2014 Master Classics of Poker at Holland Casino Amsterdam

The 2014 Master Classics of Poker Main Event began today in Amsterdam's stunning Holland Casino. The €4,250 event has long been considered one of the top events in Europe and has been won by players as illustrious as Ole Schemion, who was the title winner in 2012, and Noah Boeken, who won here last year. Both were among the 285-strong field on Day 1 that saw many players take full advantage of the unlimited reentry option that was afforded to players. Registration will remain open until the start of Day 2.

Although originally scheduled for nine levels, the tournament director announced that play would finish after eight and a half. At the end of this, it was Schemion, who had already come second in the €10,250 High Roller for over €80,000 before the Main Event began, that finished at the very top of the pile with an insanely huge 281,100 in chips with around 170 players remaining. What's most impressive about this is that Schemion, on his only bullet, bought in after the dinner break during Level 5, so he only had 60% of the time that most of the others had to play.

The field had a distinctly international feel, but all the attention was on Jorryt van Hoof. The third-place finisher from the World Series of Poker Main Event final table had attracted a lot of attention, and the Dutchman spent his day on the feature table where he finished with an impressive 92,000.

Steve O'Dwyer had a much worse day. He lost with aces to ace-king of spades and ended up finishing with 17,500 on his fourth bullet. Players who did better included Jan Sjavik (189,500), who looked to finish in second place, Jonas Mackoff (159,800), Andrew Chen (124,400), and defending champion Boeken (110,000). Those who busted after one bullet included Fabrice Soulier and Thierry van den Berg, while Toby Lewis busted on his second bullet in the very last hand of the evening.

On Wednesday, the tournament will play the remaining 30 minutes of Level 9 before the level length will increase to 75 minutes. Then on Day 3 and Day 4, the levels will be bumped up to 90 minutes in length. The tournament will be restarting at 2 p.m. CET and the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be here to bring you all the action as this tournament continues.

A full chip count will follow when we receive it from the casino.

After a flop of   , Jan Sjavik led out for 8,500 chips and an opponent moved all in for what looked like 52,000. The Norwegian was in the think-tank for well over 30 minutes and eventually called, tabling  . The opponent only had   and busted just before the end of Day 1 with the turn and the river completing the board.

Players are playing the last three hands of the day.

Jasper Wetemans raised to 1,800 and got one caller before Tobias Peters clicked it to 5,300. Wetemans four-bet to 12,800 and that did the trick to get rid of his two opponents. There are only three tables left downstairs.

There's just been an announcement that the Main Event will only play 30 minutes of level 9. No reason has been given but the event will be done by around 1.40am.

Players are on their last 15-minute break of the day. There is also a chip race for the 25's.