The first high buy-in bracelet event of the 2023 World Series of Poker Europe began with a busy day on the felt at King’s Resort in Rozvadov, as many of the game’s best took their seat in Event #8: €25,000 NLH GGMillion€. Day 1 saw a total of 75 entries, with 28 players finding a bag at the end of 14 levels. The field will likely grow a bit further, as late registration remains open until the start of play on Day 2.
In the end, James Chen stood alone atop the chip counts in a stacked leaderboard that will be sure to entertain on the way to awarding the prestigious WSOP gold bracelet. Chen made a late surge to overtake Martin Kabrhel as the only player to surpass 3,000,000 chips on the opening day.
Kabrhel entered late in the day but quickly built a stack and sits second with 2,885,000, slightly ahead of Hungary’s Tamas Adamszki (2,760,000). Niklas Astedt and Patrik Jaros round out the top five, each bagging up 2,300,000 chips.
Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Chen | Taiwan | 3,045,000 | 122 |
| 2 | Martin Kabrhel | Czechia | 2,885,000 | 115 |
| 3 | Tamas Adamszki | Hungary | 2,760,000 | 110 |
| 4 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | 2,300,000 | 92 |
| 5 | Patrik Jaros | Czechia | 2,300,000 | 92 |
| 6 | Cedric Schwaederle | France | 2,045,000 | 82 |
| 7 | Santhosh Suvarna | India | 1,895,000 | 76 |
| 8 | Jerry Odeen | Sweden | 1,775,000 | 71 |
| 9 | Michael Rocco | United States | 1,695,000 | 68 |
| 10 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 1,650,000 | 66 |
Day 1 Action
A number of notable players entered a dangerous field early on Day 1, including Timothy Adams, Daniel Dvoress, Stephen Chidwick and Viktor Blom. As the day moved along, the late registration desk was busy seating the likes of Ole Schemion, Nacho Barbero, Felipe Ketzer, and Bertrand Grospellier. All of them were able to survive the night and will be returning to action on Day 2.
Ren Lin was among those who had to reenter, doing so twice, but was unable to build any momentum and could not find a bag to end the night. Johan Guilbert found a straight flush, but ultimately could not capture any more magic and was also among the big names to hit the rail.
The day also saw the WSOP Europe debut of Alexandra Botez, wading her way through this challenging field before finally falling late in the night after her all in bluff was called by Ioannis Angelou-Konstas.
Day 2 will begin at 2 p.m. local time on Level 15, with blinds of 10,000/25,000 and a 25,000 big blind ante. Levels will continue at 40 minutes in length with a break after every two hours of play. The tournament will now add 30-second shot clocks, which will be in play to begin the day. Action will be streamed on an hour delay on the King’s Resort official YouTube and Twitch channels.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to catch all of the action as the next WSOP bracelet winner is crowned.
