Besmir Hodaj Bags Day 1 Chip Lead in Event #7: €1,650 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max
120 players can still dream of winning a gold bracelet as they qualified for Day 2 of Event #7: €1,650 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max of the 2023 World Series of Poker Europe at King’s Resort in Rozvadov.
495 entrants were recorded in this 2023 edition, which is more than last year’s 413 runners. Thus, the prize pool is larger, with €705,375 that will be shared tomorrow. The payout details will be announced at the start of Day 2.
At the end of Day 1, Besmir Hodaj is in the lead with 620,000 chips, nearly one full average stack ahead of the rest of the Top 5, which includes Jacopo Achille (495,000), Maor Zaharagi (465,000), two-time bracelet winner Barny Boatman (455,000) and Ting Yi Tsai (425,500).
Day 1 Top Ten Chip counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip counts | Big blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Besmir Hodaj | Italy | 620,000 | 207 |
| 2 | Jacopo Achille | Italy | 495,000 | 165 |
| 3 | Maor Zaharagi | Israel | 465,500 | 155 |
| 4 | Barny Boatman | United Kingdom | 455,000 | 152 |
| 5 | Ting Yi Tsai | Taiwan | 425,500 | 142 |
| 6 | Miroslav Forman | Czech Republic | 416,500 | 139 |
| 7 | Frederik Thiemer | Germany | 401,000 | 134 |
| 8 | Jorge Ufano | Spain | 400,500 | 134 |
| 9 | Christian Duerschlag | Germany | 324,500 | 108 |
| 10 | Dennis Wilke | Germany | 320,000 | 107 |
Miroslav Forman was lucky enough to hit a straight on the river to crack aces in the last levels. Thanks to this pot, he ends the day with 416,500 chips. Frederik Thiemer (401,000) and Jorge Ufano (400,500) also qualified with big stacks, along with Andrea Dato (255,000), Daniel Koloszar (188,500) and Ruslan Volkov (166,500), who holds the average stack. Carlo Savinelli (157,000), Virgile Turchi (130,000), Joao Tomas (117,500) and Nils Pudel's stacks (104,500) will be slightly smaller, but still big enough to wrestle.
A few WSOP bracelets winner are in the race too (nine in total) with Fabio Peluso (218,500) or Renji Mao (149,500). However, most of them have smaller stacks, such as France's Jonathan Pastore (76,000) and Julien Sitbon, who doubled up in the last level (57,000), Ori Hasson (46,500), and Antoine Vranken (39,000).
Day 2 is scheduled to begin on November 7 at 1 p.m. local time and play down until a winner is crowned. Play will resume on Level 15, which features 1,500/3,000 blinds with a 3,000 big blind ante with 40-minute levels and a 15-minute break every three levels.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action until we know the name of the next WSOPE gold bracelet winner!