Two massive Day 1s are in the books at the 2014 BOM with records shattered, a huge prize pool built and one happy chip leader in Italian Gino Censori.
After 13.5 hours of play Censori bagged up a field-leading 427,500 to head into Day 2 tomorrow with the overall chip lead.
Censori will lead a combined field of 261 players towards the real prize everyone came for – the one at the top of the guarantee-smashing €701,795 prize pool.
1,447 Entries, Biggest Ever Tournament in Malta
Numbers were expected to be high but the streams of players rolling into the empty seats over the first few levels was still a spectacle to behold.
Day 1b started with a full complement of 700 players over 70 tables and as soon as the “Player Out” call was made another player was there to take the open seat.
By registration’s end there were 926 players officially bought into the field – an all-time record for Malta and higher even than the 888 total entries for the 2013 Battle of Malta.
Combined with the 521 entries from Day 1a yesterday the grand total rose to 1,447, another clear record.
Nitsche Survives, Panka Falls Again
It was a reasonable day on the felt for Edinburgh resident Dominik Nitsche as he'll carry on to Day 2, albeit with a fairly small stack.
Our 2014 Spirit of Poker Rising Star winner Dominik Panka wasn't so fortunate, however. He fought valiantly on his second bullet on Day 1b but finally succumbed near the end of the day.
Other notables to hit the rails included Sofia Lovgren, Gaelle Garcia Diaz, Leo Margets and Luca Pagano.
Check our Live Coverage page for a rundown of all the action. Some selected chip counts for Day 2:
Gino Censori 427,500 Michael Abitbol 403,000 Hugo Lemaire 355,500 Charles Chattwa 353,500 Jan-Peter Jachtmann 270,000 Gunther Sosna 240,000 Julian Micallef 236,100 Konstantin Puchkov 210,000 Andrea Dato 136,000 Maria Ho 103,500 Christian Maurer 71,000 Dominik Nitsche 44,000
Combined Field, High Roller, Official Party Await
Plenty more poker is in store for Saturday with the combined field coming together to get Day 2 of the Main Event started at 2 pm.
The official payout structure will be released tomorrow so they’ll know exactly how long they’ll play to hit the money and the full payouts up top.
Also coming tomorrow is the start of the side events with the €4,180 Grandmaster High Roller and the popular €220 Siege of Malta Second Chance tournament.
For those who do or don’t survive the day, the Official 2014 BOM VIP Party is set to jump off at 9 pm at the posh Le Villa at Le Meridien.
Admission is already included for package holders; tickets available for guests at the tournament.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com