Welcome to the Thirteenth Edition of the PokerNews Cup Main Event at Finix Casino
The thirteenth edition of the PokerNews Cup Main Event is about to kick off at Finix Casino with the first of its four opening flights at 6 p.m. EEST.
Players will be competing for at least a share of €100,000 guaranteed for a €550 buy-in or less if they qualified online or through one of the many €60 live satellites running at Finix Casino.
There will be plenty of opportunities for players to build a monster stack starting off with 50,000 in chips and unlimited reentries permitted during each of the four opening flights on May 15-17. The first three flights, including today's Day 1a, feature 30-minute blind levels while the final opening flight is a turbo affair with 15-minute blind levels.
The action for each opening flight continues until just 15 percent of the field remains, at which time all players will already be in the money. Players that successfully bag chips on Day 1 will battle it out in a deeper structure of 40-minute blind levels on May 18-19 until is crowned.
Here is a look at today's structure with breaks taking place after every four blind levels.
| Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | Big Blind Ante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | 100 | |
| 2 | 75 | 150 | |
| 3 | 100 | 200 | |
| 4 | 150 | 300 | 300 |
| 5 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 6 | 200 | 500 | 500 |
| 7 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 8 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 9 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 10 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 11 | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| 12 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| 13 | 1,000 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| 14 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| 15 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| 16 | 2,500 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| 17 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 |
| 18 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
| 19 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| 20 | 6,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
The Main Event has a long and storied tradition dating back to October 2007 when the festival kicked off in Melbourne, Australia at the Crown Casino. Australia's Dory Zayneh defeated countrymate Kenny Ng heads up to claim the A$300,000 ($266,959) top prize.
At the last PokerNews Cup at King's Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic in 2017, Germany's Holger Bansner shipped the Main Event after agreeing to a four-way deal to collect €24,098 ($28,277).
Also taking place today is the penultimate day of the PokerNews Cup €1,100 High Roller. A total of 37 players of the original 80 entrant field returned. That figure will grow with re-entries permitted during the first two blind levels of Day 2.
Ivan Ivanov kicked off the action in the chip lead after bagging 631,500 in chips. On his heals are Day 1b chip leader Marcel Galustov with 614,500 in chips. PokerNews will be live reporting the High Roller until its conclusion and you can follow the coverage here.
Stay tuned at PokerNews as we bring you the biggest hands and highlights of the PokerNews Cup at Finix Casino.