Day 1B – MPF Spring 2024

Ignjatovski Doubles Through Paris

Level 5: 500/1,000 (1,000)
Entries: 199/264

Dragan Ignjatovski three-bet jammed from the small blind for 13,400 and was called by local hero James Paris, who originally opened from under the gun.

Dragan Ignjatovski: A♦J♠
James Paris: Q♣10♥

Ignjatovski let out a sigh of relief after his ace-jack held to double through Paris after the 8♥J♥6♥5♦5♣ ran out on the board.

James Paris – 75,000
Dragan Ignjatovski – 30,000

Hamilton Shows Bluff

Level 5: 500/1,000 (1,000)
Entries: 204/255

There was more than 14,000 in the pot when Callum Hamilton check-called a bet of 4,000 by Yigit Isilsoy on the 5♠10♣3♠ flop.

Both players checked the K♣ turn before Hamilton over-jammed the 2♠ river with a bet of 35,000. Isilsoy quickly folded and Hamilton decided to table his unconnected A♥Q♠.

Isilsoy tapped the table in congratulations to Hamilton for his river move.

Yigit Isilsoy – 90,000
Callum Hamilton – 60,000

Nearly 200 Entries Already in Bounty Hunter Days

The €230 Bounty Hunter Days just kicked off with already 189 entries in the field. This is expected to at least double with the only non-satellite side event of the day.

Dieter Aebi, Roar Aspas, Wilhelmine Connelly, Pontus Dargren, Karl Gialanze, and Phillip “The Tower” Heald, and Ilze Zolte are among the players we noticed from around the room already in action.

Good luck to all of the players battling for a trophy in the €230 Bounty Hunter Days.

Big Slick Good for O’Kearney

Level 4: 400/800 (800)
Entries: 211/251

Poker author and The Chip Race podcast co-host Dara O’Kearney is back in action after unsuccessfully firing two bullets yesterday. O’Kearney lost some chips during the early portions of Day 1b but recently chipped up in a hand against Joseph Saunders as follows:

Saunders opened for 2,000 from under the gun before O’Kearney jacked it up to 6,000 from one seat over. Saunders called to see the J♣7♦7♠ paired flop.

O’Kearney fired out for 2,400 and Saunders check-called. Both players checked down the 4♥ turn and the 3♥ river. O’Kearney turned over the A♠K♣ and won the hand despite not connecting with the board after Saunders mucked.

Joseph Saunders – 65,000
Dara O’Kearney – 42,000

Betsson’s Jostein Groedum Among the Big Stacks

Level 4: 400/800 (800)
Entries: 211/239

Jostein Groedum was sitting at around 120,000 recently. Groedum is more than a poker player as he has been in the industry for quite some time and is now the Head of Poker at the Betsson Group.

Groedum has had his share of deep runs in Malta, where the Norwegian calls home and is off to a hot start on Day 1b. He shared with us one hand that took place during Level 2 with blinds at 200/400 with a 400 big blind ante.

The under the gun player min-raised before another player jacked it up to 1,600. The button called as did Groedum in the big blind with 7♣5♣ to bring four players to the king-six-four with two clubs flop after the under-the-gun player also called.

The three-better led out for 1,200. The button called before Groedum raised with his monster of hand with both an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw to 4,700. The three-better folded and the player on the button called to see a nine on the turn.

Groedum led out for 7,200. His opponent raised to 18,000. Groedum shared he tanked for a few moments before he called. An eight on the river completed Groedum’s straight. Groedum checked before his opponent fired out for 17,500 with 4,000 back. Groedum put him in for the rest to eliminate his opponent while taking down a 94,000 chip pot.

Best of luck to Groedum and the many other Norwegians in the field including Ronny Albrigtsen who is at his table.

Various Big Stacks at Break

Player	Chips	Big Blinds
Alan Edwards	123,000	154
Dan Larsson	122,500	153
Simon Taylor	121,500	152
Oliver Mihajlovski	120,000	150
Bruce Shannon	117,000	146
Jorgen Jessen	115,000	144
Rune Kjoren	111,500	139
Mark Howson	110,000	138
Simon Dunevein	109,000	136
Jostein Groedum	107,500	134
Andrew Cutajar	107,000	134
Christopher Grech	107,000	134
Gary Morgan	102,000	128
Petter Redemo	98,000	123
Birger Strand	92,000	115
Kelley Slay	91,000	114
Enes Hasic	90,000	113
Simon Davidson	88,000	110
Daniel Kauhausen	88,000	110
Philip Pearson	83,000	104
Thor Soraa	80,000	100
Terence Newton	78,000	98
Erik Ostergaard	78,000	98
Thomas Hofmann	75,000	94
Maximilian Sanders	75,000	94
Eddy Shaw	74,000	93
Nikodem Dubiel	71,000	89
Benjamin Kett	67,000	84