JULIO Turns Reentry Into Massive EPC High Roller Lead at King’s Resort
The Spanish player bagged 1.494 million after losing his first stack, with 48 players through and registration still open.
Spanish player JULIO built a 1.494 million-chip stack to take a huge lead after Day 1 of the €3,000 EPC High Roller at King’s Resort in Rozvadov. His nearest challenger, Davit Mikhanashvili, bagged 1.065 million, while Florian Duta finished third on 836,000.
JULIO’s run came after he lost his first stack on a bluff in Level 3 and promptly reentered. From a 200,000-chip starting stack, he accumulated nearly 1.5 million over six levels, leaving him with roughly 40% more chips than Mikhanashvili, according to PokerNews.
The no-limit hold’em tournament, the largest no-limit hold’em buy-in offered at the King’s Million European Poker Championship, drew 92 entries on Day 1. Forty-eight players advanced, although the field can still grow: registration remains available for three further levels on Day 2 and reentries are unlimited. The event carries a €500,000 guarantee and had required 167 entries to avoid an overlay.
Behind the top three, Axel Bayout advanced with 596,000. Bayout had already won a €150,000 bounty in the festival’s Mystery Bounty event earlier in the week. Zdenek Zizka bagged 428,000 while also playing Day 1a of the Main Event, and late entrant Antoine Vranken doubled his stack to 412,000.
Tobias Peters returned with 273,000, while Vasilis Nikolas, seeking a second title of the series, finished on 250,000. Darius Neagoe, Ermanno Di Nicola, Mateusz Moolhuizen, Guy Taylor and Max Kruse did not make it through Day 1 but can still reenter.
As we reported in September, the King’s Million European Poker Championship is King’s Resort’s new autumn flagship, with more than €10 million in guarantees across its Sept. 16-Oct. 6 schedule.
Day 2 begins at 3 p.m. local time on Oct. 1 at Level 10, with 4,000/8,000 blinds and an 8,000 big blind ante. Levels remain 45 minutes, registration closes at the start of Level 13, and play continues until a champion is crowned.
