Sweden's Rikard Larsson bagged the Day 1a chip lead in the €500,000 guaranteed The Festival Series Bratislava €550 Main Event at Banco Casino Bratislava.
The field attracted a total of 134 entries to surpass the 108 entries attracted on Day 1a during last year's The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event with four more opening flights to go.
Larsson was in cruise control most of Day 1a with the chip lead for most of the latter half of the day. At one point, Larsson had about 380,000 but things began to slow down after he doubled up Peder Behr to 160,000 in chips. Behr ended Day 1a with nearly the same with a stack of 156,000 in chips, while Larsson lost a few more chips before managing to bag a healthy chip-leading stack of 256,000. Carsten Larsen was just behind the Day 1a chip leader with 245,000 in chips and was the only other player on the day to surpass 200,000 in chips.
Meanwhile, Aaron Frese (194,000), Kenneth Aspestrand (180,000), Eirik Kristiansen (177,000), and Michel Molenaar (177,000) also ended Day 1a with big stacks for Day 2.
| Place | Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rickard Larsson | 256,000 | 107 |
| 2 | Carsten Larsen | 245,000 | 102 |
| 3 | Aaron Frese | 194,000 | 81 |
| 4 | Kenneth Aspestrand | 180,000 | 75 |
| 5 | Eirik Kristiansen | 177,000 | 74 |
| 6 | Michel Molenaar | 177,000 | 74 |
| 7 | Peter Behr | 156,000 | 65 |
| 8 | Ian Vertefeuille | 145,000 | 60 |
| 9 | Istvan Kovács | 141,000 | 59 |
| 10 | Wessam Bitar | 140,000 | 58 |
The action for the Main Event will resume for Day 1b at noon on Wednesday. Stay tuned at PokerListings for all your updates.
