The 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany €5,300 Main Event is off to a good start to meet the guaranteed prize pool of €5,000,000. after the first of four starting days at the King's Casino in Rozvadov attracted a field of 209 entries. Of those, only 70 made it through to Day 2 and it was no other than Viktor Blom that ended up with the most chips.
After the Swedish online high stakes legend busted out in 15th place for €11,000 in the €2,700 Warm Up, Blom jumped right into the action of the Main Event and doubled in one of the first hands after sitting down when flopping a straight. Soon after Blom sent Dermot Blain to the rail in a big clash with aces versus kings and knocked out another player with aces versus jacks before half time. Blom didn't stop there just yet, as another pair of aces gave him a set and an opponent had an inferior set of treys to send over his stack to the Swede.
Despite losing quite some chips in the last levels of the night, Blom topped the counts after bagging up 8.805 million. His nearest follower is Viliyan Petleshkov with 7.7 million and Christopher Frank made it through with 6.98 million. Frank claimed the stack of partypoker ambassador Joao Simao when his pocket kings held up versus ace-king. Two partypoker sponsored players made it through in team online's Josip Simunic (4.09 million) and ambassador Patrick Leonard (2.0 million), while Johnny Lodden, Marcel Luske and Dzmitry Urbanovich were all felted throughout the 12 levels of 40 minutes each.
Other big stacks and notables that won't need to re-enter the competition include Artur Wasek (5,915 million), Jessica Pilkington (5.66 million), 2017 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event runner-up Gianluca Speranza (5.28 million), Christian Christner (5.19 million), Koray Aldemir (5.025 million), Sander van Wesemael (4.72 million), David Urban (4.205 million), four time WSOP bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche (3.225 million) and Sam Cohen (2.87 million).
The partypoker sponsored pro Urbanovich was down to just four big blinds when he got it in with nine-tree off suit and picked up two callers. Abdullah Al-Emadi and Arsenii Karmatckii checked down a king-high board and Al-Emadi won the pot with pocket queens.
Other big names to fall on Day 1a included Mike Leah, Pierre Neuville, Michael Tureniec, Ole Schemion, Adrian Mateos, James Akenhead, Steve O'Dwyer and Vladimir Troyanovskiy. Most of them are already in action in the second flight of the day that is scheduled to finish around 2 a.m. local time and the PokerNews live reporting team will provide updates throughout the early morning hours.
The cards of Francesco Delfoco were all but rushed away while the Polish rail cheered with Artur Wasek, who had jumped out of his seat to celebrate. Delfoco had a flip for his tournament life with the and Wasek looked him up with . The board of was a big sweat, but ultimately the pocket queens held up to eliminate Delfoco.
Arsenii Karmatckii raised to 105,000 from early position and Abdullah Al-Emadi called out of the small blind. Dzmitry Urbanovich moved all in for 185,000 in the big blind and the Russian called, as did Al-Emadi. The two remaining active players checked down the board of and Urbanovich turned over his before grabbing his belongings right away.
Al-Emadi flipped over his for a pair of queens and Karmatckii mucked.
Martin Kabrhel raised from early position and faced a three-bet to 185,000 by Daniel Nietrzebka from one seat over. Makarios Avramidis called out of the big blind before Kabrhel then moved all in for 770,000. Nietrzebka folded and Avramidis called.
Martin Kabrhel:
Makarios Avramidis:
The board came and Kabrhel more than doubled. "Why are you bluffing?" Kabrhel asked Nietrzebka, who replied with a confused look. "If you raise and fold here, it is bluffing," the Czech added.
Dzmitry Urbanovich and Viktor Blom off to a Great Start on Day 1a
After building a big stack early on with aces versus kings, Dermot Blain was just on the other side of this very setup to crash out in level five while Dzmitry Urbanovich also busted an opponent with a "sick call" according to Kai Münster to have an impressive start into Day 1a.
Blain raised to 50,000 and Blom three-bet to 150,000 in the small blind. Blain then made it 275,000 only for Blom to click it up to 725,000. It took just a few moments until Blain announced all in for more than 2.2 million, and Blom confirmed the all in with the dealer before snap-calling with the slightly superior stack.
