Lorenzo Arduini Leads 25 Qualifiers in Day 1a of 2026 Novibet Greek Poker Odyssea Main Event

After four days of juicy side-event action, the 2026 Novibet Greek Poker Odyssea €1,000 Main Event finally got underway today at the Regency Casino in Thessaloniki, with Day 1a, the first of four starting flights, attracting a very promising total of 100 entries.

After the completion of thirteen 40-minute levels, Lorenzo Arduini of Italy rose to the top of the standings, bagging up 922,000 by the end of play.

He is followed by Vaggelis Kaimakamis of Greece (796,000), while Martin Tsvetanov of Bulgaria (756,000) completes the podium places, although he required three bullets to get there.

It is a high-quality top three, with Arduini boasting recorded career earnings of over $1,030,000, including 15 recorded wins in the live arena.

Kaimakamis sits in the top thirty in the Greek all-time money list with over $700,000 in results, including victory in the World Series of Poker Europe Mini Main Event in 2019, while Tsvetanov triumphed in the Eureka Main Event at EPT Prague in 2024 for a huge $471,862 score, accounting for over half of his total of $865,197 in recorded results (All figures courtesy of The Hendon Mob).

Position	Player	Country	Chips	Blinds
1	Lorenzo Arduini	Italy	922,000	115
2	Vaggelis Kaimakamis	Greece	796,000	99
3	Martin Tsvetanov	Bulgaria	756,000	94
4	Anastasios Vardalis	Greece	677,000	84
5	Dimitar Toshev	Bulgaria	593,000	74
6	Konstantinos Siamitras	Greece	578,000	72
7	Artemios Fournaris	Greece	497,000	62
8	Ioannis Gerontas	Greece	490,000	61
9	Ioannis Diamantopoulos	Greece	446,000	55
10	Spyros Karathanos	Greece	440,000	55
11	Kristian Willumsen	Norway	435,000	54
12	Vasileios Chalkiopoulos	Greece	379,000	47
13	Nikolaos Valtatzis	Greece	369,000	46
14	Apostolos Kofidis	Greece	362,000	45
15	Atanas Malinov	Bulgaria	311,000	38
16	Georgios Dallas	Greece	305,000	38
17	Athanasios Andrianopoulos	Greece	270,000	33
18	Ivan Kyuchekov	Bulgaria	252,000	31
19	Georgios Tsialtas	Greece	244,000	30
20	Georgios Garnelis	Greece	237,000	29
21	Ivelin Kolev	Bulgaria	213,000	26
22	Jan Zupec	Slovenia	165,000	20
23	Simeon Ivanov	Bulgaria	116,000	14
24	Georgios Charmpilas	Greece	100,000	12
25	Edgar Sargsyan	Armenia	98,000	12

The €500 Mini Main and €400 Mystery Bounty also came to a conclusion today, and a summary of the final table results are outlined below.

A total of 364 entries created a €160,160 prize pool, and Andreas Vlachos ended up holding the trophy after a five-way ICM deal, although Giannis Panagopoulos took the biggest payout.

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Andreas Vlachos	Greece	€14,000*
2	Giannis Panagopoulos	Greece	€24,426*
3	Stavros Stavropoulos	Greece	€21,726*
4	Christos Patras	Greece	€18,713*
5	Kostas Kertikidis	Greece	€17,051*
6	Anonymous	N/A	€5,701
7	Dimitris Manekas	Greece	€4,645
8	Kosmas Barakos	Greece	€3,812
9	Kostas Chionidis	Greece	€3,139

Nikolaos Kritharis took the trophy in the €400 Mystery Bounty after outlasting 199 entries, denying Andreas Paliogiannis back-to-back titles.

However, Paliogiannis bagged the biggest payout from the €103,480 prize pool, after he scooped the largest bounties of €9,000 and €6,000, with the final table results as follows:-

Place	Name	Country	Prize (Incl Bounties)
1	Nikolaos Kritharis	Greece	€16,280
2	Andreas Paliogiannis	Greece	€23,215
3	Michail Tastanis	Greece	€5,635
4	Spyros Karathanos	Greece	€4,080
5	Ivan Popov	Bulgaria	€2,415
6	Orestis Papapostolou	Greece	€1,325
7	Baruch Haim	Israel	€2,140
8	A.L.	Greece	€930
9	Michail Tsilikidis	Greece	€1,290

The next opportunity for players to qualify for Day 2 of the Main Event takes place at 4 p.m. local time on June 15, with the full remaining schedule for the festival set out below.

poker.pro will be on the floor from the start of Day 1b of the Main Event at 4 p.m., so stay tuned for all your coverage of the 2026 Novibet Greek Poker Odyssea Main Event.