At noon, Day 2 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event gets back underway. With 726 players turning up for Day 1a and 1234 entries on Day 1b, a total of 1,960 entries have been made, surpassing last year's number of 1,931 players and breaking the record of biggest EPT Main Event ever.
That number is likely to grow with registration still open until the start of play. 259 survived Day 1a, 508 survived Day 1b, so a minimum of 767 players return to action today.
Day 1a chipleader Benjamin Chalot starts out with the biggest stack of them all with exactly 300,000 in chips. Following him is Swedish online superstar Simon Mattsson, "C. Darwin2" on PokerStars, who will bring 292,000 to the table when play gets back underway.
A total of 25 players pushed over the 200,000 mark, such as Timur Margolin (261,800), Louis Nyberg (223,000), Alex Keating (218,800), Govert Metaal (207,500) and Anton Wigg (205,000), who won the European Poker Tour Main Event in Copenhagen in 2010.
Plenty of well known superstars and poker upstarts litter the massive field with hopes of surviving one more day, including Martin Jacobson (185,100), Mustapha Kanit (182,100), Chino Rheem (179,000), Kalidou Sow (160,000), Georgios Vrakas (147,000), Davidi Kitai (142,800), Mike Watson (95,800), Fatima Moreira de Melo (83,700), Joao Simao (50,400), Andre Akkari (47,900) and Piotr Nurzynski, the defending champion, with 46,300.
Five 90-minute levels are scheduled for the day, with a 20-minute break after each level. That makes for the following blind structure:
| Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Big Blind Ante |
|---|
| 11 | 90 minutes | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| | 20-minute break | | | |
|---|
| 12 | 90 minutes | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| | 20-minute break | | | |
|---|
| 13 | 90 minutes | 1,000 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| | 20-minute break | | | |
|---|
| 14 | 90 minutes | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| | 20-minute break | | | |
|---|
| 15 | 90 minutes | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
EPTLive will also be broadcasting cards-up coverage of the event right through to the final on Sunday, September 1st, and of course, the action is also to follow along right here on PokerNews.
Tags:
Alex KeatingAndre AkkariAnton WiggBenjamin ChalotChino RheemDavidi KitaiFatima Moreira De MeloFiodor MartinoGeorgios VrakasGovert MetaalKalidou SowLouis NybergMartin JacobsonMike WatsonMustapha KanitPiotr NurzynskiSimon MattssonTimur Margolin
to be eliminated from the tournament.
turn, Patrik Antonius made it 8,000 to go and Vlado Banicevic raised to 30,000. Antonius moved all in and Banicevic called.
, Konnikova ended up second-best and headed to the rail.
of Nacho Barbero on a board of 
.
and both Van Beuningen and Figuccia were eliminated from the tournament early on Day 2.
