Day 1b of the 2019 PokerStars EPT Barcelona €1,100 EPT National is set to start at 7 p.m. local time here at Casino Barcelona. Last year, Jean-René Fontaine walked away with the €547,000 first-place prize by defeating Julien Martini heads-up in a 4,348-strong field which showed up. 1240 players were showing on the tournament clock as registered for the first of four starting flights and many more expected to join over the next three chances to make it into the money on Day 2.
Eight levels of registration will be open which last 30 minutes each with a 20-minute break after every four levels. Each player will receive 30,000 in chips and be battling it out until there’s 15% of the field left at the end of the day. This is when play will end and all remaining players can bag and tag their chips for Day 2 while celebrating the fact that they are in the money.
Day 2 will take place on the 23rd of August where all remaining survivors will combine and play down to a winner on Sunday, August 25 while levels will be increased to 60 minutes.
Follow along with the PokerNews updates as the live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the happenings right here from sunny Spain.
The flop read with five players in the hand. Rahul Melwani bet 600 from the lojack and Ludovic Geilich pushed his last 1,100 in from the cutoff. The players on the button, and in the blinds all folded while Melwani made the call.
Ludovic Geilich:
Rahul Melwani:
Geilich held the overpair and Melwani had the pair of treys.
"Might as well give him the ten!" Geilich commented.
The turn was the which kept Geilich safe but the on the river sent Geilich to the rail again after having lost his first hand in Day 1a when he ran his into the of his opponent.
Fadhil Farag raised to 8,000 from the middle position and was called by Yves Sanchez in the hijack. Louis Salter three-bet to 31,000 on the button for the blinds to fold. Farag considered his options for a while and then made the call while Sanchez folded.
The flop came , Farag check-called the 26,000 continuation-bet of Salter.
The turn brought them the , Farag checked again and now Salter shoved with the bigger stack.
Farag looked at Salter and then at his own stack. He played a bit with his chips and then asked: "If I fold, will you show?"
Salter didn't respond, Farag took some more time and then decided to fold . Salter knocked on the table but didn't say anything else while collecting the pot.
Sonny Franco raised to 10,500 from the hijack and action folded to Nenad Svetomirovic in the small blind who three-bet to 22,000. The big blind quickly folded and Franco decided to four-bet to 60,000. Svetomirovic took some time and then five-bet shoved for around 200,000 which Franco snap-called.
Nenad Svetomirovic:
Sonny Franco:
The board ran out for Franco to hold with the pocket rockets to eliminate Svetomirovic and jump into the chip lead.
Jean-René Fontaine has just been eliminated by Manuel Fritz when he ran his into the of Fritz.
Shortly after, Fritz shoved his whole stack in from the button after Barak Wisbrod had raised from under the gun. The blinds quickly folded and Wisbrod called.
Barak Wisbrod:
Manuel Fritz;
The board ran out for Wisbrod to hit the jack on the river to eliminate Fritz as he held the bigger stack.
While all action was being completed on the tables before hand-for-hand play could commence, a "seat open" was announced on one of the tables. Olof Olofsson made his way out of the tournament area as his couldn't beat the of Gianluca Speranza.
In the meanwhile, no all-ins were called on the other tables, and with 91 players remaining, they have all bagged up for Day 2 on Friday, August 23.
Day 1b of the 2019 PokerStars EPT Barcelona €1,100 EPT National which was the second of four starting flights came to an end when there were 91 players left out of the 606 entries it attracted in total. Just like on Day 1a, the players were allowed to bag up their chips during the 17th level of the day as only 15% of the field would make it through to Day 2.
Claiming the Day 1b chip lead is Louis Salter with 553,000 in chips. Salter collected a bunch of those chips when he first got Yves Sanchez to give up on his hand with a three-bet. Fadhil Farag who did make the call, also made the check-call on Salter’s continuation-bet but opted to fold when Salter shoved on him. Salter’s brother Jack might be the more familiar name in the family but Louis is no stranger to the poker felt either. With almost $1.4 million in cashes to his own name, he will be looking to add even more to his bankroll.
Salter is followed by another well-known player, France’s Sonny Franco who bagged 546,000. Almost half of those chips used to belong to Nenad Svetomirovic who five-bet shoved his pocket kings into the aces of Franco. Franco’s best-ever result came to him when he finished in second place in the EPT National High Roller in Prague in 2018 for €206,540. Franco is currently sitting in 1,000th place in the all-time money list according to The Hendon Mob and will be trying to climb into the triple digits.
PokerStars Pro Ramon Colillas also made it to through to Day 2 with 258,000 which unfortunately wasn’t the case for his colleagues, Andre Akkari and Steve Enriquez. The defending champion Jean-René Fontaine was eliminated by Manuel Fritz when he failed to win his final all-in with ace-jack. Fritz’s pocket fives held up to send the friendly Fontaine to the rail who will have to try again on Day 1c or 1d. Fritz himself then found his Waterloo when Barak Wisbrod got lucky to hit the river to send Fritz to the rail before being able to bag for Day 2.
In the end, it would be Gianluca Speranza, who you might know from making history by winning back-to-back SCOOP Main Events, who would burst the so-called bubble to take the field down to 91 players. Olof Olofsson held pocket eights while Speranza had ace-jack. Olofsson couldn’t hold and that signaled the end of the day for the rest of the field.
Other notable players making it through include Dario Marinelli, Natalie Teh, Josep Galindo, Alexander Lakhov, and Artur Rudziankov. Less lucky were players like Jean-Noel Thorel, Petar Kalev, Paul Lozano, Javier Zarco, Espen Uhlen Jorstad, Bart Lybaert, Sander van Wesemael, Joao Simao, Carlos Branco, Renato Kaneoya, and many more.
With players falling at the many hurdles the first starting day brought them, the majority of them are expected to return to the felt during Day 1c which starts at noon local time on Thursday, August 22 with 40-minute levels or in the turbo-version of the starting flight which is Day 1d which commences at 7 p.m. local time and features 20-minute blind levels.
No matter what happens, the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to bring you all the action.