2016 PokerStars EPT Season 12 Dublin

Germany's Dominik Nitsche led the way after bagging up 305,600 in chips with 80 players advancing from Day 1 of the 2016 PokerStars European Poker Tour Dublin €10,300 High Roller.

The German amassed a large portion of his chips in a hand against Darie Vlad. Nitsche three-bet out of the small blind and then fired all the streets on a board of ; Nitsche made it 28,000 on the turn, then shoved the river for 70,600. Vlad eventually called and showed the , but Nitsche had him beat with the to score a huge double shortly before the end of play. He's now in great position to make a run at the title, and it could mean a second trip to the winner's circle in Dublin for the German, who triumphed in the UKIPT €2,000 High Roller. Additionally, Nitsche came second in the €10,200 Single-Day High Roller.

With 10 levels of play scheduled on Day 1, there was plenty of time for players to enter the event. As the day wore on, the amount of entries increased, and at the end of the day 181 piled up.

Following Nitsche on the leaderboard were Mark Radoja (280,000), Jerry Odeen (250,000), Sam Greenwood (248,300), and Ben Heath (240,300). Also in the surviving field going to Day 2 were Jason Mercier (189,300), €25,750 High Roller champion Mustapha Kanit (134,800), high-rolling icon Steve O'Dwyer (134,000), former World Series of Poker Main Event champion Ryan Riess (73,400), and reigning PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event winner Mike Watson (71,200).

Short stacks to advance included Mohsin Charania (45,900), Igor Kurganov (35,000), and 2015 WSOP November Niner Pierre Neuville, who lost with versus the of Timothy Adams in the penultimate hand of the day after both players flopped a set and got their stacks in the middle. The Belgian will return with 15,800 chips, whereas Adams bagged up 133,200.

It wasn't such a good day for several notables, including Charlie Carrel, Martin Jacobson, Felix Stephensen, Felipe "Mojave" Ramos, Bryn Kenney, Jeff Rossiter, Andre Akkari, Paul-Francois Tedeschi, Jean-Noel Thorel, and Ivan Luca. They all busted before play ended.

So far, the field consists of 139 unique players and 42 reentries, but the field size could increase with registration and reentry open until 12:15 p.m. local time on Friday.

The action will kick off at 12:30 p.m. for Day 2, so stay tuned to PokerNews for further updates from the €10,300 High Roller.

Don't forget that you can also follow coverage of the €5,300 Main Event on PokerNews.

While you're waiting for Day 2 of the EPT Dublin €10,300 High Roller to kick off, check out the latest episode of the PokerNews Podcast, with hosts Rich Ryan and Donnie Peters discussing Phil Galfond's op-ed, the Full Tilt-PokerStars merger, and more.

On the flop, Jared Jaffe got his last 23,600 chips in with the and Pierre Neuville called with . The turn completed a straight for Jaffee and Neuville was drawing dead before the river was dealt.

The Belgian November Niner also lost a set under set soon after and bagged a mere dust.

In the second last hand of the day, Felix Bleiker bet the turn for 16,000 and Jerry Odeen called from one seat over before Joe Mouawad moved all in for 53,900. Bleiker folded and Odeen was making up his mind for quite some time. "I have a really good hand," the Swede added and eventually called.

Mouawad:
Odeen:

The river blanked and Bleiker added that he folded and would have gotten there.

The clock has been stopped with 14 minutes left on the level and three more hands will be played.

A very excitable Fabrice SOulier just doubled up through Marco Leonzio. Soulier held against the Italian's . The board ran out and Soulier doubled up.

A short while before Fernando Brito doubled through David Dvoress when his beat the of his opponent on a .

Some very vital double-ups late on day 1

The field has been trimmed down to only 85 players and among the recently departed participants were Thiago Nishijima, Espen Solaas, Rafael Da Silva Moraes, Jeff Rossiter and Bryn Kenney.

Kenney faced an open to 4,000 by Emil Patel and three-bet to 11,200 out of the small blind. Patel verified the betting amount with the dealer and then called. The flop came and Kenney bet 7,400 before Patel jammed. It was no snap-call, but Kenney eventually committed his remaining 32,000 with the .

Patel had two live cards and a flush draw with to immediately get there with the turn, making the river a formality.

Or Hadad opened to 3,600 from under the gun and was called one way before Andre Akkari three-bet from the button for 12,500. Only Hadad called and they saw a flop of . Hadad check-called a bet and they checked through the turn before Hadad checked the river, too.

Akkari jammed for 60,000 with jack-nine (which was already in the muck) while Hadad called with for the straight.

It was the second bullet of the Brazilian and no further reentry is allowed.

Igor Kurganov, Emil Patel and Georgios Sotiropoulos are back in while Anton Bertilsson, Bart Lybaert, Carter Swidler and Bryan Paris busted.