Well wasn't that the most glorious kind of chaos? Day 1c at The Festival in Bratislava Main Event attracted a jaw-dropping 280 entries and it was alternates-only for much of the day as the hordes of poker hopefuls filled every available table and snaked out into the bar. Every room is crammed with poker tables and every table filled with players, and we expect it to last on right through the night. We suspect the bar is doing a roaring trade as well.
Chip leader from today's monster Main Event appears to be Attila Kuna - the monstrous 384,000 that's listed on our chip counts is so massive, it did have us wondering ever so slightly whether it might be a typo, but actually he had a big stack throughout much of the later part of the day, and that does look like over 300k in the photo, doesn't it? So, that puts him head and shoulders above the rest of the collective field so far - way ahead of Day 1b's Ronald Zapantis on 278,000 and Day 1a's Rickard Larsson on 256,000. Scroll very slightly down for full chip counts.
The 91 Day 1c survivors join the 51 from Day 1b and the 39 from Day 1a to swell the number of Day 2 qualifiers to 181 currently. The 280 entries from today together with the 305 entries from Days 1a and 1b brings the total field to 585, which means we are now well on our way to hitting that €500,000 guarantee. And what with tomorrow's Day 1d expected to be even more swamped, if that's possible (plus the traditionally more bijou turbo Day 1e yet to take place in the evening), there is no sign of the madness abating. God help us all. The tournament staff already all look like they're going to cry.
Side events of course continue apace - tonight the HORSE and NLH High Roller will be playing down to a winner, and tomorrow we'll see the conclusion of the Heads Up event, The Festival Queens ladies' event, an Open Face Chinese event and the much anticipated Pokerlistings championship. A word of warning though - with Day 1d of the Main expected to be huge, there remains a possibility that the side event schedule may end up having to be modified here and there. Please stand by for more info. And if you're planning to play the Main, do yourself a favour and get your registration in early otherwise you'll be standing in a really long queue for ages - although you could always swing by the Flip n Go table while you wait. Flip your cares away there from 11am.
We'll be bringing you sporadic updates from the various side events as and when they conclude, plus don't forget you can watch the High Roller event live over on our Twitch stream. And do come join us in the bar - it's lovely down here. 🍻
