Nikolay Yosifov raised from under the gun and picked up two calls before [Removed:548] moved all in from the big blind for 15,000. Only Yosifov made the call.
The flop came 6♦8♦7♦ and [Removed:549] continued for 6,500, which Yosifov called. The turn was the 3♠ and [Removed:549] sized up to 13,500. Yosifov called again.
The river was the A♠ and [Removed:549] switched to a check. Yosifov seemed glad as he quickly checked behind to showdown. He had Q♠Q♦ for pocket queens and had been ahead until the river, but [Removed:549] turned over A♦J♠ for a pair of aces to win the pot as Day 1a drew to a close.
On a flop of 2♦7♠2♠, both Madhi Lotfalizaadehmehrabadi and Morten Klein checked to Tom Fuchs, who fired a small bet of 2,200. Lotfalizaadehmehrabadi then raised to 6,000, and Klein shoved for 20,400. Fuchs called, and Lotfalizaadehmehrabadi called.
A K♣ dropped on the turn and Lotfalizaadehmehrabadi checked, then Fuchs bet 6,500. Lotfalizaadehmehrabadi called.
When the 3♦ landed on the river, Lotfalizaadehmehrabadi checked again and Fuchs shoved. Lotfalizaadehmehrabadi had around 26,500 remaining in his stack and after a short time, put them all into the pot.
Klein flipped Q♦7♣ for a pair of sevens, Lotfalizaadehmehrabadi held Q♥Q♣, but Fuchs had them both beat with a full house holding 7♥7♦, and scooped the pot, which eliminated two players.
Day 1a of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus $5,300 Main Event, running at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Spa, attracted 474 entries, a handful more than last year's event. Of those, 106 players made it through. The prize pool so far is $2,682,050, with the busiest flight, Day 1b, yet to come.
Nobody has ever won an EPT Main Event twice in a row. It's a feat that seems near-impossible and the only three double champions in history have had significant gaps between their victories. But this year it could just happen.
Of course, there's a long way to go, but reigning EPT Barcelona Main Event champion is back at the tables here in Cyprus and is sitting pretty on a top three stack at the end of Day 1a. Stephen Song took the chip lead early on when he hit trip queens to eliminate Ryan Mandara, then kept building his stack to over 200,000 and beyond, ending the day in third place with 261,500.
As the flight drew to a close, two players had edged in front of him. Ren Lin, who is as well known for his catchphrases and friendly demenour as he is for the nearly $12 million in live tournament winnings that he has already accrued, started winning pots early and then dodged a ton of outs to stack Mikhail Iakovlev during Level 8. Lin bagged in second second place for 264,000.
In the end though, it was Kirill Shcherbakov, a Russian player who has close to $750,000 in winnings, who topped the flight, bagging up 261,500 chips. Most of his winnings came from a second place finish at a poker series held at the Merit earlier this year. He's on a hot run, but Shcherbakov also showed plenty of skill when he dominated the table as the flight came to a close.
It's a tight race between the current leaders, with just a few thousand chips separating the top five.
Stephen Song
Top Ten Day 1a Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Kirill Shcherbakov
Russia
284,000
2
Ren Lin
USA
264,500
3
Stephen Song
USA
261,500
4
Yevhen Pavlenko
Ukraine
253,000
5
Ahmed Abdellatif
Australia
249,000
6
Sergei Varnaev
Russia
248,500
7
Ivan Zabiiakin
Russia
233,000
8
Fahredin Mustafov
Bulgaria
222,000
9
Rongshan Li
China
215,000
10
Artsiom Lasouski
Belarus
210,000
Ren Lin
Niklas Astedt, the world's number one ranked online player, finished just outside the top ten, bagging in 12th place with 186,000 chips.
Plenty of other notables also made it through, including PokerStars ambassadors Felix Schneiders (172,000), Sam Grafton (106,000), Barny Boatman (48,000), Kenny Hallaert (26,000) and Elias Gutierrez (23,000).
Others weren't so fortunate. Rania Nasreddine was among those to bust the flight. Incredibly, she has final tabled both the EPT Monte Carlo and EPT Barcelona so far this year. Nasreddine only fired one bullet during Day 1a in Cyprus, so expect to see her back in Day 1b looking to make it three final tables in a row.
Day 1b commences on Tuesday, October 15th at noon local time and is the final starting flight - the last opportunity for hopefuls to find a bag before Day 2 kicks off on Wednesday, October 16th at noon. Late registration remains open until the start of Day 2 and players can take a maximum of two entries across both flights.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live coverage of the Main Event, with updates coming straight from the tournament floor as reporters follow the tournament all the way down to a winner.