Ercan Wins $10,500 High Roller; O'Dwyer Tops $25,500 Super High Roller
While Day 1a of the $5,300 Main Event unfolded in the conference centre at Merit, the $10,500 High Roller was taking over the main stage over on the live stream feature table. Out of a field of 107 unique entries and 50-entries, only nine contenders were battling for the lion's share of the $1,444,400 prize pool.
In a short-lived heads-up duel, Timur Ercan came out on top against Tobias Duthweiler and earned applause aplenty from local players. Ercan first had to win a flip with ace-jack versus pocket eights and spiked a jack to take the lead in heads-up play. He then faced pocket eights once more and had the best of it with pocket nines to emerge victoriously.
The first player to bust was Boris Kolev after losing a flip with ace-king against the pocket queens of Halil Kezen. The next to depart was Askar Bekbayev against Tobias Duthweiler and the German then also straightened out the two pair of Kezen to score the next elimination. Iakov Onuchin departed in sixth place and Fahredin Mustafov got there with 
against the 
of James Romero thanks to a queen on the flop.
The fortune of Mustafov ran out soon thereafter and he had to settle for fourth place, two days after finishing as the runner-up in the $2,200 Warm Up. Christophe Panetti recorded the best result of his poker career so far and earned the first spot on the podium before Ercan had the best of it in the heads-up duel with Duthweiler.
Final Table Result $10,500 High Roller
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timur Ercan | Turkey | $377,115 |
| 2 | Tobias Duthweiler | Germany | $265,995 |
| 3 | Christophe Panetti | Switzerland | $173,120 |
| 4 | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | $124,075 |
| 5 | James Romero | United States | $93,020 |
| 6 | Iakov Onuchin | Russia | $74,385 |
| 7 | Halil Kezen | Turkey | $61,820 |
| 8 | Askar Bekbayev | Kazakhstan | $49,545 |
| 9 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | $37,120 |
During the final stages of the $10,500 High Roller, the 11 hopefuls out of a 19-entry strong field in the $25,500 Super High Roller returned to their seats at 6pm local time. The registration was still open and the tournament ultimately attracted 21 unique players and 13 re-entries.
Steve O'Dwyer was the chip leader after Day 1 and rode that all the way to victory. Viktor Ustimov finished in second place while Laszlo Bujtas and Johan Guilbert also took home a slice of the $782,000 prize pool as well.
Final Result $25,500 Super High Roller
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | $312,800 |
| 2 | Viktor Ustimov | Russia | $218,960 |
| 3 | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | $140,760 |
| 4 | Johan Guilbert | France | $109,480 |
