The sun was almost rising when Day 1a of the EAPT Bratislava Main Event at Banco Casino came to an end. After sixteen levels and twelve hours of play in a flight that started at 6:00 p.m., 10 players out of a field of 68 entrants found a bag tonight. They achieved two goals at once: qualify for Day 2 and make it to the money.
Throughout the day, Rostyslav Sabishchenko consistently held the largest stack, holding three average stacks when late registration closed. Although Steinn Karlsson briefly claimed the top spot during the last levels, Sabishchenko regained the lead by the end of the day, securing 715,000 chips after eliminating Yitshak Vasal on the bubble. Karlsson couldn't compete, finishing with 460,000 chips.
Day 1a Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rostyslav Sabishchenko | Ukraine | 715,000 | 89 |
| 2 | Steinn Karlsson | Iceland | 460,000 | 58 |
| 3 | Volkan Yucel | Turkey | 287,000 | 36 |
| 4 | Vitali Mahileuski | Belarus | 235,000 | 29 |
| 5 | Marko Luksa | Serbia | 231,000 | 29 |
| 6 | Michail Dalakis | Greece | 230,000 | 29 |
| 7 | Ioannis Giannakopoulos | Greece | 192,000 | 24 |
| 8 | Lukasz Fraczek | Poland | 129,000 | 16 |
| 9 | Jakov Vinter | Israel | 120,000 | 15 |
| 10 | Krzysztof Zwierz | Poland | 119,000 | 15 |
This first flight of the festival was unsuccessful for 2019 EPT Sochi winner Uri Gilboa or Paul Newey, but it was for Volkan Yucel, the third stack of the day with 287,000 chips. He is followed by Vitali Mahileuski (235,000), Marko Luksa (231,000), and Michail Dalakis (230,000), who all have almost the same stack.
Ioannis Giannakopoulos (192,000), Lukasz Fraczek (129,000), and Jakov Vinter (120,000) also qualified for Day 2, while Krzysztof Zwierz holds the shortest stack with 119,000 chips.
Tomorrow, Thursday, January 25, there will be two opportunities to build stacks with two different flights. Day 1b kicks off at 2:00 p.m. local time with 40-minute levels starting on blinds of 100/200 and a 200 big blind ante, and Day 1c Turbo starts at 8:00 p.m. with 20-minute levels.
On both flights, players will have 40,000 chip-starting stacks and nine levels to enter or reenter the tournament. Only one reentry per flight is allowed, and the day will end when 15% of the field remains.
Follow along as PokerNews provides all the live updates throughout the tournament.
