Today makes way for the final flights of the Winamax Poker Open's €500 Main Event, here in Bratislava. The penultimate of four starting flights is expected to attract hundreds of hopefuls to the Banco Casino for its noon start time, all fighting for their place in Winamax history.
As Day 1b drew to a close last night, a total of 509 entries amassed by the conclusion of late registration, up 26 entries from the same flight the previous year, of which 83 players bagged and tagged for the Day 2 restart on Saturday. The number of entrants now stands at 721 with 118 still in contention for the trophy.
It was Ludovic Palain who bagged the overall chip lead, taking through a massive 1,369,000. Palain was one of three players to have now crossed the one-million chip mark with Robin Gerard (1,133,000) and Nicolas Malbrec (1,080,000) following closely behind.
2024 WPO Bratislava Main Event Day 1b Top 10
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ludovic Palain | France | 1,369,000 | 171 |
| 2 | Robin Gerard | France | 1,133,000 | 142 |
| 3 | Nicolas Malbrec | France | 1,080,000 | 135 |
| 4 | Kevin Quillere | France | 887,000 | 111 |
| 5 | Gianmarco Kovari | Italy | 823,000 | 103 |
| 6 | Yann Monnier | France | 778,000 | 97 |
| 7 | Joergen Andersen | Denmark | 756,000 | 95 |
| 8 | Andre Mendes | Portugal | 721,000 | 90 |
| 9 | Robin Zaugg | France | 577,000 | 72 |
| 10 | Sebastian Kos | Czech Republic | 573,000 | 72 |
With three members of Winamax Team Pro already through on Day 1a, they are now also joined by Mustapha Kanit (309,000), Romain Lewis (130,000) and Gaelle Baumann (69,000) who all survived yesterday’s 20 levels of play.
Those participating in the main event on Day 1c will receive a starting stack of 50,000 and play through levels of 30 minutes. Those lucky enough to advance to Day 2 and Day 3 will benefit from a clock of 35 minutes and 40 minutes respectively. Each Day 1 will conclude when approximately 16.6% of the field remains; all advancing players will be in the money.
Alongside Day 1c, players can register for the Day 1d turbo flight starting at 7 p.m. Day 1d boasts levels of 15 minutes to ensure a fast-paced conclusion to the finish line.
In addition, today’s schedule boasts a cocktail dinner, kicking off at 7 p.m., followed by the Big Quiz starting at 9 p.m. As well as the infamous €10 buy-in Deglingo happening at midnight.
PokerNews will have boots on the ground for the entirety of the Main Event, so be sure to stick with the live updates to keep up with all the action.