Dermot Blain:
Viktor Blom:
The flop crushed all hopes of a possible upset, and Blain was left drawing dead on the turn to make the river a mere formality.
Filip Hanusek raised to 30,000 from mid-position and next to act was former November niner, Vojtech Ruzicka, in the hijack who raised to 100,000. Ruzicka only just sat down so this was the first hand he was involved in. Action folded back to Hanusek who called.
The flop came , Hanusek check-called the 75,000 bet of Ruzicka.
The turn brought them the , Hanusek check-called once more but now it was a bet of 200,000.
The river completed the board with the , Hanusek checked again. Ruzicka now shoved for 625,000 in total. Hanusek checked out the board again and then called. In the meanwhile, Pierre Neuville took his seat on Ruzicka's left as he had to reenter.
Ruzicka showed for the flush and Hanusek started counting chips to pay Ruzicka. He threw his cards over the line to muck them but the other players made him aware that he needed to show his hand because it was an all-in and call. Hanusek had called with for the turned pair of aces.
A raising war broke out between Dermot Blain and Alex B and the latter squeezed to 240,000. Blain moved all in and Alex B called it off for a stack of around 1.2 million.
Alex B:
Dermot Blain:
The board came and Blain's nut flush claimed the big pot to see the Irishman boost his stack up nicely.
"It was a dream scenario that didn't work out," Sam Cohen said after walking out of the tournament area. Cohen will be back shortly on her second bullet for Day 1a after she busted in a three-way three-bet pot against Pim Kuipers.
Cohen had flopped a gutshot and the nut flush draw with only for Kuipers to flop the nut straight with on a board of . The chips went in after a raising war on the flop and Cohen failed to get there.
Today it’s Valentine’s Day and at noon local time, Day 1a of the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany €5,300 Main Event is set to start at the dazzling King’s Casino. The biggest event of the festival will take place in the biggest poker arena you can find in Europe. And it will be the stage for this €5 million guaranteed tournament.
Players were able to qualify online via the satellites on partypoker and the live satellites here in Rozvadov, the Czech Republic. All players will receive 1,000,000 in chips when they sit down. The tournament will kick off with the 5,000/10,000 blinds and a button ante. If there are six players or more, the full big blind is to be paid by the player on the button. Tables with five players or less will only have to pay the small blind.
In total there are four Day 1s, Day 1b starts later today at 5 pm local time. Day 1c takes place at noon and Day 1d will start at 5 pm tomorrow, Thursday February 15th. Each Day 1 will play twelve levels of 40 minutes in total before the field then combines for Day 2 on Friday February 15th at noon local time. Registration is open until approximately 16:30 local time (start of Level 7). Players can reenter once during each flight.
Level
Minutes
Small Blind
Big Blind
Button Ante
1
40
5,000
10,000
5,000
2
40
5,000
10,000
10,000
3
40
6,000
12,000
12,000
4
40
7,000
14,000
14,000
5
40
8,000
16,000
16,000
6
40
10,000
20,000
20,000
7
40
10,000
25,000
25,000
8
40
15,000
30,000
30,000
9
40
15,000
35,000
35,000
10
40
20,000
40,000
40,000
11
40
25,000
50,000
50,000
12
40
30,000
60,000
60,000
The PokerNews live reporting team will be here to provide you with updates on all the action until a winner is crowned, so make sure you keep coming back to read all about it.
and Wasek looked him up with 
. The board of 
was a big sweat, but ultimately the pocket queens held up to eliminate Delfoco.
and Urbanovich turned over his 
before grabbing his belongings right away.
and Kabrhel more than doubled. "Why are you bluffing?" Kabrhel asked Nietrzebka, who replied with a confused look. "If you raise and fold here, it is bluffing," the Czech added.
flop crushed all hopes of a possible upset, and Blain was left drawing dead on the 
turn to make the 
, Hanusek check-called the 75,000 bet of Ruzicka. 
, Hanusek checked again. Ruzicka now shoved for 625,000 in total. Hanusek checked out the board again and then called. In the meanwhile, Pierre Neuville took his seat on Ruzicka's left as he had to reenter.
for the flush and Hanusek started counting chips to pay Ruzicka. He threw his cards over the line to muck them but the other players made him aware that he needed to show his hand because it was an all-in and call. Hanusek had called with 
