Everybody likes Barcelona – and the Single Ante Solution
The guarantee of the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final €1,100 Open Event was obliterated thanks to 1,716,000 entries, and the top 207 spots will take home at least €2,700 for their efforts. The winner receives €250,000 and with some 250 hopefuls remaining several big names are doing well such as Martin Jacobson, Ludovic Geilich, Jason Wheeler, WSOP International Circuit Rozvadov Main Event runner-up Timur Margolin, Will Givens, Barny Boatman, Chino Rheem and 2017 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia Main Event champion Aleksandr Gofman.
One may even run into former NFL star Richard Seymour. Which wasn't a good idea on the felt then is slowly but surely a challenge on the poker tables as well. The mix is still quite international with several familiar faces from the American poker circuit still in contention. Among them is Darryll Fish, who recently won his first WPT title on home soil.
“I like it. You only get 100 big blinds at the start and the players are busting quickly, but the level increases are very small and it get's much deeper later on. I only played one partypoker event before and that was in Montreal. I cashed in that one and experienced the later stages of the tournament, it was really smooth.”
When asked about the button ante and the effect on the game, Fish had the following to say.
“They (partypoker) were the ones to try something new with the single ante and it's just so much faster. All the players like it and you just got to go with the times and evolve. I would love to see others adapt it also.”
Table neighbor Dermot Blain, who was listening in on the conversation, added “It is so slow when everyone has to pay the ante. Usually I would be the one guy that always forgets about it, and over the years I am definitely up because of that,” he joked.
“It's not as big of a boom as the Moneymaker era, but the prize pools are really big and they (partypoker) are going for it. Things are looking really good in Europe. Besides that, everybody loves Barcelona,” Fish added before the next hand got underway.
“It feels like all (mid stakes) grinders from the last decade are here,” Anthony Spinella said while sitting next to Raffaelle Sorrentino. Spinella is also a big fan of the single ante during his second ever partypoker LIVE event after Punta Cana in November 2017. ”I really like it, now I don't have to slow down the game. There is so much tanking normally.”
The tanking will become void when the money bubble is looming, as the 30-second shot clock will be introduced at the latest in level 19, or one table off the money. This concept is already in play at World Poker Tour Main Events, and the Grand Final in Barcelona is adopting that, too.
In the Super High Roller Events, the shot clock is in play right from the start and the €50,000 Super High Roller has reached the guarantee of €2,000,000 as early as level five with 41 players registered. The least-known participant in the field may be Matthias Eibinger and "The Wolf". And then there's table line ups like the following two:
Steve O'Dwyer, Mustapha Kanit, Orpen Kisacikoglu, Bryn Kenney, David Peters, Jason Koon, Dietrich Fast
Mikita Badziakouski, Rainer Kempe, Luc Greenwood, Christoph Vogelsang, Henrik Hecklen, Sean White, Nick Petrangelo
It very well looks like all the top pros love Barcelona.