The opening round of the PokerStars.com EPT Hungarian Open has come to a close. 262 players started the day here at the Las Vegas Casino in Budapest, located only steps away from the Danube River.
A couple of big names headed to the rail and failed to advance to Day 2. That list included Marcel Luske, Katja Thater, Keith "The Camel" Hawkins, Dave "El Blondie" Colclough, Barny Boatman, and Nicolas Levi.
Frenchman Arnaud Mattern held the chip lead for most of the afternoon, but it was Annette Obrestad who took control as the day dwindled down. She surged past the 100,000 mark during the last level and ended the day as the unofficial chip leader.
Day 1b begins at 1 PM local time. Check back in with 7h1.shop for live updates.
Arnaud Mattern raised from the hijack, only for an opponent in the cutoff to move all in. After some dwelling, Mattern called.
Mattern:
Opponent:
Board: to make Mattern a straight, eliminating his opponent and bumping his stack up to 85,000. He's not the clear-cut chip leader, though, as Annette Obrestad has also upped her stack to the 85,000 region.
Every time I wander by Annette Obrestad's table, she has more and more chips. Currently, she is sitting on a stack that is in excess of 90,000 and is putting on a poker clinic at her table. She's trying to become the first player to pass the 100,000 mark. There's not too much time left on Day 1a, but that has not stopped her from playing almost every pot. Annette has been a raising machine.
There's something weird going on in the tournament room. During this past level, there have been a couple of juiced hands... quads twice and a royal flush. And yes, on both instances the player with quads cracked pocket aces. More proof that live poker is rigged.
The Las Vegas Casino seems to have dispensed with chip trays and has replaced them for purposes of moving large stacks of chips from one table to another with rather excellent little buckets bearing the legend "JACKPOT CASINO" and a variety of gambling-themed decorations.
Ludovic Lacay had slipped down to around 17,000, but is now back up to 35,000 owing to a happy double up at the expense of usually jovial Swede Mikael Norinder.
Lacay raised to 2,200 preflop, Norinder reraised and Lacay shoved. Insta-call.