€10,200 Mystery Bounty Jour 1 | 2022 PokerStars EPT Barcelona

2022-08-09 00:20 UTC+2

Jean-Noël Thorel,Arthur Conan et Steve Savio en chasse sur le Mystery Bounty, Igor Pihela Sr. chipleader

BrandonBloom

Niveau 8 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

The 2022 PokerStars and Barcelona©Casino European Poker Tour kicked off today, and the €10,200 Mystery Bounty was among the events that saw players flock to the felt at Casino Barcelona.

Estonia’s Igor Pihela Sr. bagged the top stack by a fairly large margin with 519,500 chips. The next biggest stack was bagged by another Igor, as Ukraine’s Igor Yaroshevskyy ended the day with 272,000, and South Korea’s Daewoong Song rounded out the top three on the leaderboard with 258,500.

€10,200 Mystery Bounty Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts

RANK	PLAYER	COUNTRY	CHIP COUNT
1	Igor Pihela	Estonia	519,500
2	Igor Yaroshevskyy	Ukraine	272,000
3	Daewoong Song	South Korea	258,500
4	Orpen Kisacikoglu	England	256,500
5	Marcelo Bonanata Manfredini	Uruguay	245,500
6	Paulo Roberto Brombim Filho	Brazil	242,500
7	Ashkan Fattahi	Iran	225,000
8	Sam Grafton	England	221,000
9	Steve Fouad Savio	France	218,000
10	Dimitar Danchev	Bulgaria	202,500

There were 45 players who bagged a stack out of the 66 total entries today, although late registration remains open through the first two levels of Day 2. Only eight levels were played today, and the bounty component of the tournament will take effect tomorrow at the start of Level 13 when all remaining players will receive a "Mystery Bounty Token”.

Chipleader Pihela went on a run near the end of the day and never let up, securing the top spot in the standings by a sizeable amount. His son also plays poker, and they each have over $200,000 in live tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob. The senior Pihela recently scored his biggest cash less than two weeks ago for a runner-up finish in his native Estonia which earned him €42,300, and he will soon be looking to top that result.

Other players to bag a stack include PokerStars Ambassador Sam Grafton (221,000), Steve O’Dwyer (179,500), Sam Greenwood (128,000), Mustapha Kanit (125,500), Stephen Chidwick (94,000), and Erik Seidel (45,000).

Day 2 will restart at 12:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, August 9.

Stay tuned as the PokerNews team continues to provide updates until a winner is crowned, along with coverage of other events from the coast of Catalonia at Casino Barcelona.

Tags: Daewoong Song Erik Seidel Igor Pihela Igor Yaroshevskyy Mustapha Kanit Sam Grafton Sam Greenwood Stephen Chidwick Steve O’Dwyer

2022-08-08 23:27 UTC+2

Grafton Dominates and Eliminates Andersson

connorrichards

Niveau 8 : Blinds 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Sven Andersson was all in for about 60,000 against Sam Grafton, who had him covered.

Sven Andersson:
Sam Grafton:

Grafton had his opponent dominated and the runout of didn't change things for Andersson to be eliminated in one of the final hands of the day.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Sam Grafton	230,000	145,000
Sven Andersson	Eliminé

Tags: Sam Grafton Sven Andersson

2022-08-08 22:24 UTC+2

Nashar Goes Nuclear

connorrichards

Niveau 6 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

After losing most of his stack in a previously reported hand, Hassan Nashar moved all in for 55,000 from the small blind on top of a late position limp. Teun Mulder re-shoved a stack of 70,000 from the big blind to get the hand heads-up.

Hassan Nashar:
Teun Mulder:

Nashar was hesitant to reveal his holding and tossed his cards to the dealer once the board ran out to give Mulder the winning hand, at which point the dealer turned the hand face-up. Nashar was eliminated but wasted no time buying in on his second and final bullet and was seated at the same table right next to Mulder.

It was deja vu a few hands later as Nashar pushed his starting stack into the middle and was once again looked up by Mulder, who had lost some of his newly added chips in a previous hand after folding to a four-bet shove from Sam Grafton to make himself the effective stack.

Teun Mulder:
Hassan Nashar:

Nashar was quick to show his hand this time but once again failed to improve as the board ran out to leave himself with crumbs. Before PokerNews could catch up, the Gambia-based action player was out of the tournament.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Teun Mulder	190,000	118,000
Sam Grafton	85,000	-38,000
Hassan Nashar	20,000	-35,000

Tags: Hassan Nashar Sam Grafton Teun Mulder

2022-08-08 22:08 UTC+2

Seidel Runs into Superior Two Pair

BrandonBloom

Niveau 6 : Blinds 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

On a flop, Erik Seidel was in the cutoff and ended up getting his remaining stack of approximately 45,000 in against Orpen Kisacikoglu in the big blind.

