all-in showdowns were no rare sight during the frantic late stages as the "double seat open" announcements by the dealers could be heard several times. Once the bagging got underway, several late entrants arrived to retain their chances at the potential six-figure payday.
All 62 survivors will return to the poker arena at the King's Resort at 10 a.m. local time on Sunday, November 28, and the tournament is scheduled to play down to a winner. The blinds in level 12 will recommence at 4,000/8,000 with a big blind ante of 8,000. Whether or not a winner will be crowned in the allocated time remains to be seen.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back then to provide updates from the latest Pot-Limit Omaha contest of the 2021 WSOPE.