An exciting first day in Rozvadov saw the World Series of Poker Europe elite gather at the felt for the €50,000-entry Diamond High Roller. With 29 entries, only 18 players made it into the books for Day 2. There is late registration open for the final day’s play, so the field is not closed but Ren Lin will be loving the overnights as he leads some of the world’s best into a final day that will win a six-figure score and one of the most valuable WSOP bracelets claimed in 2023.

Four Players Busted at Close of Play

The drama started soon after lunchtime in Rozvadov and continued right through to the close of play, with four players unable to finish on any chips at all. Orpen Kisacikoglu wasn’t one of them, but fell to Canadian Daniel Dvoress, who won his first live WSOP bracelet in Rozvadov only the other day. Dvoress, who claimed $640,000 when he won the live version of the GG MILLION$ held [Qh][Qs] and those queens were strong enough to topple the Turk’s [Ad][Jd] when the chips went in pre-flop.

Kisacikoglu re-entered before the end of the day, but British Poker Masters winner Stephen Chidwick, double bracelet winner Chris Brewer, Canadian crusher Timothy Adams and Bulgarian Fahredin Mustafov all surrendered their stacks before Day 1a closed out. Others were left short, with Tamas Adamszki (715,000) and Wing Po Liu (735,000) left well short of the million chips they began with.

Overall, on Day 1, a prizepool of over $1.8 million was amounted with seven re-entries on the day too. One of those was local hero Martin Kabrhel, who hails from the Czech Republic and won a big late hand from Ioannis Angelou-Konstas left him with twice the million-chip starting stack. Kabrhel’s [As][Ah] were too good for Angelou-Konstas’ top pair on a king-high flop.

Lin the Leader

With the final 18 players bagging up millions of chips, it was the Chinese high roller regular Ren Lin who totalled the most, sitting behind 3,370,000 chips at the top of the pile. He was some way clear of his fellow Chinese player QuanZhou on 2,755,000. That top stack of Lin’s equates to 84 big blinds, with Zhou on 69.

Behind the two top players, Indian player Santosh Suvarna will be a big threat on 2,725,000. In good form, Suvarna will be looking to close one out after coming third in the Triton Monte Carlo Main Event last month for $1.7 million. Daniel Dvoress (2,690,000) has no such issues winning events, having won his first live WSOP bracelet event only the other day in the live GG MILLION$ in Rozvadov for $640,000. Dvoress is followed by Czech player Martin Kabrhel in fifth place on 2,090,000.

Who Else Will Be a Threat to the Title?

With a WSOP bracelet on the line and a top prize of just under $700,000 up for grabs, the top ten is full of poker legends. One such player is Spaniard Adrian Mateos. At the age of just 29, ‘The Matador’ has already won four WSOP bracelets in his imperious career. There’s an argument for Mateos already being one of the best 10 players in the world, and another big cash would help him close the gap on players like Phil Ivey and Erik Seidel.

Orpen Kisacikoglu may have crashed out early, but a re-entry has him in ninth place on the top 10 of the chipcounts, holding 1,465,0000 chips when play begins on Day 2. Only the top six will be paid, with sixth place being worth $111,000. Everyone will have their eyes on the top prize of course but most importantly the WSOP gold bracelet.