The sun was shining at 888poker LIVE Bucharest, where action inside set a solid tone for the �560 Main Event. The first of four opening flights saw a total of 110 entries, a strong start on the way to reaching the guaranteed �200,000 prize pool at 888poker Room Bucharest.
After the opening 12 levels of play, Ran Shahar leads the field of 34 survivors with a stack of 427,500 chips. That is good for 214 big blinds, setting the pace with a sizeable lead over Romania��s Cristian Tabac (366,000).
Tabac, one of eight Romanians inside the top 10 after Day 1a, was responsible for one of the last eliminations of the night when his pocket aces held for a big boost to his stack. Shahar also used aces to build his lead earlier in the day, beating the pocket kings of Ion Naicu and growing his collection of chips from that point on.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ran Shahar | Israel | 427,500 | 214 |
| 2 | Cristian Tabac | Romania | 366,000 | 183 |
| 3 | Jack Sharpe | United Kingdom | 336,000 | 168 |
| 4 | Dumitru Barta | Romania | 335,000 | 168 |
| 5 | Gheorghe Alexutan | Romania | 326,500 | 163 |
| 6 | Andreas Popa | Romania | 281,000 | 141 |
| 7 | Bogdan Angelescu | Romania | 241,500 | 121 |
| 8 | Radu Buican | Romania | 235,000 | 118 |
| 9 | Marin Cocea | Romania | 213,500 | 107 |
| 10 | Florian Tone | Romania | 193,000 | 97 |
Among the notable names to survive the opening day is Luc Bazley, bagging up 112,000 to sit in 20th position. Bazley is trying to keep his momentum going in Bucharest, having already earned a pair of titles this week in the Romanian capital.
Dumitru Barta sits inside the top five, consistently building his way to a stack of 335,000 at the end of the night. Also in the group of survivors are 888poker qualifiers Jack Sharpe and Laurentiu Paunas, both looking to spin their way into a big payday in the Main Event.
All those who failed to survive the day can still choose to take advantage of unlimited reentries, with late registration remaining open until the start of Day 2.
There are still three Main Event starting flights, starting with Day 1b on Thursday, March 21. Players will once again face a total of twelve 45-minute levels, with the same structure being followed for Day 1c on Friday, March 22. The turbo Day 1d flight, also on Friday, features 20-minute levels. All surviving players will bring their bags back for Day 2 on Saturday, March 23, before the series crowns a winner on Sunday, March 24.
Day 1b of the Main Event begins at 5 p.m. local time, with players sitting down with 50,000 chips and blinds of 100/100 with a 100 big blind ante.
The PokerNews team will be there to report on all of the exciting action, as players continue to take their shot at the largest part of the �200,000 prize pool in Bucharest.
