The seventh season of the very popular European Tour has now started. The first stop was meant to be in Moscow, Russia. But a few weeks ago a new law was introduced in Russia which makes it illegal to organize live poker events in any part of the country. Due to this new law, the first tournament was moved to Kyiv in Ukraine.
Day 1a of the main event (€5000 buy-in) has already been played. The tournament attracted 129 players who received a fantastic welcome ceremony featuring a four-man drumming troupe and more than 50 Ukrainian folk dancers. PokerStars pros that played Day 1a were Alex Kravchenko and Luca Pagano. Kravchenko is through to day 2 with 45,450 in chips. Pagano got knocked out in the early stages of the tournament. A total of 93 players are through to Day 2, these many players made it through to day 2 because of the brand new EPT main event structure which gives each player a 30,000 starting stack. Chip leader after Day 1a is Mihaylo Demidenko from Ukraine with 145,125 chips.