Erik Seidel:
Orpen Kisacikoglu:

Both players flopped two pair, but it was Kisacikoglu in the lead. The turn and river changed nothing and Seidel was forced to re-enter, while Kisacikoglu added to his growing stack to move towards the top of the leaderboard.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Orpen Kisacikoglu	270,000	100,000
Erik Seidel	100,000	57,000

Tags: Erik Seidel Orpen Kisacikoglu

2022-08-08 20:37 UTC+2

Turn Three-Bet Wins it for Kim

connorrichards

Niveau 3 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Steve O'Dwyer raised in early position and Gab Yong Kim defended out of the big blind.

Kim checked on the flop of and O'Dwyer bet 5,000. Kim called. The turn brought the and Kim led out for 8,000, prompting O'Dwyer to raise to 23,000. Undeterred, Kim three-bet to 43,000 and O'Dwyer quickly folded.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Steve O'Dwyer	150,000	50,000
Gab Yong Kim	105,000	5,000

Tags: Gab Yong Kim Steve O'Dwyer

2022-08-08 20:22 UTC+2

Nashar Scores an Early Knockout

connorrichards

Niveau 3 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

Before blinds went up, Hassan Nashar limped in and Diego Gomez raised as the player next to act. The action folded to Sirzat Hissou in the big blind, who put in a small three-bet. Nashar took the opportunity to four-bet jam and Gomez called with a smaller stack of about 67,000, while Hissou folded.

Diego Gomez:
Hassan Nashar:

Gomez couldn't win the flip as the board ran out for the sixes of Nashar to stay ahead for an early knockout.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Hassan Nashar	190,000	90,000
Sirzat Hissou	93,000	-7,000
Diego Gomez	Eliminé

Tags: Diego Gomez Hassan Nashar Sirzat Hissou

2022-08-08 20:03 UTC+2

Petrone Felts Martirosian

BrandonBloom

Niveau 2 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Artur Martirosian had 7,000 committed to the pot in the cutoff and was facing a raise to 22,000 by Ramiro Petrone on the button. Martirosian thought about it and called.

The dealer spread the flop and Martirosian check-called for 12,500.

The landed on the turn, Martirosian checked, and Petrone moved in enough chips to cover his opponent's remaining stack of 53,000. Martirosian deliberated for a bit and ultimately put in his chips.

Artur Martirosian:
Ramiro Petrone:

Martirosian needed a nine, but the completed the board and he made his exit from the table, while the Argentinian Petrone took the pot to shoot up the leaderboard early in the tournament.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Ramiro Petrone	215,000	115,000
Artur Martirosian	Eliminé

Tags: Artur Martirosian Ramiro Petrone

2022-08-08 19:47 UTC+2

Grafton in the Mix

BrandonBloom

Niveau 2 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

PokerStars Ambassador Sam "SamSquid" Grafton has taken his seat and will be looking to continue his winning ways after taking down the $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up online at PokerStars yesterday.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Sam Grafton	100,000	100,000

Tags: Sam Grafton

2022-08-08 17:32 UTC+2

EPT Barcelona Coverage Kicks Off With €10,200 Mystery Bounty

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The PokerStars and Barcelona©Casino European Poker Tour is back for the first time since 2019 and PokerNews' coverage kicks off with €10,200 Mystery Bounty, one of the first events of the series that gets underway at 7 p.m. local time.

The two-day event at Casino Barcelona should be an exciting one with the bounties adding a sweat factor. €5,000 of the buy-in will go toward the bounty pool while €4,800 will go into the regular prize pool.

Players will begin with a starting stack of 100,000 chips in exchange for their buy-in. Levels will last 30 minutes in duration with blinds beginning at 500/1,000/1,000.

Day 1 will play for eight levels and late registration will close after Level 10 on Day 2, which kicks off Tuesday, August 9 at noon, meaning players will be able to register up to approximately 1 p.m.

The bounty component of the tournament will take effect on at the start of Level 13 and all remaining players will receive a "Mystery Bounty Token."

The second and final day of the tournament will play down to a winner, who will take home the trophy and the biggest cut of the prize pool.

After a three-year hiatus, EPT Barcelona should draw big fields as players look for a life-changing score. Back in 2019, Sweden's Simon Brandstrom took down the €5,300 EPT Main Event for a career-best €1,290,166 after a heads-up deal with Hungary's Marton Czuczor.

Simon Brandstrom Wins 2019 EPT Barcelona Main Event — Simon Brandstrom Won the 2019 EPT Barcelona Main Event

Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is on-site here in Barcelona and ready to bring you updates on the €10,200 Mystery Bounty action, as well as other events in the series.

Tags: Barcelona EPT European Poker Tour