Dvoress Tops partypoker MILLIONS Online Main Event Day 1a; Staples, Urbanovich And Koon Advance

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Feb 22, 2021 4 min read

The first of two starting days for the partypoker MILLIONS Online $5,300 Main Event has wrapped up. Thanks to 591 total entries, the tournament is on track to surpass the $5 million guarantee as another starting day remains one week from now on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021.

After 9 1/2 hours of poker action, the day ended with just 87 survivors and High Roller regular Daniel Dvoress claiming the chip lead with 30,582,133 in chips.

Not far behind the Canadian are Hermogenes Gelonezi (27,798,834) and Andras Nemeth (27,371,860), as well as 2020 WSOP Main Event international leg finalist Dominykas Mikolaitis (24,489,173).

partypoker MILLIONS Online Main Event Day 1a Top 10 Counts

Some notables that made it through to Day 2 with an above-average stack in the first flight already include Joshua Hoesel (17,591,055), Pedro Padilha (16,330,297), Espen Uhlen Jorstad (15,695,668), Oleg Vasylchenko (13,787,078), Simon Deadman (10,762,859), Christian Rudolph (9,544,082), Bruno Volkmann (9,453,291) and 2019 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Alexandros Kolonias (9,127,932).

Plenty of other well-known names of the international poker circuit locked up a payday and that also includes three partypoker representatives. For Twitch streamer Jaime Staples, it was his first cash in an online $5K buy-in event. The Canadian made it through with a stack of 8,386,939, while sponsored pro Dzmitry Urbanovich (1,984,954) and Jason Koon (1,700,256) were among the shortest stacks at the end of the night.

It wasn't an easy ride by any means for Staples, who scored a lucky double up with king-jack versus kings when he was short. However, once that crucial step was done, the Canadian never looked back and picked up big hands along the way to consistently grow his stack.

All other partypoker representatives were not as fortunate and hit the rail throughout the day including Mikita Badziakouski, Joni Jouhkimainen, Patrick Leonard, Isaac Haxton, and John Duthie.

Related: Check out the FULL partypoker MILLIONS Online schedule

The Action of the Day

There were only a handful of casualties in the first few levels of the day and among them was partypoker Advisory Board member Duthie. On a shorter stack, he got it in with fours and deuces only to run into superior two pair, which held. For Leonard, his second bullet ended against Sergei Koliakov when king-queen suited made an inferior pocket pair versus ace-nine.

Jason Koon's first bullet ended rather early as well after a clash with Guillaume Nolet. However, Koon re-entered and ran up an above-average stack which only faltered late on once the money bubble approached.

Among the many hopefuls were also former MILLIONS Main Event champions. Benjamin Chalot won the 2019 MILLIONS Online which featured a buy-in of $10,300. The Frenchman and Hungary resident fired two bullets on Day 1a and didn't make it through. 2017 MILLIONS UK winner Maria Lampropulos was unable to find any help with a dominated pair to bust after the registration had closed.

Read More: partypoker's Patrick Leonard Looking Forward to "Special" MILLIONS Online

Daniel Dvoress jumped to a big stack when he made the nut flush against Ramon Kropmanns and then knocked out Sergi Reixach with kings versus ace-five suited.

While the pace of eliminations certainly picked up mid-way through the day, it slowed down a ton a few dozen players away from the target. Anatoly Filatov fell victim to the hot run of Dvoress and other big names such as Dario Sammartino, Tomas Jozonis, and Georgios Karakousis, Christopher Frank, and Robert Heidorn all busted during the final stage.

Eventually, the bubble burst when Marco Baldini ran out of chips. However, Joao Simao also crashed out on a different table when he ran pocket eights smack dab into the pocket aces of Dominykas Mikolaitis to miss out on Day 2 and the min-cash.

Play in the MILLIONS Online at partypoker

Join the Love Party!

Valentine's Day took place already more than a week ago but the love continues for two more weeks at partypoker thanks to its Love Party promotion for both new and existing players.

If you don't already have an account, simply download partypoker through PokerNews to take advantage of this promotion and get in on the epic MILLIONS Online action.

The first part of the promotion is simply completing a daily Love Party mission. The first step is to opt into the mission via the client's 'Promotions' section.

After that you will be presented an easy-to-complete mission such as winning a cash game hand with a suited big slick. You will be awarded a random prize after you complete the mission which could include a MILLIONS Online ticket worth $55!

This is not all as partypoker also giving you the chance to claim a mystery prize this week simply by making a deposit using the 'JOINPARTY' deposit code between now and Feb. 24. The prize could be a freeroll ticket, a SPINS ticket, or even $50 in cold, hard cash!

You can repeat the process again next week with the deposit code 'LOVEPARTY' to have a second chance at a mystery prize.

Head to partypoker today to not miss out on the free love before time runs out.

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